This morning, I attended the Eucharist at St Catherine's, then returned home and changed, ready to be collected for a funeral service at Pidgeon's Chapel, then the crem. It was well attended, as the deceased had been a member of Canton Liberal Club for over forty years, and worked locally as a painter and decorator. It was an unusual occasion, as immediate family members made comments to me and each other during the service, in quite a participatory way, as they might if they were in the audience at a club stand up comedy event. There was no disrespect intended and it wasn't disruptive, it was just inhibited good humoured participation, as it does naturally in pentecostal churches as well as comedy clubs. It was a refreshing change from the stony passivity of congregations at most conventional funeral services. I think it encouraged me to be more relaxed and spontaneous, in my usual quite formal exercise of ministry among strangers.
When I got home, I started thinking about the router access problem, which has been bugging me for days. There was one thing I hadn't done, which I've had to do several times when attempting to log into wi-fi when first arriving at chaplaincy assignments in Spain and that's take a photo and magnify it to see if I misread anything. Sure enough there was. The ambiguous password letter wasn't zero or big O but Q with a tail printed so tiny it looked like a blemish on the label. Instant success revealing nothing out of order, normal functioning, confirming lousy connectivity. Thank heavens for this much at least.
Yesterday evening and tonight, Channel 5 has treated us to a feast of archaeological discoveries, excavation projects as they are happening this year. It's hosted by actor Tony Robinson who hosted the archaeology programme 'Time Team' for 25 years. He's an enthusiast for what he's presenting, and you're naturally drawn in by his fascination. The photography reveals stunning landscapes in gold green and blue colours, enough to get me pondering about a trip to Egypt. Tony talks straight to camera, and is followed into the most awkward of physical locations. There must be a strong bond of trust and mutual respect between him and his
Tonight's episode was filmed mostly at the Necropolis on the hill above the Nile at Aswan. Previous digs over the past century have uncovered many sites which indicate the grandeur and status of this city of the dead, but so much more is buried under drifting sand after twenty centuries. The site dates back 4,500 years and may contain thousands of tombs, some with grand processional entrances yet to be uncovered. I wonder what sort of ritual and ceremonies were carried out on the day a tomb received its occupant? What's so amazing are burial chamber walls covered with frescoes that have not seen the light of day for three to four thousand years and yet appear fresh and bright as they did on the day the tomb was sealed after burial, if not when it was robbed. I wonder if there'll be any more programmes to follow up, after this outstanding two-parter?
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