Today as I dressed I realised that for the first time in a week I had no need of the dog collar!
As a curate and then running the intergnum it was an every day thing....even on my day off you could never be sure that it wouldn't be needed.
The first time I wore it was very special....I parked in Truro to walk to the Cathedral feeling very exposed...I truly believed everyone would be looking at me. As several hundred people in dog collars were walking in the same direction that was nonsense of course.
It's a strange concept, the clerical collar. No other profession wears a symbol. A doctor does not walk the streets with his stethoscope on show, teachers have no bit of chalk stuck behind their ears....a lawyer only wears a wig in court.....but priests...always...if we are working....
It does have some unexpected benefits. The traffic wardens tend to be kinder and the police have more than once waved me through traffic to get me to a service....
To add to this scenario I always have a small notice to put on my dashboard when parking in a dodgy place. It reads..."Rev Jean Rolt is visiting here today" so far so good!
Yesterday doing a funeral visit close to where I used to live I left it to find two people waiting to say hello having seen the notice.
The people who bought my Beetle from me found my old notice in the dashboard and tell me they have been very tempted to use it on occasions.....
Today I am neither parking my car anywhere or wearing the collar. After a week back at work I am claiming the inalienable right to a day off.....
I had forgotten how tiring it can be!
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