By the time we made it out to Bull Island it was getting dark. And a bit chilly. There were hardly any people left out there walking the 2k out to Realt la Mara (Mary, Queen of the Sea). To be honest, I had not planned to walk out the whole way with Pádraig, usually we drive almost all of it and then just walk the last 100 or 200 metres out to the statue. I have no idea what made me park the car on the coast road…

But what I first thought was a stupid error on my side turned out to be the beginning of a brilliant walk and a really nice evening.

The tide was in and the wind blew the salty smell of the sea right into our faces. It literally cleared my mind and made me think of all the wonderful things we are going to do together. What came to me first was that this was like a mini training session for our walk to Santiago – almost a quarter of what I’d think could be our daily average.

We arrived back just in time for mass celebrating the Third Sunday of Advent. Usually it’s Pat who goes to that mass with Pádraig; each time I go with him, I am taken aback by the number of people who come over to say ‘hello’ to him. He really is part of the community. And, (maybe not) surprisingly, more than he had ever been before.

They had a choir there tonight and as it happens, they sang “People get ready” – not quite like Al Green sings it (watch his absolutely beautiful and super-cool shoulder movements! And the immaculately white handkerchief!) – but they did a pretty good job too, AND they displayed the lyrics on a giant screen so that even I could follow.

Which is when I thoughT: this could really be our song.

People get ready
There’s a train a-coming
You don’t need no baggage
You just get on board
All you need is faith
To hear diesels humming
You don’t need no ticket
You just thank the Lord

And while Al doesn’t get to those lines, they did in mass:

Now there ain’t no room
For the hopeless sinner
Whom would hurt all mankind

So there’s no room for people who just hurt others. At the end I was singing in my head:

People get ready
There’s a dreamboat a-coming
…

Just changed ‘train’ to ‘dreamboat’ and the rest of the song was just fine.. I’m getting ready to get the diesel hummin’!!!