As expected, St Paul's Grangetown was three quarters full for Tuesday morning's funeral. A family member give a delightful eulogy, much of which consisted of hilarious extracts from her Gran's letters, written to her during the three years she was away at University. These were an affectionate narrative of observations about everyday life and and remarks about family members which had people smiling if not laughing aloud with recognition. What a remarkable way to bring the memory of a person alive. The rest of the day I spent working at home on CBS affairs.
Wednesday morning, I celebrated the midweek Mass at St German's and chatted with people in the church hall afterwards, then again spent the rest of the day working at home on CBS affairs, and didn't even go out for some exercise to take advantage of slightly better weather. How dull and inert I can be on times.
We heard yesterday that Clare's godmother Auntie Daphne had been admitted to hospital with a stroke. She's in her eighties, and it's serious, albeit early days. It's going to be imossible to get to see her before we go away. I wonder if we will see her or even be able to talk to her again on the phone.
This morning, another funeral at St Paul's Grangetown, my last assignment before we go away. There was a cold wind blowing into a cold church when the doors were opened. It was cold at the graveside in Thornhill cemetery afterwards, and I wish I'd bothered to put a long sleeved pullover on under my jacket. These days, even if it's bright and sunny there can still be a wintry chill in the air, so it's easy to get caught out by changeable weather. Clare is already in the throes of packing to go to Spain next week, wondering how changeable the weather will be there, but already it's 8-10 degrees warmer than here, and that makes clouds and rain a bit more bearable.
After lunch I went into the office and did the necessary banking preparation on-line to pay Ian's salary while I'm away. I also went to the branch which handles our business bank accounts to present the signature change mandate, only to have the correct documents rejected again, on the grounds that two of the signatories are not HSBC customers. The fact that I countersigned all of the identity and address documents presented to verify them was unacceptable to the bank. The individuals need to present themselves with the appropriate papers in person at one of their branches, to someone assigned to process identity documents, who is most likely not to know them personally
I have been countersigning to verify passport photographs, and pension fund identity documents for people I know personally for the past forty years, and this is considered acceptable confirmation to Her Majesty's Government. I can still legally solemnise a marriage at which I have officiated, and commit a dead body to the ground with a word of legal authority that requires a legal exhumation order to undo. Banks however, play by their own rules, nationally and internationally, and they have taken us all hostage, by making the world over-dependent on their services and infrastructure, which despite their security regimes contain criminal activity of all kind. They get away with it because of the impersonal nature of data abstracted from social context. De-valuing the authority of personal knowledge and trust based on real relationships will ultimately do the world no good, and leave many people craving for the real security of knowing and being known.
This morning, another funeral at St Paul's Grangetown, my last assignment before we go away. There was a cold wind blowing into a cold church when the doors were opened. It was cold at the graveside in Thornhill cemetery afterwards, and I wish I'd bothered to put a long sleeved pullover on under my jacket. These days, even if it's bright and sunny there can still be a wintry chill in the air, so it's easy to get caught out by changeable weather. Clare is already in the throes of packing to go to Spain next week, wondering how changeable the weather will be there, but already it's 8-10 degrees warmer than here, and that makes clouds and rain a bit more bearable.
After lunch I went into the office and did the necessary banking preparation on-line to pay Ian's salary while I'm away. I also went to the branch which handles our business bank accounts to present the signature change mandate, only to have the correct documents rejected again, on the grounds that two of the signatories are not HSBC customers. The fact that I countersigned all of the identity and address documents presented to verify them was unacceptable to the bank. The individuals need to present themselves with the appropriate papers in person at one of their branches, to someone assigned to process identity documents, who is most likely not to know them personally
I have been countersigning to verify passport photographs, and pension fund identity documents for people I know personally for the past forty years, and this is considered acceptable confirmation to Her Majesty's Government. I can still legally solemnise a marriage at which I have officiated, and commit a dead body to the ground with a word of legal authority that requires a legal exhumation order to undo. Banks however, play by their own rules, nationally and internationally, and they have taken us all hostage, by making the world over-dependent on their services and infrastructure, which despite their security regimes contain criminal activity of all kind. They get away with it because of the impersonal nature of data abstracted from social context. De-valuing the authority of personal knowledge and trust based on real relationships will ultimately do the world no good, and leave many people craving for the real security of knowing and being known.
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