Glasses crisis

A visit to St Mary's Bute Street late this morning to celebrate the Eucharist. I left my reading glasses behind, and to my horror found that the print in almost every text I had to read from was too small to be useful. I was quite unprepared for this. My memory is quite reliable, but I still need to be able to see the service book for visual cues, not to mention reading scripture. Thankfully, churchwarden Iris loaned me hers, and they were just the right magnification.

It's silly, I often go out carrying two pairs, but the only ones I store normally in the car are driving glasses, but not even these were in their usual place because I'd taken them indoors to try using them for watching telly, to see if it made for sharper viewing. Well, not much. But I forgot to return them to where they belong. As soon as I got back home, I found a spare pair of reading glasses and a pouch to keep them in, and stowed them in the glove compartment for future emergencies. No more panics!

After lunch, I spent some time writing, and then went for a stroll around Thompson's Park with my camera. The huge tree which blew down a month ago still lies where it fell. Nothing has been done to take away the branches, nor to repair the path damaged by the upheaval of tree roots, nor re-instate the bench that was on the path. The tree is stable where it lies, and has begun to sprout leaves but there's a large hollow where up-ended roots tore at the tarmac, into which a mischievous child could easily slip. I could hear two kinds of tits and a robin advertising themselves, and got a couple of indifferent photos of one of the pair of Great Tits I saw. Then there was another bird with a distinctively different song, of which I got a better photo, at the limits of my telephoto lens, and I think it's a Goldfinch.

I cooked an an early supper, so that I could drive to Penarth for a bereavement visit in preparation for a funeral on Tuesday. It was so pleasant to be out on a sunlit evening for a change. The extra hour makes all the difference. When I got back I had a funeral order of service to prepare, and a sermon to finalize, both of which were sandwiched around two hours watching 'Follow the money', which is still compelling viewing. Slowly I am picking out recognizable Danish words that are like German or English equivalents, at least, according to the subtitles. It provides an extra level of interest to the entertainment.

Solemn Mass at St German's again this morning. Next weekend Ann is coming, so I'll just go to church with her and Clare. It'll be my first Sunday off since just before Christmas. Then, the Sunday after we'll all be in Sta Pola together. Clare and I haven't been there for four and a half years. Looking forward to a sunny holiday (hopefully), it's nine months since I was last in Spain, and I've missed it so much.