‘Calm down dears‘ says the official spokesman for the Church of England (Please try not to be so patronising, if you don’t want another Peasants’ Revolt on your hands).  It seems that we have neglected to take the elementary precaution like the Vatican of locking our Cantuar selectors in a room, and feeding them on a diet of gruel and water, until they come to a conclusion. The British weekend, unbelievably, takes precedence. Just as well the decision is not urgent or important, then. Perhaps their rules of life derive from those who fought Asterix the Gaul, but those Britons only stopped for tea.

Of course, it could be a sign from above that the Almighty thinks the list of possible candidates contains several huge omissions. Geraldine Grainger became Vicar of Dibley in 1994. By now, she would have had 18 years (at least) service in the priesthood, and in any normal part of the Anglican Communion would have undoubtedly been raised to the episcopate by now.
Lest you think this is proof, if further proof were needed, that Lay Anglicana has finally lost her marbles, I am putting forward this idea at the suggestion of our New Zealand brethren, who have already secured enthusiastic assent from many in The Episcopal Church of North America. The Revd Bosco Peters invites us all to sign his petition:

The time has come to move from bearded and bushy to the “babe with a bob cut and a magnificent bosom”. Bring back joy and laughter to being a Christian – no no no no no no yes?!

Here is a link to Bosco’s blog post, ‘Failing to agree on Archbishop of Canterbury’

[UPDATE: in response to people’s angst, I have re-opened the online petition to The Crown Nominations Commission and Britain’s Prime Minister: That Geraldine Granger be appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by the Queen. SIGN UP – tell your friends]

p.s. this Southern-hemisphere blogger is  a little surprised, in the present state of the Communion, at how many Anglicans still live on a flat earth. By “an announcement is expected during the autumn“, for those of us having moved on to accepting the world is round, for half the planet they mean “the Spring”! [Unless they are really going to drag it out…]

p.p.s. For those of you who can cope with the “F” word – they were secretly filming the meeting (as you know they do!)

There has been much talk on twitter about the need to select a candidate who shows true humility. This was in response to a post in turn from an Archdruid, no less. I invite you to inspect closely the photograph of the Revd Geraldine Grainger illustrating this piece, which seems to me to be the epitome of humility. ‘Who, me?’ she seems to call to us…

Of course, if we are really desperate – and I hear you object that the Vicar of Dibley was a fictional character – we could always ask Dawn French to fill the post. Cyberspace is now full of references to those made Archbishop of Canterbury without previously having been ordained.