Day 51

Back down to earth now after the ’12,000 mile service’ at the Mary & Martha Community in Devon. This is the diary of the week written from the point of view of the 2 old vehicles who made their way to Devon. We arrived on the Sunday evening to discover the ‘Service Centre’ was in a very rural location but yet was not that far from Exeter. Our garage for the week was very comfortable although it was called a Pig Pen. Throughout the week we were refuelled with good food. We also discovered that mobile phones could be left aside as there was no signal reception. The introduction to the week reminded us that ‘clergy shop talk’ was banned and that certainly curtailed the conversation to begin with. Only 12 other ‘vehicles’ were in for service and all were of an Anglican make.

Monday - a quiet day when the service personnel took time to look at each ‘vehicle’ individually. What did each one need and expect over the coming days. During the afternoon Annette and I had a pleasant meander along the Teign valley. The information suggested the walk should take an hour and a half. It took us two hours - engines obviously needing tuned.

In the evening we watched the film ‘The History Boys’ complete with popcorn.

The day ended with prayer in the lovely and simple Chapel.

Tuesday - a one to one with a member of the community after breakfast began the day. It was then into a workshop which involved ‘fun with words’. This mainly involved writing some poetry. Some of the poetry from within the group was very serious and impressive while some of the other poetry tried to strike a much lighter note. One of the Baptists got a fit of the giggles at one point - guess who?

This was our one wet day and so a quiet afternoon of reading and also a relaxing Jacuzzi proved very pleasant.

The day ended with some of the group watching the first episode of a new series of ‘Spooks’ on BBC 1. I will leave you to guess which one of the Baptists was there.

Wednesday - another one to one with a member of the community at the beginning of the day. The afternoon saw Alan on the massage table having a full bodywork massage - a new experience.

The evening was spent watching the film ‘Mrs Henderson presents’ - again with popcorn.

The day ended with prayers in the Chapel.

Thursday - the morning was taken up with an arts and crafts workshop. Painting, drawing and working with clay. It was great fun and reminded us both of school days. On a lovely afternoon we went on a led walk that took us up above the centre and gave some lovely views of the valley. A Devonshire Cream Tea awaited our arrival back at the Centre.

The evening began with a simple communion service which was followed by our final evening meal together.

Friday - breakfast and then our farewells.

The week passed very quickly and the tone set by the leaders of the Mary & Martha Community was just right. There was complete freedom to participate in what was organized or simply spend time quietly. Members of the Community were always available to chat and it was clear that we were there to be looked after. We enjoyed the company of the others too. At first we found the ‘no clergy shop talk’ rule a bit difficult but soon found much to talk about and lots to laugh about. Two of the vicars proved to be a fund of funny stories and kept us all amused at times.( if only I could now remember the jokes).

This certainly was a week’s retreat. It was a week for ourselves and we came away feeling thoroughly spoiled and refreshed and tuned for some more miles to be added to the clock.

From Devon we went to Stourbridge where we became granny and grampa and spent the weekend with the family before heading home on Sunday afternoon.

I managed to see a bit of the Rugby World Cup final on Saturday evening, but did not see anything of Rangers crushing Celtic earlier in the day.