monica's priest an ex-gulf air pilot ?

i am sure those who have flown gulf air will corroborate my claim here. gulf air pilots are among the worst in the world, in the sense they always depart late and astonishingly, they are among the best in the world, in the sense they always arrive at your destination early. nope, no mistake in this assertion. i have never flown in a gulf air flight where the air speed monitor [on the in-flight entertainment system] clocked anything less than 1000 kph.

i have this outlandish inkling that monica's parish priest at the blackfriar's chappel was an ex-gulf air pilot. he is very quick with his sermon. hang on, let me try that again. he is BLOODY quick with his discourse. his orations never last more than 35 minutes. i am not a catholic, but i am sure catholics all around the world will agree with me here. a sunday service, has any one been in one that lasted less than one hour ? yesterday, however, was an exception. the priest started late [6 minutes late to be precise] and finished 5 minutes earlier than his usual time.

i have no idea what the heck happened. it felt like, "in the name of the father ....WWWWWWWWWWRrrrrrrooom.. go in peace to love and serve the Lord".

what the !"£$%^ ? pardon him [and the others at the chappel] for the day was nothing less than incredible. as a matter of fact, i do not know of a superlative term to describe how magnificent sunday really was here at cambridge. 31 degrees, blue skies, roses in full bloom, a cool zephyr from the north - what else can you ask for ? well, it turned out, if you were english you didn't have to. God has been far too benevolent to the english & the welsh. guess what, england is trouncing australia in cricket these days. nope, no mistakes in the previous sentence. people in the congregation were probing late arrivals "do you know the latest score ?".

so, as you can see, we can re-enact our priest's day yesterday.

06:00 am - wake up to the alarm.
06:30 am - out of the shower.
07:00 am - breakfast [note to self: running out of channel
island milk, stock up tomorrow morning]
07:30 am - start prayers & meditation
10:30 am - it is cricket time. requests one of his brothers
to turn the tv on.
11:00 am - jolly good, 3 wickets in a single over. england
is well on top.
12:00 pm - a priestly frustration. australia is building up
a nice partnership.
01:30 pm - some respite for england. should keep austalia
to a low score.
02:00 pm - a nice sunday roast with mashed potatos and gravy
[note to self: buy jersey potatos]
02:45 pm - bad start for england. openers lost their wickets.
03:00 pm - nail biting time. COME on england !! not going well.
04:00 pm - hanging in fine balance. could go either way.
05:00 pm - not going well [OOPS, time to prepare for the
evening service]
05:45 pm - flintoff OUT. hopes are gone. ARGH, service
strats in 15 minutes. "brother james, can you
cover for me today ?. sorry father ted, i can't.
i have some lawn mowing to worry about".
06:00 pm - SHIT !! well, service starts.
---- Wrrrrrrrrrooooooooommmmmpppphh ----
06:32 pm - OVER, finito - runs to the TV
06:40 pm - sees kevin pietersen score the winning runs.
ENGLAND won !!
06:45 pm - WOW, what a day. PRAISE the lord.
07:00 pm - STRANGE feeling. should I be supporting england ?
I AM IRISH !!

england has won the last three encounters with australia. this is amazing, yes.