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A spiritual experience unfolds at Byrne's
Ever since I moved to the Ribble Valley, more years ago than I care to remember, I have regarded it as God's own country and, if the valley itself is the Promised Land, I suppose there can be little doubt Clitheroe is its Jerusalem.
Neither can there be much doubt as to which building in Clitheroe fills the role of The Temple. Pilgrims come from far and wide to marvel at its treasures. As they enter its inner sanctum, they are compelled to bow. It is brimful of the spirit and true worshippers there are transported to other worlds. There are no mysteries unknown to its priests and Levites. I refer, of course, to Byrne's, the vintners.
The Bible, as we all know from our days at Sunday School, commands that we write the Holy Word on the doorposts of our house and upon our gates and thus it was, last Thursday, that the signwriter was at Byrne's renewing the fascia board to ensure all of us would know what spirituous renewal awaited us inside.
Naturally, all the wonders of the modern world were recruited to the task and, rather than rely on ladders, the signwriter used a hydraulic platform or "cherry picker" on which to stand while undertaking his holy work and, when the work was done, a lorry came to bear it off.
As the cherry picker was being loaded on to the lorry's trailer, a miracle occurred.
Without the slightest human intervention, the spirit entered the lorry and it betook itself to roll gently down the hill and enter Harry Garlick's.
It is not for us mere mortals to know what the lorry intended to do there but, for what it is worth, I rather think it wanted to arrange some television advertising for Byrne's, to spread the word and bring the joys of the spirit to a larger congregation.
Whatever it was that motivated the lorry, it was careful not to cause the slightest injury to any of the throng gathered in the street and, despite the recent events in Jerusalem itself, no one in the crowd jumped up onto the lorry to try to shoot the driver.
Despite all the economic troubles currently besetting us, we have much for which to be grateful. There are hatreds and grudges aplenty in our Jerusalem, but nobody is trying to kill anyone else. In our Jerusalem, a runaway lorry is a runaway lorry and not an instrument of murder.
Though we are involved in two wars, they are mercifully small and far away and our losses, though overwhelming to the families of our lost soldiers, do not force us to live in fear.
Life is good in the Ribble Valley and will continue to be good. Our current anxieties are tiny when compared to the anxieties facing others.
How fortunate we and our children are to live in a place where a lorry crashing and hurting no one is newsworthy. What blessings we enjoy!
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Weather for Clitheroe
Wednesday 30 May 2012
Today
Light showers
Temperature: 12 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 11 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: West
