Thursday 5 July 2018

Ministry duties and time out

Rachel's was eventually re-united with her luggage, yesterday evening after anxious web checking and a transatlantic help desk call. A relief it's not lost, as it contained a few vital pieces of equipment and a folder with print outs of all her song lyrics she uses as an aide-memoire during performances.

I celebrated the midweek Eucharist at St Catherine's, and at St John's this morning. I was collected from the church after the latter service and driven to Thornhill for a funeral straight after. There were thirty people in the Briwnant chapel to say farewell to a nonogenarian. Often for someone that age it can be half a dozen. It makes a difference if there's an extended family, which isn't always the case these days, and if the person who's died has been active and living at home until recently. If a person is hospitalised or in a care home for years with Alzheimer's and single, they can easily slip from common memory, except for the closest of friends and carers. Sad indeed.

The chapel manager greeted me with 'Long time no see', which made me realise that although I have been in Thornhill recently for a burial, I haven't officiated at a cremation service here since last August. How time flies without me noticing it!

I got back in time for lunch, and spent the afternoon catching up on various crime movie series I like to watch, while Mother and Daughter went shopping for a new dress to wear for Saturday's gig. I completed watching 'Nit y Dia', on More 4's Walter Presents showcase, great for international drama series. It presented interesting insights into the dark side of the characters of responsible professional public servants.

It was filmed and produced in Barcelona, and is mostly in Catalan with a few characters speaking in Castilian Spanish. With the subtitles, and improved knowledge of Spanish, I found I was able to make sense of much more of the Catalan spoken that I'd imagined. It maybe due to the pace. Following movies in Castilian or Andalusian Spanish is harder because the dialogue is faster and speech seems more blurred. It'll take years to get used to.

After supper and rehearsal time, Rachel and I took a sunset walk, down to Blackweir bridge and enjoyed the cool of the evening, catching sight of the resident heron. The photos weren't very satisfactory as light levels dropped, however, not good for long zoom shots across the river.

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