The dog collar is fascinating to people, when it doesn't repel. I've got used to being shouted at in the street.
Food as sport is nothing new. To a vicar, especially, church catering has represented the conduct of war by other means for many years.
Trying to do Christianity properly is tough. Life as a priest is rigorous and disciplined. It involves sacrifices.
In the church I am very accountable, to the parish and the deanery; in the media thing I am not really accountable, I am out there on my own as a sort of busy, recognised religious person.
I remember in one parish a terrible row over the ideal size of mince pies, and in another two great ladies dashing trays of pancakes to the vicarage floor in a controversy over whether to roll or to fold. But the real arena for food combat is television.
I don't think of myself as a maverick at all. Quite the opposite - I really think of myself as quite conventional but dispersed over unusual territory.
