I’ll add my mite … I just potter on enjoying late mornings [not in Chapel for Readings but said privately] and usually early nights straight after Compline … this will vary over the Christmas season! During the past few weeks it has been obvious that my mobility is much diminished and I need to allow at least five minutes to walk next door to the Shrine Church and Guild Chapel, and a generous half hour to reach St Mary’s, but – thanks to Bert generously bringing me Antony’s almost new buggy after his death – I usually ride that to St Mary’s. Hopefully we will be spared snow and ice in North Norfolk during these winter months as the buggy has a label advising against using it in those conditions! However – our local folk are very kind and generous and I’m ‘picked up’ and transported when the weather is very inclement. We no longer have a car – the leased car was returned when lockdown began as it seemed daft to pay a monthly fee just to park it in our yard, and Sister Carol doesn’t drive. Thus life turns full circle – we didn’t have a car when I was living at home and my Dad was well into his 50’s when he learnt to drive and, unlike me, passed his driving test at his first attempt! I don’t remember feeling anxious when he was driving and I was in the back seat … he certainly clocked up a good mileage as my parents would tootle around the Essex countryside, visit relatives in Devon and northern parts of England and, of course, their daughter in Aberdeen where I lived and worked for four years before giving up the unequal struggle with the Lord and entered the Society of St Margaret. The first Sisters were sent to Aberdeen from East Grinstead in 1864 at the request of the local priest, Fr. John Comper whose son was born in the house next door to the Sisters’ home. The son’s name is well known to those who have an interest in church architecture - Ninian Comper. The Convent buildings are now accommodation for medical students – it is conveniently half-way between the University colleges, but the Foresterhill site (the main hospital site) is quite a distance in a westerly direction, and very close to where I lived in my little ‘semi’ … as the seagull flies, but a good distance zig-zagging through the streets! A car was essential when I was working, especially when I was on call at night for the branch hospital and maternity homes as well. I was once followed by a police car as I zoomed through the streets, slowing only slightly at red traffic lights to ensure nothing was coming from the right or the left! As I swung into the maternity home gateway and then charged up the steps, tails of my white coat flying, I spied the police car moving slowly by the gateway. I wasn’t charged … but later discovered that I was well known to the police, and that was before I began running a GP surgery in the 200-bunk Lodging House. The sun is shining but the light wind is chilly – not unexpected on St Nicholas’ Day that is my 47th anniversary of Profession … where do the years go? Three years to Gold – if I’m spared … as my grandmother used to say! Fr. Ben, the recently appointed Shrine Administrator, celebrated Mass in our Chapel and Bishop Peter, our Visitor, was also with us as he is leading the Advent Retreat at the Shrine this weekend. It is good to see a number of our friends returning to Walsingham after the Lockdown years. With a very inclement weather forecast the official lighting of the Village Christmas Tree has been cancelled this weekend, so we miss out on a street party with mulled wine and mince pies. But the important event is, of course, the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Mary Angela SSM