The Gauntlet

From the transportation drop off point to the main entrance of the Cathedral precinct, to get to church yesterday, we had to pass through a row of demonstrators. By Brooklyn standards, it was a pitiful demonstration unless the numbers had been artificially limited by police permit or some other prearrangement.

The best of the rag tag lot had hand puppets resembling dragons and devils and the puppeteers were speaking in the so called voices of the characters they were holding. Others had signs that were difficult to read so the points were missed by most. Abomination seemed to be the buzz word with people chanting something as we passed. I'm not being obtuse. As demonstrations go, this one missed the mark. What they really needed was that big inflatable rat that travels around to construction sites in New York City. If you are trying to make the point that we are rats deserting the ship of Anglicanism as they believe it should be and abominations for doing so, then you should bloody well make the point!

I was on the gauntlet line for about 15 minutes. I had to wait for the arrival of my ticket into the Cathedral. The Archbishop of York and Mrs. Sentamu passed as I was standing there. The Archbishop chided me "My Lady of Long Island, have you gone to the far side?" I quickly responded "Oh no, my Lord, Your Grace. Not at all."

Mercifully my ticket bearer soon arrived and I finished strolling through that pitiful gauntlet.