Passion watched

A bright and warm day from the start. It will be hot for those carrying tronas of the passion today, all over Andalucia, if our weather is anything to go by. I had several more things to prepare for this afternoon's liturgy after breakfast. Then went out to watch the House Martins insect hunting in the meadow opposite the house. They fly so fast and close to the ground for much of the time that they're difficult to take photos of without a great deal of luck., so I wasn't all that successful. The meadow, however is flourishing now with a variety of native flowers and grasses and wood sorrell flowers aren't dominant now, or suppressed.

I went down to St Andrews an hour and a half early to make sure everything was in order, found the cross for the act of veneration, but couldn't find the service sheets, but that we because they'd been moved to a more accessible place. I thought all my material was prepared, but then realised that I'd forgotten to print the amended passion Gospel text, so I had to hurry back to the house, make a print out and get back down to church within the hour. I made it with twenty minutes to spare thankfully. There were just fourteen of us for the liturgy. When I got back from church I found Clare had cooked a stir fry with prawns to eat after the service, around about tea time.

When I did Good Friday in Malaga five years ago there were half that number, as people simply couldn't get to church for the crowds. Nine years ago at St Andrew's we did a full Three Hours and number varied between 18 and 12, so averagely the same, no worse. I guess travel is difficult for those wanting to come to St Andrew's if they use public transport, given the crowds travelling into the city to watch the processions.

We're never in control of numbers. Many more people know when services are and where the church is, but the rest of life's activities can get in the way of an extra commitment to worship, whether on a weekday or a weekend. Something remarkable goes on in Spain during Semana Santa, involving so many people in devotional and social activities. It nurtures social cohesion and solidarity long before it feeds the economy. Yet even here, recruiting hombres de trono and cofradia members is getting harder, and if I have understood this aright, cofradias are linking up to perform traditional duties they have in common. Just like declining parishes being joined.

I found out that unlike traditional Spanish supermarkets the Aldi store is open today, despite it being a bank holiday, so I walked over the hill, to get a few more bottles of wine, to save having to do this tomorrow when the family arrive. If there's anything else forgotten and remembered overnight, I can get it when I go down to the station to meet Kath, Anto and Rhiannon in the morning.

I cooked scrambled eggs for Clare's supper, and we ate listening to 'The Archers' on catch-up. The rest of the evening was spent watching the evening processions, with their tronos depicting step by step each moment after the death of Jesus to his burial. The memory of standing in the silent crowd watching this stage of proceedings back in 2018 is still very vivid. Sadly, I don't have the energy or willingness to trust my ankle to make the journey and stand in the crowd as I did back then. I'm so glad I did it.

As for my ankle, I've booked a osteo-myology appointment with Kay for a week Monday. Her hands on diagnostic will help me decide what if anything more can be done to improve stability.