Getting straight at last

I went to the Ascension Day Sung Eucharist last night at the Cathedral. Haydn's Little Organ Mass was sung making it a rather splendid occasion. However, I could have done without the Benedictus being sung. After a suitably brief and bright Sanctus, the Benedictus is actually a five minute organ solo, two minutes of which is the choral rendition of the words themselves. It means that today's celebrant is left standing at the altar waiting to continue the Eucharistic prayer in a most incongruous way. At the time it was written, the priest would have continued post-Sanctus with the silent recitation of the Canon of the Mass, as far as the elevation of the host, to which the Benedictus would be the acclamation, but this is not what is done any more, so really a liturgical re-think is in order to give proper value both to the Eucharistic prayer and the music.

This week we've cleared the remainder of spare stuff from the Vicarage garage, and emptied all the boxes, at home except those containing pictures waiting to be hung. There's not a pile of empties awaiting retrieval by the removers, store in the Vicarage garage - there's no space for them at home, storing everything we need and all we've decided to keep rather than dispose of has been quite an exercise. Fortunately Clare is brilliant at creating storage solutions, and has made lots of extra shelves for our cosy lounge and the dining room, so all is now fairly ship shape. We just need to hang pictures, and that's a cause of some indecision, as many of our art works belong in the much larger Vicarage rooms, which we have now left behind for good. So a big re-think is needed, and our attachments to some of our 'cultural' possessions needs re-assessment.

We have a phone at home, but still no internet. It's made me realise how dependent we've become both for staying in touch with people but also for acquiring up to date information on so many mundane matters. I've done several afternoon sessions of voluntary work for Cardiff Business Safe this week, which at least has given me the opportunity to check emails in the makeshift office, and also at home using a wireless dongle, although this is awkward, as the only place with a decent consistent signal is the attic bedroom. It's given me a personal insight into why universal high quality  broadband supply and access is such a political hot potato. Hopefully, it'll be back to normal by the middle of next week.