Mixing with the clergy.

Now you've probably gathered that I'm not exactly enamoured by religion. In fact my opinion is that religion is a harmful virus that should be removed from the human race. However I'm prepared to admit that individual practicioners of various religious faiths, misguided though I think they may be, are actually rather good eggs who I do not want to set fire to. One such individual is the Right Reverend John Austin, assistant Bishop of Leicester.

You see I've been looking after his mobile phone for him.

I happened upon it last night when I flopped onto the train, bit of a tatty old Nokia but charged up and working. I tried a few numbers off the recently called list but no luck. On getting home Mrs Dracunculus took charge. Now Mrs D as part of her job tracks down people's friends and family (usually in otder to make them part with their cash!) so is as good as the Funky Corpse Prodding Squad when it comes down to tracking people down and in two minutes is chatting away to the guy's daughter.

Anyway an hour or so later the phone's owner rings me up and we arrange to meet to get his phone back to him. All I know is that he's called John and he's in town for a day or two. Anyway I put the phone in with the rest of the hoard so it'll be safe and the following morning trundle off to the office.

At this point I get a phone call from his secretary (whose answering machine I got last night when ringing random entries from his phone) - at this point I find out he's a bishop. As my work colleagues pointed out I could have had some real fun with that knowledge and his phone but I'm a nice dragon really.

Bishop John dropped by in the afternoon to collect his phone and, quite unexepectedly, insisted I took a bottle of wine he's bought as a thank-you which was a very nice surprise.

So there you go - dragons mixing with the clergy. Maybe there is hope for the world after all.