Cathedral closed

When I left home to drive to St German's this morning at ten fifteen, I took my usual route through the city centre only to find the road was already closed to traffic because of the Accession Proclamation at the Castle at the junction with Cathedral Road. When Castle Street was closed to traffic previously, diversion signs were erected one junction earlier at the junction with Neville Street, but not today. There was a large vehicle in front of me and I only saw the 'road closed' signs opposite when it turned into Cathedral Road. Rather than attempt a U-turn, I turned right down Lower Cathedral Road, as the junction was clear and it was safe to do so. But this is a no right turn junction. Verboten. I shall spend the next few days waiting to see if this was caught on camera and whether I get fined for doing this. Why this change of established traffic management practice? And where were the traffic Police when needed? This rather upset me.

There were twenty three of us for the Mass at St German's, with black vestments and requiem prayers for Queen Elizabeth. I suspect some members of the regular congregation were simply unable to reach church because of diverted traffic on the north side of the city centre.

Llandaff Cathedral has been completely closed since Friday in preparation for King Charles' first visit to Wales since his accession. That means no Sunday services, except one on-line this morning. I've heard the astonishment in people's voices when talking about this. There's much to organise for an historic service for sure, with representatives of Wales' national and local government, judiciary, statutory and voluntary organisations, plus the armed forces, all in attendance. 

The concentration of society's leadership all in one place at the same time poses a major risk to national security if anything should go wrong. I imagine the security threat level will be treated as high if not critical to ensure everything passes without incident. Closing the Cathedral for a week may be justified on those grounds, as much as for getting the building ready to accommodate a large crowd and media broadcasters. With a Church school just five hundred metres from the Cathedral, I  can't understand why one or more Eucharists couldn't have been celebrated in the school hall instead. Or has the church now become over dependent on virtual participation in the sacraments?

I walked up to the Cathedral after lunch. The doors were shut, but the lights were on inside. There were no noticeable extra security precautions or cordoned off areas. I could hear the choir rehearsing Psalm 121 in the Prebendal House at the hour when normally they'd be singing Evensong. It's hard to make sense of any of this.

I whiled away the evening in front of the telly, watching an Italian series about an ex-cop investigating the death of his own son after he finds the circumstances reported don't match the reality he uncovers. Then, another un-nerving bewildering episode of 'The Capture' in which the story about cyber-crime and video fakery turns into a political thriller.

Twenty years today since the Twin Towers massacre in New York. How the world has changed in the light of that terrible event.