Staircase surprise


Missionary wives are a funny lot. Last weekend was a Bank Holiday one, and we decided to go and stay in a fairly luxurious hotel on the other side of town. My recent health scare made us want to spend some time thinking things over.

Maybe it’s my pagan background, but I don´t have a problem with luxury, however Olwen’s Northern Ireland pietism makes it touch her conscience. And especially before leaving the Seminary when the sewing ladies were asking where she was going for the weekend. She didn´t have the bottle to say the InterContinental Hotel nor could she lie. Speechless? Never, but fudging, not half.

However it all changed on Sunday night, when on the hotel’s shinny brass staircase we encountered colleagues from the Seminary: old, revered and eminently spiritual ones. The two wives fell over themselves to explain how they didn’t normally come and stay here. Jack and I just smiled, happy with life.

Today in the history class we read John Calvin’s famous opening statement: our wisdom consists in knowing God and knowing ourselves. The Bank Holiday weekend nudged us on a bit in both areas.

Photo: Not just luxurious inside the hotel: outside too

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