The local Covid testing site seemed yesterday to be in the Burgh Hall car park, and seemed quiet. Getting access to tests and getting results back quickly has become a major source of frustration and debate around the country. I know of some folk in Cambridge who were told by the nursery to get a child with a high temperature tested, and the online system offered Inverness. There are obviously problems with the system and the communications. It is easy to use it for political point-scoring either way, but underneath there are a lot of individuals and families whose lives are being messed up by problems with the testing system, from patients waiting to go into hospital, to NHS and care staff, to teachers, to pupils and so on. As well as hoping and praying that the problems are fixed quickly, let’s remember those who are directly affected by issues with the system
Lord, help us to appreciate how fortunate we are to have a testing system. It needs to be better. Help all those working to improve it, and be with all those waiting for it to happen
St Columba was born in Donegal, part of a powerful royal family that ruled much of the North of Ireland.He trained as a monk and became a priest. He was an impressive figure, a scholar and able administrator. He founded a number of monastic communities which were places of worship, learning and mission – Derry, Kells, Durrow and Iona. He left Ireland in circumstances that are not entirely clear, and went to Dalriada (Argyll) where the (Irish) king granted him the island of Iona. It became a base for missions up and down the Western seaboard of Scotland, and beyond. He corresponded with the King based at Dumbarton. Legends about Columba grew up after his death, including the first recorded encounter with the Loch Ness Monster!
