Wednesday


A HAPPY DAY

My feet hardly seem to have touched the ground we returned from Rome, and this hasty note is to keep faith with my readers.....Sunday was a very happy day, spent looking after a family of lively and delightful children. We had long promised the A.-G. family that we'd give them some babysitting time, and on Sunday the parents had to go out for the day, so I went to take over, doing lunch and spending a wonderful afternoon in the garden in the sunshine....the children were building a treehouse, and we also played "statues" (you whirl them round, then let go - they then "freeze" in whatever position they are in, and you look at them and decide what each one is - a swimmer who has just staggered out after a cross-Channel attempt, a murder victim writhing on the ground, a pop singer swaggering with a microphone,etc etc.... then at a given signal they must all start to act out these roles, to everyone's noisy enjoyment, and on another signal stop and freeze again. First to move is out, last one in swings everyone else round and the game starts again.....). We ate roast chicken, and were settled with a lively game of "Monopoly" when the parents returned and the day finished when Jamie came to join in and we all had pancakes.....Jamie always throws children around, turns them upside down etc, while they shriek and plead for more. Fortunately the roast chicken, pancakes etc stayed inside....

Monday saw Tea at the House of Lords, with David Alton as host.....two American visitors, Robert Royal, author of excellent book "Martyrs of the 20th century", Prof John O'Callaghan of Notre Dame University.....lots of good conversation. David had just come from the debate about the future of the Lords, and returned there as we finished tea....

In the evening, a most interesting talk at the Catholic Cultural Group by Philip Goddard, on the origins of the Holy Week ceremonies. It was fascinating to learn about how Christians of the early centuries in Jerusalem marked Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday....interesting to note that some things, such as the Mandatum with its washing of feet, are actually later arrivals (it seems to have started in monasteries where the care of guests was seen as linked with Christ's washing of the Apostles' feet....) . Of course there are all sorts of differences between those early times and now, but what seemed to me remarkable was how much is the same, especially in the celebration of Easter, and baptism - the very words of renouncing Satan and all his works, the donning of a white garment, and so on. And the reading of Christ's Passion, and waving of plams in procession on Palm Sunday....well, it could be a description of any and every parish in which I have ever marked that day.

Yesterday, Tuesday, involved a good deal of hurrying about: talk on "Celebrating traditional feasts and seasons" at an Anglican Mothers' Union in Coulsdon (lovely church, daffoldils nodding in pretty churchyard, friendly people, and we looked at everything from Hot Cross Buns to how to colour eggs with nettles or onion skins, from the origins of the word "Shrove" to the intricacies of the Julian and Gregorian calendars.....). Then on to London, tea at Newman House in Gower Street, Catholic chaplaincy for University of London. The chaplain, Father Peter, is a friend and joined us at a cheery and talkative tea.... incidentally, their Palm Sunday procession is a real sight to enjoy, as they walk down Gower Street with massive bunches of plams aloft....My most agreeable nephew G. presided at tea with generous platefuls of buns and it was all deeply enjoyable. Home late as mild problems with trains.