A bright blue sky greeted me when I got up this morning. On my drive across town to celebrate Mass at St German's I was delighted to find the New Year's Day concert from Vienna being broadcast live. Such a cheery start to the day. We were two dozen of us celebrating the Naming and Circumcision of Jesus, and in honour of the 250 anniversary of the first occasion when John Newton's anthemic hymn 'Amazing Grace', we sang it just after I preached, mentioning it in conclusion.
An unscheduled hymn was slipped in at the last moment at my request, having climbed up the long narrow staircase to the organ loft to ask Brian the organist if we could do this. As the readings were shorter than usual, the extra hymn didn't lengthen the service which normally lasts about one hour and fifteen minutes. As I left church and drove home for lunch, the Vienna concert was just coming to its conclusion with the traditional Radetzky March, accompanied by audience hand clapping led by the conductor. A great start to New Year's Day.
By the time we'd finished lunch and I'd had a short snooze, the sky had clouded over. I set out for a good long walk in the park, and slowly it began raining,, building up the further away from home I was. A wind blew in from the west making it fell much colder than the actual twelve degrees. With trees now stripped of leaves there was nowhere to shelter, so my feet and legs got soaked. In the end I gave up and headed for home in a moment when the rain eased off, feeling very frustrated and annoyed with myself for failing to check the weather before leaving.
After supper we watched a programme on BBC Wales in which Welsh presenter Huw Edwards reviewed the development of the movement for Welsh independence over the past thirty years, following its rather cranky start in the sixties with the short lived Free Wales Army creating a media fuss, while real action in the shape of the Gymdeithas yr Iaith's success in political campaigning for Welsh language equality led to equal status for Welsh and English in government communications and bilingual road signs, and then the establishment of the Welsh Assembly government in 1999.
It took a while for it to develop and legislate on a range of issues relevant to Welsh life in education, health, agriculture and social issues but its credibility gained impressively in the way devolved health policy dealt with the covid pandemic, steering the course differently from the Westminster government, and to good effect. Through practical measures a strong case has been made for greater autonomy. The notion of complete independence is to my mind wishful thinking, but moving closer toward a national self governing federation with common foreign policy, law enforcement and state security seems reasonable to discuss if not aim for in future. Many young people seem to feel positive about such a change, although I doubt if many realise how complex further steps towards that measure of devolution would be, especially when it comes to economic affairs, give that so much of Wales's capital wealth has been expatriated over past centuries. Let's see first how far Scotland's independence movement in achieving its aims.
After this thought provoking programme, back to Vienna for a repeat of this morning's broadcast concert on telly and radio. Two hours of delightful music with some beautiful ballet performances to concert music shot on location, and an appearance by the thirty strong Vienna boys choir augmented by ten girls of the the Vienna girls choir, met by rapturous applause from the audience. I couldn't help wondering how the two hour live concert programme was broadcast with the midway interval of another twenty minutes omitted. Mention was made by Petroc Trelawney the Radio Three presenter of there being a shorter first half. I guess the first half was recorded, then played back with a delay of twenty minutes to fit nicely with start of the second half, broadcast completely live. Often during concert intervals there are interviews with performers. It may have happened for the Austrian broadcast audience, but either to expensive to arrange or demanding on the programming schedule to be worth bothering with.
After the recorded version finished at ten, I went for a walk around the park as the rain had stopped and I needed fresh air. Lovely music echoed in my mind as I walked. A great way to pass the first day of a new year, despite the rain.
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