Balham...

...Catholic church, dedicated to the Holy Ghost, is in a corner of an agreeable square and has a cosy feel on an Autumn evening. Busy parish, and a very young one, lots of families with small children. FORUM CHRISTI is a Sunday evening gathering for the late-teens-and-twenties. Good atmosphere, warm welcome, tolerance of my less than slick use of power-point in talk on Papa Benedict, shared enthusiasm for the subject, real engagement and interest, and several people bought my books!

John Pontifex was there, having just run a half-marathon around Tooting Common raising funds for Aid to the Church in Need (see yesterday's Blog - helping beleagured Christians in the Holy Land). He had gone home, showered, changed, and was at the meeting full of energy!

I had begun the day in my own parish, where there was a Fayre in aid of the young people going to World Youth Day. I bought some nice things for Christmas ( hidden now in cupboard. Makes one feel v. smug to be so well prepared this early) and chatted to two students from Wonersh seminary who were there for the day - most encouraging. There was also a most gratifying moment when a lovely reader of this blog told me she'd bought some of my crab apple jelly!

From there I cycled to Carshalton, where Mother and I had our usual agreeable Sunday afternoon walk and Tea - seagulls around Carshalton Ponds as they have flown in from the coast as Autumn gathers, children shrieking and squeaking on the swings and slides in the park by The Grove. After seeing M. on to the bus, I cycled off, following the Wandle river down to Mitcham. I have lived this this corner of the world from childhood but never followed the Wandle along this stretch - there's a whole area that is really semi-rural tucked in between Mitcham and Colliers Wood, lots of it, with suburban houses facing away from an enchanting river-path, and clear water gurgling along with trees and grassy areas...then you emerge into South London proper, and are back on that great road that was old in Saxon times, and today is all Asian shops, and a great Islamic centre, and lively cafes and street-stalls, and shops selling great sticky sweets after Ramadan.

After my talk at Balham I cycled all the way home, so I must have covered a good many miles in all. I passed what was my old office when I worked on the South London News - it's now an ordinary shop. It was shabby and tired when I worked there in the 80s, and there was a horrible scary basement reached by a trap-door, where the old back copies were stacked. No one ever went there except to haul up an old bound volume for research when writing the "fifty years ago" snippet each week. Huge spiders, and a dusty placard on the wall which, through its layers of grime, still read "Please leave this air-raid shelter as you would like to find it".