Nelson Ledges Chaplain Notes...August 2010

Driving Days in the UK
Tragic Day at Nelson

Are you old enough to remember the dread you prior to taking your driver’s test? You know, that deep, deep pit in your stomach at the thought of having to parallel park. Be glad you don’t live in the UK! I think parallel parking is a national sport. Who will be the first to take the spot that leaves only one measly inch in front and back without even grazing the two hatchbacks that so incredibly generously left soooo much space between? And they do it while driving on the wrong side. I guess that’s right, they are used to that. But remember the bad ride in front may actually be a Ferrari or Aston and rearward a Maserati or Audi R8. I once again saw each and every one parked on the street, sometimes right in a row.

On the spectacularly beautiful Gower Peninsula near Swansea, Wales, I had a chance to ride with my son’s girlfriend Rachael in her nearly new Fiat 500. It’s a well made, spriteful little piece that she loves and serves well on roads only an ant could love. You could euphemistically call them one lane wide. If one has the audacity to come the other way, someone is going to be backing up a long, long, long, way. An ancient Norman Castle, mile wide salt marshes with wild horses scurrying in the distance and ocean shore scenes that make a postcard jealous made it worth the adventure of the ride.

Before our trip to the United Kingdom, we suffered the loss of CSR driver John Metzger at Nelson due to injuries from an accident in turn 13. We all feel in our spirit that this is not the way it’s supposed to be. When Jesus spoke about a group who died when a tower fell on them, He gave no explanation why. We would do well to heed His answer “Turn to God.”
 

Chaplain Marvin Gray
Chapnlrc@aol.com