Holy Ghost Walk II

Yesterday it was Palm Sunday, the start of Holy Week and to kick off the most important 7 days in the Christian calendar I helped organise the 2nd of the local churches Holy Ghost Walks. The concept of the Holy Ghost Walk follows the popular format of the historic city ghost tours, where as you wander around, you are greeted by a spooky character, normally played by a failed drama student looking to pay off their student loan. The difference is that the characters represent people associated with Biblical stories.

This year we decided to go with the Easter story, so some could describe what we did as a passion play. However, with flimsy scripts, lame jokes, wooden acting and costumes made from curtains and duvet covers it was more a combo of Monty Python passing through the Crossroads Hotel on the way to Oberammergau! Nevertheless, over 100 people turned out to join in and a good afternoon was had by all. We had a new route that started and finished in the village of West Barns near Dunbar. It took in the Biel Burn and the Seafield Pond before heading back to the hall.

I played the part of the man who provided Jesus with a donkey to arrive in Jerusalem. With me was my junior sized donkey Stuart, who we called Dinky Donkey. Other characters included the market stall holder who complained at having their table overturned in the temple, Mary who had washed Jesus' feet, the owner of the Upper Room who was played by the local GP in the style of Ali G, but by all accounts sounded like he'd had too much wine and came from the South African quarter of South Wales. A real scoop was to get use of a huge rowing boat for the day where Simon Peter shamefully told his story of betrayal, and to finish off we had 2 Roman guards playing a game of snap with the crowd to win some of Jesus' shredded clothes. The final stop was back to the West Barns village hall for a short epilogue by Rev Gordon Stevenson, accompanied by trays and trays of really good home baking.

Alloa Alloa

It's been a busy few weeks since returning from York. With Easter fast approaching there has been a lot of work to do in the schools teaching the kids about it. We are also doing our Holy Ghost Walk again on Palm Sunday so this too has led to less time for stuff like this. And with the London Marathon just up the street too, any spare time I have has been handed over to getting fit.

Sunday was the first test of my fitness and the opportunity to step up the pace over a longer distance. The Alloa Half Marathon is a new one for me so i thought I'd use it to see how fit I was. It's a pretty varied course taking you through a council housing estate where the locals offer you their support, into the town which is full of empty shops and then out to the foot of the Ochills where the scenery is well worth the run out. The latter stages take you up a steep 1/2 mile+ hill at 11 miles, and then up another more gradual hill up to 12. The rule of 'what goes up has to come down' seems to have bypassed Alloa's highways, as the road to the finish is flat with no downhill to reward your last 10-15 minutes of hard work. The final 100 meters is great as you come off a roundabout and there it is, out of the blue. I like many others did an eye popping sprint to the finish losing all my dignity with snot and dribble all over my face.

Thanks must go to the Portobello runner Grahame Henry who ran with me shouting at me for the last 6 miles. I have never done a long run with a motivator before and it certainly paid off as I came in with a 1:25:29. I had got my pacing right for a change as I found at 10 miles I was thinking 'only 3 to go, nearly finished' as opposed to my usual feeling of 'how am I going to make it through this last 3'. This was a good start for my road racing season as in all honesty I had only expected a 90 minute run at best. Maybe Grahame should do a podcast for other runners. The only disappointment of the day was that I discovered later that my time was just 2 seconds short of a PB.

The next day the reality of running London hit me...well my door mat. My number and laces (yes you get a pair of red laces) and a whole wad of information that is a bit overwhelming arrived in the post. I'm now entering the zone of looking forward to it and the belief I could beat my Loch Ness time.

Holy Ghost Walk

The Holy Week celebrations got off to a good start on Palm Sunday with the 'Holy Ghost Walk' in the village of Spott. If anyone has ever been on a ghost or witch tour in places like York and Edinburgh, you will know that story telling is made more fun by the appearance of some second rate actors who jump out on the route. With that in mind I thought it might be a good laugh to tell bible stories in the same way. Also, I know how families like a Sunday afternoon stroll, but I also know that they sometimes need a reason to do it. Spott is a little village near Dunbar, and there are some woods (Brock Woods) there that hardly anyone seems to use, so the perfect location for the walk as there is a village hall to return to for hot cross buns and drinks.

Around 80 people turned up and did the 2 mile walk. There was no way the acting could be done as a serious performance, so it was all a bit panto, and better for it. Our 2 Roman centurions led the crowd around the tour on a quest to find out more about Jesus who was arriving in Jerusalem that day. On the way they met the woman at the well (it was actually the old dam), Zachaeus up a tree who demanded people pay some taxes (£7 was raised), Lasarus and Mary and Martha, and finally John the Baptist. One of our actors dropped out at the last minute, so I ended up being John. Wearing a ridiculous wig and beard I looked more like a member of the Taliban than a biblical character. The Brock Burn became the River Jordan, and I stood in the ford baptising people. I had quite a long wait before the crowd arrived, so I sat at the road side for ages waiting. Some boy racers were out for their Sunday afternoon spin, with a couple of girls in the back and got the fright of their life when they saw me. The car actually swerved off the road nearly hitting a tree, which would have been a very funny accident claim for return.

The sun was out and everyone who survived the walk seemed to have enjoyed it, and there are calls for more. It was a good start to Holy Week and put Palm Sunday back on the map for those who missed who had forgotten it.