Well, the feast of the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary or Lady Day as it was known in the old British civil calendar, one of the four Quarter Days of the year on which rent is normally due for those who pay four times a year. It's one of the twelve great feasts of the world church calendar, so merits a mention under lock-down even if it cannot be observed with a celebration in the usual way. Thank heavens for Morning and Evening Prayer.
The Catholic Bishop of Portsmouth was on BBC Radio Four's Thought for the Day this morning, reflecting on Mary's readiness to accept whatever God asked of her, and suggesting so should we in this time of plague. Although TFTD is often based on ideas and reflections taken from scripture, it's often done so without direct reference to God, just in case the Secular Society uses it as leverage to get rid of Thought for the Day anyway.
A cold, wet and overcast day, but busy too with supportive phone calls and messages. Rosi sent me the Ibiza Vice Consul's email address, so that I could write to her personally, just in case my message left on the website last night got filtered out, regarded as cranky by a desk officer who didn't understand its intention, or a badly trained A.I. program. I had a positive, friendly response from her, and a promise to pass on my offer of telephone pastoral support should the occasion arise in her work zone. I'm glad that Owain prompted me to make the effort to contact the Consulate.
As it was raining, I did the first hour of my afternoon walk back and forth through the downstairs flat on to the covered front patio and back porch. The rain stopped and I completed the second hour on the usual circuit around the outside of the house. I started thinking about making use of the phone's video capabilities, something I have done very little. Just for fun I videoed the walking course I was taking and talked through it, to see what the quality was like. The result was pleasing, albeit rough. I uploaded it to YouTube via my Chromebook later, and sent the link to family members, for interest.
It then occurred to me that I could record a self-introductory video message for the chaplaincy website, and set about doing that, after spending two more hours on the phone to family and friends. It's not so easy talking straight to camera continuously like that, as I had to, with no means of editing footage. It's probably forty years since I last had to do that for a televised broadcast service after the St Pauls riots - the last major social crisis I was witness to. Forty years ago already? Yes, in just over a week's time. It doesn't seem possible.
A cold, wet and overcast day, but busy too with supportive phone calls and messages. Rosi sent me the Ibiza Vice Consul's email address, so that I could write to her personally, just in case my message left on the website last night got filtered out, regarded as cranky by a desk officer who didn't understand its intention, or a badly trained A.I. program. I had a positive, friendly response from her, and a promise to pass on my offer of telephone pastoral support should the occasion arise in her work zone. I'm glad that Owain prompted me to make the effort to contact the Consulate.
As it was raining, I did the first hour of my afternoon walk back and forth through the downstairs flat on to the covered front patio and back porch. The rain stopped and I completed the second hour on the usual circuit around the outside of the house. I started thinking about making use of the phone's video capabilities, something I have done very little. Just for fun I videoed the walking course I was taking and talked through it, to see what the quality was like. The result was pleasing, albeit rough. I uploaded it to YouTube via my Chromebook later, and sent the link to family members, for interest.
It then occurred to me that I could record a self-introductory video message for the chaplaincy website, and set about doing that, after spending two more hours on the phone to family and friends. It's not so easy talking straight to camera continuously like that, as I had to, with no means of editing footage. It's probably forty years since I last had to do that for a televised broadcast service after the St Pauls riots - the last major social crisis I was witness to. Forty years ago already? Yes, in just over a week's time. It doesn't seem possible.
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