Merrow

The main reason for my trip to the sunny south with my mum was to attend the ordination service at Canterbury Cathedral of a friend of ours from Dundee who was becoming a vicar. If the service was emotional for my mum and I then it was even more so for my friends grandfather who had travelled down from Fife for the occasion. Chatting in the sunshine outside the grand and imposing building, with the Archbishop of Canterbury milling around amongst the new starts, he spoke of his grandsons difficult and unhappy childhood and how he worried that the breakfast he had in their house on a sunday might have been the only square meal he ate all week.

A move to London aged 15 threw more hardships in my friends way but also seemed to create opportunities and after struggling on through school and college until he was almost 20, he found a love of youth work and a desire to serve in a formal church environment and went on to study in both Oxford and Cambridge before arriving in the quiet rural Kent town in which he now works. It was definitely worth driving all the way to share in this moment with him.

Making the most of our time down south we nipped down to Bognor Regis to see my sister-in-law and her family today. It was lovely to be able to hang out with my three nephews and just be an auntie without having my own little ones around too.

Back in Guildford in the evening we had a walk across Merrow golf course which is on the edge of the north downs. Even in the misty haze there were lovely views across to the city, towns and villages around.