Sunday Morning Rituals

I've written before about how every Sunday morning Don plays golf with Gordon Rae, I walk for the weekly paper, read it and listen to choral music, and we have a brunch of eggs and grits when Don gets home. But I've been thinking about rituals and why I enjoy this one so much.

First of all, I try to time my walk for the paper to coincide with when the church bells are ringing and people are on their way to the service (between 10:15 and 10:30). It's lovely to hear the sound of those bells (now automatic but kept on schedule by our friend John Robertson, the church sexton). Usually I see Morag Aitkin riding to church on her bicycle and sometimes Judy MacDowall pedals by on hers at around the same time, skirts flying, bibles or prayer books tucked into the basket on the front of their bikes. There also are others I pass either going to or from one of the 3 shops in the village open for just a few hours "on the Sunday" for the newspapers. Everyone, whether you know them or not, says hello and makes some remark about the weather "Lovely day, eh?" or "Not so nice today, I'm afraid."

The photo is of the main intersection in Comrie, where a road comes off the east-west A85 trunk road (equivalent to the old state highways in the U.S.) to cross the bridge over the River Earn and on out of town to the south. We live on the south side of the river. It originally was the hamlet of Dalginross but was incorporated (along with The Ross, where the Aberuchill Estate is) into "greater Comrie" decades ago. The photo was taken from the bridge with the newsagents/post office/shop on the right where you see the blue awnings.

The white building across the road in the distance was designed by Scotland's celebrated architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh for Brough and MacPhersons Hardware Store, which still was that when we first visited Comrie in 1994. It has had several incarnations since then but because it is a historically listed building, the interior cannot be changed from when it was built in the early years of the 20th century. The flat above the shop is maintained by the National Trust for Scotland and can be rented out for self-catering holidays.

Forming an L with the Mackintosh building is The Royal Hotel, where I go for morning coffee with 4 of my chorus "girlfriends" each Wednesday and where Don and I sometimes go for a pub supper. It is a rather posh hotel and the prices of the rooms reflect that but it has public facilities that all Comrie-ites use: a bar-lounge with a fireplace where one can get drinks, ales, pub suppers as well as morning coffee or afternoon tea; a dining room with an adjacent private or social function room; a library with overstuffed furniture and two fireplaces that pub customers can also use (we have our morning coffee there some Wednesdays); and back behind the building proper (you may be able to see the white-topped entry door) is The Royal Pub which is frequented by young folks and sports fans.

That pub would have been hopping early yesterday evening because the rugby match of the century (maybe) was being shown on the telly. The game's result was the lead story in today's Scotland on Sunday for Scotland bested England 18-12 in a hard-fought duel for the Six Nations championship. Scotland has now won only 3 times against England in the past 16 years. Odds were 7 to 1 in England's favour. John at the newsagents this morning told me he wouldn't have bet a penny on Scotland because the chances of their winning were so slim. I can tell you it was an exciting match as we watched it at home and got thoroughly caught up in it.

On a calmer note, this morning's choral music selection is Officium with The Hilliard Ensemble singing the ancient chants and Scandinavian jazz saxophonist, Jan Garbarek, wafting above the men's voices on his ethereal soprano sax. Sublime. I find it so peaceful to sit with a cafe latte (home-made), the paper, and my choice of choral music (from our CD collection).

When Don comes back from his golf game, we go into the kitchen and share the task of making our brunch. Don was saying just this morning that he looks forward to this ritual all week, and not just because he's so hungry when he gets back from playing 18 holes of golf! Most mornings we have very quick and fairly light breakfasts: usually just a piece of toast, a couple of mornings each week we'll have cereal, and once during the week we might have an egg with toast. But we reserve the real thing for Sunday mid-day. Bacon is thick and smoky. The sausage it a bit problematic, though, for most breakfast sausage over here is a bit soft for our taste. Lately, though, we've been buying Cumberland sausages which are very tasty and not at all soft. This morning's sausage was from the Crieff butcher and was pork and apple. A tad on the soft side but very tasty. Of course we also have eggs, grits, toast, and coffee. The rest of the week, we drink tea.

What are your rituals?