This morning I celebrated the midweek Mass at St German's. No school class was present this week as it's their half term holiday. Afterwards, I met with Annemarie and Marcus to take them through their paces for a service of blessing on their civil marriage which I prepared last night. They have been together ten years, growing a family, holding together through thick and thin, and feel they have a lot to thank God for. That'll be on Friday afternoon. I've heard from Judith in Nerja that I have another four wedding blessings to perform in the coming weeks. It remains to be seen if any of these couples will have their three children walking them to the altar!
This afternoon I had a phone call from the Europe diocesan office about possible locum duty next year in Malaga, vacant again surprisingly soon. That's quite an exciting prospect, which could mean spending a few months living in the heart of that busting sea-port city with a fantastic cultural life. I relish the thought of being there for Lent and for Semana Santa, after the wonderful experience of visiting there from Fuengirola in 2014. Malaga chaplaincy is the oldest in Spain, with its English cemetery dating back to 1831. There's a lot of fascinating history to look forward to discovering there about the past two centuries of expatriate life in Southern Spain.
Later in the day, I went into the office for a couple of hours to meet Ashley and sort out some documentation for him to work on. There's still a lot of tidying up to be done after the great switch-over, but I won't be able to do much more before leaving for Nerja. The clock seems to have speeded up lately. On the way home, on the 61 bus, I was taken by the sight of a young couple with their two daughters, both under five getting on the bus. The elder of the children was carefully carrying a small plastic tank with a handle, filled with water and containing several goldfish. She sat tightly next to her dad, who was also coping with the younger more fidgety child on his knee. I could see smiles on the faces of other passengers too. A lovely moment.
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