The Gift Of Time: Bishop of Reading Tells Commuters To Bake Bread
“WHY the British handed out egg timers to rush-hour commuters,” says the Mail’s headline.
We join the action on the concourse at “a busy railway station”. The exact location is not given, but the Bishop of Reading, the, is in attendance, and we imagine he does not stray far from his flock.
Bishop Stephen Cottrell is engaging passengers. He is offering them the “gift of time”. Bishop Cottrell says he can make “travelling to work an adventure”.
The Bishop has taken a moment out from his schedule of reading bits of the Bible out loud to write a book. Called “Do nothing to change your life”, the work advises:
“By learning to sit still, slow down, by discerning when to shut up and when to speak out, you learn to travel through life differently. There is new delight and purpose in the mundane and the ordinary things of life. Making tea becomes a treat. Travelling to work an adventure.”
The masses will hear the message and take time out to enjoy life’s finer things. Which are:
“Instead, by binning instant tea and coffee in favour of traditional methods that create time for reflection during their preparation, appointing a ‘happy hour’ when all televisions and radios in the house are switched off, baking bread, or simply enjoying a lengthy lie-in, the bishop’s book encourages readers to appreciate the need to create pauses in daily life – for our own, and society’s, health and wellbeing.”
The Bishop, a father of three who lives above the shop, is talking of lie-ins and journeys to the office. He is baking bread. And now he is handing out egg timers to commuters.
“Excuse me,” says the Bishop. “Can I give you a gift? It’s the gift of time.”
And it works. Moments later passengers aboard the Reading to London flyer stop moving. They gaze out the window. They muse on life. The land of Rhodes, Brunel and Cliff Richard is turned into the nation of Fotherington Thomas.
Hullo Bish. Hullo clouds. Hullo the delayed 8:55 to Penzance…
Posted: 5th, June 2007 | In: Tabloids Comments (7) | TrackBack | Permalink
