Equinox Sunday

Another beautiful blue sky sunny day for the Spring Equinox. More daylight than darkness for the next six months. Perhaps it's the impact of the cataracts that has made this winter taxing on my morale. Well, we'll see what difference the operation makes in two weeks time. 

I walked to St Luke's to celebrate the Eucharist after breakfast. There were fourteen of us, nearly half of the regular congregation was missing, including the thurifer and the intercessor. The organist was meant to be reading and didn't arrive until the last minute which caused a minor panic. I had to hunt for the relevant liturgy books as they'd been put away. As I'm not at Saint Luke's very often I didn't know where they were kept, but by the end of the first hymn, everything was under control.

There was a young man in the congregation who told me afterwards that it was his first time to attend a  service years, after dropping out of a church on the other side of the city. He said he found it moving and powerful. The friend who brought him arrived with a bag of superb sticky buns to share from Alex Gooch the artisanal baker in Pontcanna Mews. It was unfortunate that the lady meant to serve coffee after Mass wasn't there - self isolating I think. But it was a very nice surprise anyway!

After lunch, I sat down to relax and do my daily Spanish drill, and when I finished, fell asleep for two and three quarter hours, although I had been in bed eight hours and didn't feel particularly tired. What I notice however, is that I felt quite relaxed after my siesta and enjoyed my late afternoon walk in the Spring sunshine. A heron was on watch close to the bank near the weir, fishing for eels  in the shallows. 

Twice I heard a splash mid-river further down, but could see nobody within stone throwing range, was this the sound of salmon jumping, making its way up into the Beacons to spawn? The time is right, so I believe. 

Nothing much of interest on telly tonight, so I started watching 'All the sins', a  Finnish crimmie set in a rural region dominated by a puritanical Lutheran sect I'd never heard of before, portraying the impact its behaviour has on the wider society it is a part of.

UN observers are saying that the war in Ukraine has displaced a quarter of the population, ten million people from their homes. Three and a half million have fled the country, and there's no sign of Russia curbing its murderous onslaught on Ukrainian cities. President Zelensky has called on Israel to consider its 'neutral' position in relation to the conflict. As a Jew he has the moral authority to talk to him about the genocide of Ukrainian people and culture. Israel has a convenient understanding with Russia about not hindering the Israeli pursuit of Hezbollah insurgents in Syria, which has  resulted in Israel refraining from judgement about the invasion of Ukraine. I wonder what Isaiah or Jeremiah would make of this?