This is the one we've waited waited for

In the last week two things I have waited for for a very long time became a reality.

The first is that I've finally managed to secure a job as a real, bona fide vicar. After a couple of unsuccessful interviews I finally found a place I really like where the people seem to like me too (based on the slightly unreal context of an interview day). So, St Mary's Wythall and Hollywood, here we come!

When I say it's taken a long time to happen, that could apply to the six weeks between the interview and finally being allowed to make the announcement, or the three months notice period I've just started. But what I was really talking about was the 10 1/2 years between actually beginning to pursue this and it happening.

In summer 2001 I walked into St Paul's, Leamington, found the incumbent and said simply "Hello - my name's Rich - I want to be a vicar." Having been a free evangelical for three years but still sensing a call back to the C of E I grew up in, the only thing I could sensibly do was find a suitable Anglican church, bed down in it and see what happened. Two years later Rev Jee sent off a nice letter to the Bishop agreeing with me, and after a couple more years of questions, essays and a selection conference Mel and I were off to college. For another three years. And then, there was the curacy - having learned in theory how to be a vicar I had to learn again, this time in the real world. And this summer I finally got the bishop to also agree, so here I am at 31 doing some last minute practice on teethy smiles and limp handshakes so Birmingham, here we come.

Perhaps the only thing I've been waiting for longer has been the resurrection of the Stone Roses, and after tuning in to their press conference last Tuesday and spending a frustrating hour on ticketmaster websites on Friday, I now have four shiny tickets for one of the world's greatest bands. What the world is waiting for - indeed.