Shrove Tuesday at sea

This will be a different Shrove Tuesday from the many we have spent at Our Saviour. I will miss Father Robert’s latest costume, the sausage, and the pancakes. There will be a Pancake Race on the 9th deck (by the pool) to raise money for charity, but it’s not the same.

We are learning about the differences between Australians and New Zealanders. New Zealand has lots of water, lakes, streams and rivers. Australia is very dry, less than 1 percent of the world’s fresh water. That is why the natives in New Zealand formed villages, and the natives in Australia never had permanent villages.

There is a story, told by a world traveler, who on visiting St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, noticed that next to the altar was a gold phone and a sign saying, “direct line to God, $10,000 per call.” When the traveler was in London, in Westminster Cathedral, he noticed a similar phone and sign. In Notre Dame in Paris, again there was the gold phone, the sign, and cost was 50,000 francs for a call. On arriving in Sydney, the traveler went to the cathedral there. Again there was a gold phone and a sign, but this time it read “direct line to God, 60 cents per call.” The traveler found a priest and inquired about the sign. “Why is the cost so different in this church, than in the others I have visited?”, he asked. “Ah,” said the priest, “Here it’s a local call.”

Wishing all our friends the best on this Shrove Tuesday. At least it’s a local call from here.