News
the pew bulletin for sunday 16 august 2020
from the vicar
One day this week I was fitting in my one hour of exercise (together with Monty’s) before our Archdeaconry meeting with the Archbishop.
Let me paint you a picture of what this perambulation looks like each day. We need to get to the beach and back without Esther getting too tired on the way back, so I have started putting her in the bike trailer that I push like a pram whilst holding Monty in my left hand. This works well until a cat runs out in front of us or a pack of dogs surprise us by barking at their gate as we walk past. You can picture what happens!
On this particular day I was particularly focussed, trying to gun it as fast as I could down Kerferd Road and back in time to meet with the archbishop: a girl on a mission. As I approached Fat Albert café there was a group of people spread across the pavement, kids on bikes together with chatting adults. As I got a bit closer, one man started to move on to the grass for me and as I walked through the parted group I said “excuse me, thank you” and barrelled on. The man called out and challenged me for saying ‘excuse me’ after he had started to move out of the way. I turned and apologised saying that I was a girl on a mission.
But as I walked on I realised he actually hadn’t understood what I was saying. I was taught that if you walk between people who are trying to talk to each other, or between a person and the items in the shop they’re trying to look at, it’s polite to say “excuse me”. This man obviously thought I was saying “excuse me” to ask him to move, which I acknowledge is another use of the word but not how I was using it!
Somehow this misunderstanding really rattled me. Perhaps it was the straw that broke the multitasking priest’s back. I felt misunderstood and wanted to go back to explain what I had meant. Obviously that wasn’t going to happen so I just let it go, but it’s reminded me that we sometimes don’t speak the same language!
We don’t always communicate in the ways we want to, whether it’s to make something known or to hear what someone else is saying. I wonder how we can be more tuned in for better communication?
Love and blessings
Sophie
Let me paint you a picture of what this perambulation looks like each day. We need to get to the beach and back without Esther getting too tired on the way back, so I have started putting her in the bike trailer that I push like a pram whilst holding Monty in my left hand. This works well until a cat runs out in front of us or a pack of dogs surprise us by barking at their gate as we walk past. You can picture what happens!
On this particular day I was particularly focussed, trying to gun it as fast as I could down Kerferd Road and back in time to meet with the archbishop: a girl on a mission. As I approached Fat Albert café there was a group of people spread across the pavement, kids on bikes together with chatting adults. As I got a bit closer, one man started to move on to the grass for me and as I walked through the parted group I said “excuse me, thank you” and barrelled on. The man called out and challenged me for saying ‘excuse me’ after he had started to move out of the way. I turned and apologised saying that I was a girl on a mission.
But as I walked on I realised he actually hadn’t understood what I was saying. I was taught that if you walk between people who are trying to talk to each other, or between a person and the items in the shop they’re trying to look at, it’s polite to say “excuse me”. This man obviously thought I was saying “excuse me” to ask him to move, which I acknowledge is another use of the word but not how I was using it!
Somehow this misunderstanding really rattled me. Perhaps it was the straw that broke the multitasking priest’s back. I felt misunderstood and wanted to go back to explain what I had meant. Obviously that wasn’t going to happen so I just let it go, but it’s reminded me that we sometimes don’t speak the same language!
We don’t always communicate in the ways we want to, whether it’s to make something known or to hear what someone else is saying. I wonder how we can be more tuned in for better communication?
Love and blessings
Sophie
