Saturday 11 June 2011

Unchristian Christian Down The Road Less Travelled

It is that time of year. There are animals all over the roads. Hundreds of horses and caravans are returning from Appleby Fair. The traditional way is to take days driving them back across the hills. There are electronic road signs everywhere warning other drivers of horse drawn vehicles. It seems to be the right policy as there don't seem to have been so many accidents this year.

The roads are hazardous. The rain has made them slippery. It has also made them narrow for a large vehicle like a bus. The branches of the trees have lowered into the roadway, due to the lashing they have received from violent showers. It is odd weather for this time of year. Four seasons in one day. One minute cold, one minute warm. Dry with a cold wind broken by a sudden tropical downpour.

'Biblical,' said a passenger sitting behind.

It was an opportune remark, because as I turned the corner on a single track road, there, parked badly and partially blocking the way was an old car. It had parked between a thorny hawthorn tree and a tarpaulin which someone had dumped on the verge. The car had advertising written down its side. It read:-

                                           www.godsholysomethingsomethingsomething.com

'That's not very Christian,' said a cynic sitting behind.

So what do you do? Something or nothing? Blow the horn and hope someone comes out of one of the houses?

No point. It was just as productive to get out, move the tarpaulin and gently scrape the side of the bus down the hawthorn tree, hoping that if it was slow enough, it wouldn't damage the paintwork. And it didn't.

On the return journey, the car was still there. The same thing happened.

'Must be giving a very long sermon,' said the cynic above the screeching noise of branches meeting glass.

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