An ordination, a wedding, and breakfast with the Police Ombudsman!

Not quite three weddings and a funeral - more like three women and a busy weekend. The more unusual activities included attending an ordination, a wedding, finished off with breakfast with Nuala O'Loan (and about thirty other men).

The ordination was encouraging, seeing the calling of a woman with a passionate faith and a compelling personality recognised as she finishes her training and starts out working in a new parish. A reminder too that it takes more than just a minister/pastor/priest to create a congregation that is vibrant and makes a difference in its community.

The wedding was good too. Relaxed, fun, with a beautiful bride and a natty groom. Good food (a BBQ), interesting guests and short speeches. And enough of a breeze to blow the biodegradable confetti around the happy couple's faces for the photos.

Finally, Saturday morning started earlier than felt natural. A "mens breakfast". I'm not entirely sure why single sex organisations like this continue to exist.

Maybe its a throw-back to professional working environments in years gone by, which had mostly male groups working together, and then continuing to socialise together outside of work. And in response to the plethora of women's organisations, men fought back to have their own clubs?

But in today's world, I'm not as convinced it's necessary to divide genders. I'm sure we'd have learnt as much, maybe more, if there had women in the room asking questions too.

Nuala O'Loan is the Police Ombudsman, heading up the organisation for the last six and a half years, with her appointment coming to a close on 5 November this year. Having given up the early part of hew Saturday morning, and after a hearty breakfast of scrambled egg, bacon and sausages, she spoke very personally on the subject of her "faith journey", filling out some of the story of the woman behind the public persona.

She came across as someone very serious about her job, working incredibly hard in difficult circumstances. Someone who had made significant sacrifices (along with her family) to keep serving Northern Ireland in the way she's been called to do.

Someone whose faith was real, and whose faith positively impacted her work and her relationships. Someone too very proud of her staff, and the work they do, and very mindful of the citizens who come through the door of the Police Ombudsman's offices just across the road from St Anne's Cathedral looking for explanation, closure and justice.

Much of the media attention around her work is bound up in a series of major reports - the Omagh Investigation and more recently the McCord Report. Lots of mud slinging, political recriminations, personal attacks and sometimes less analysis of the report contents than of the messenger.

It certainly altered my perception of the Police Ombudsman's office, what they're about, and their way of working. After her opening remarks, Nuala answered questions for about half an hour, talking about everything from Ballymena ("it's got the best shopping centre") to the Chinese Walls that operate within families where details about work can't be discussed.

She also talked about how she dealt with the near-fatal attack on her son last year (and there have been other attacks on her family in the past more directly related to her job) and about her sadness (rather than relief) that her role as Ombudsman is coming to an end.

Having heard and seen Nuala O'Loan, I'd stick my neck out and say she's the right woman for the job. That's my Blink! reaction. And despite being kicked around like a football in the middle of a particularly rough match, if she wasn't unpopular with so many stakeholders, she wouldn't be doing her job thoroughly enough. (Though the stats on their website show a healthy regard by the public, but less so within the PSNI itself.)

A varied weekend with three very different women. Wonder how it'll compare to a coconut orchestra?