after a peaceful night and a good sleep we are out of our b&b by 9:30 and on our way to church — ms l had “recommended” that we attend service at the church of scotland’s st salvator’s chapel which happens to be the university church (”recommended” in quotes because she’s not a regular church goer as it transpires…probably due to her childhood). st andrews is still mostly asleep at this early hour, very few people are up and about.

we get to st salvator’s just in time for the 10:00 service — only to find out that there’s no 10:00 service but an 11:00 service: this must be the earliest we’ve been for a worship service ever (usually we are either on time of up to 10min late) not to be deterred we retreat to the local starbucks (two coffee lates at over £ 6.00 is a proud price), where mrs d reads and i discover the t-mobile provided WLAN…

shortly before 11:00 we make a second attempt for st salvator’s and get in before the action starts. the service is quite interesting: a guest preacher, professor jeremy begbie, associate principal of ridley hall, cambridge (and honorary professor in theology at st andrews, is talking about words that break & words that make. the service starts from the back of the church with the call to worship, following which the bible is then carried forward to the lectern and then opened. after the service the university mace and the bible are carried out first (while the congregation stands):

“…a symbol of the word of god not being confined to the church but being the word for living in the world in the things we do and study and are.” (order of service, sunday 1st october 2006 at 11am)

the sermon is on ephesians 4:25–5:2 and concentrates on “words that break & words that make”. jeremy begbie has a very clear message: our job as christians is to build up, not tear down; to heal not hurt. he’s a rather gifted preacher both in his words but also his gestures. we take a lot with us out of this service — good that we made it!

after church it’s the oak rooms inn for lunch. we arrive just in time to still have a choice of tables. while the food is still as good as it was yesterday. i am a bit puzzled and amused by the cleaning procedures in place: instead of completely clearing off the table, the place mats remain where they are, then some cleaning fluid is generously sprayed on the table and place mats and the waitress then wipes it all (rather perfunctorily) and leaves it in a semi-wet state…unfortunately, that cleaning fluid seems to make matters just worse, leaving behind a sticky film layered on table and place mats…hmm.

after lunch we meet up with ms l outside the st andrews TIC and proceed to the ruins of the cathedral.

the cathedral must have been a rather impressive building back when it was still standing (it had its heydays, obviously, before the scottish reformation, was then plundered and left to rot away): one can still make out where the roof was and where the transepts were. officially admission is £ 6.00 per person (no discount for the student member of our party, ms l) but as we just visit the outside which is also the university cemetery we cheat and after a good look around continue to what remains of st andrews castle…

…and no cheating here: entry is via the visitor centre which also houses an interesting exhibition not only on the castle but also on the scottish reformation. the castle itself is quite nice but not really breathtaken either.

the rest of the afternoon we spent at ms l’s digs, having tea and reading today’s observer (mrs d, ms l), or fixing the computer and printer (me).

dinner is at the oak room inn again (good thing we are through with the observer, there’s so much residual cleaning spray on our table, that we would wallpaper the table with it without any chance of getting it off again…) and we have a very interesting and entertaining evening…

nice leisurely day, very good worship service, good time with ms l