Stirring early for Christmas

Another long night's sleep. Overnight rain, but warmer and clouds slowly displaced by sunshine as the day went on. We had pancakes for breakfast, then I worked on tomorrow's sermon. Coincidentally the Gospel is Matthew's version of Jesus' encounter with the Syro-Phoenician woman and the same story from Mark's Gospel is the lesson at Morning Prayer a week Thursday. Small differences between the versions made it interesting to work with, so I ended up preparing a reflection on Mark's text and a sermon on Matthew's, even though it took me a lot longer than usual.

While I was working, Clare filled the house with the aroma of brandy and spices, as she made Christmas puddings and steamed them. She called me away from the computer to help stir the mixture. A welcome pleasure. It's another three months until 'Stir-up Sunday', but this is a good time of year to allow extra time for maturing them in time for this coming Christmas Day. Once they were cooking nicely, I got to work on cooking us lunch.

Recently I've exchanged messages with Rhiannon on Instagram about her Italian train trip, reminiscing about our first continental train journey from London to Brindisi on the way to Greece by ferry boat, back in 1967. Three years ago I transcribed our travel diary from that adventure. I've just emailed it to her, as she's expressed interest in reading it, now she has her own experience to put alongside it.

I finished writing at four and went for a walk. While I was out in the park I had a WhatsApp video call from my sister June, using her tablet. I installed it for her ages ago but she never really understood how it works. Today, Kath drove down to visit her and gave her some computer coaching. I suspect she's much better than me at doing this, as she's been training to work with elderly people in the field of movement and dance in recent years. It was great to see the two of them together, enjoying each other's company.

After supper we watched a movie on BBC Four called 'Radiation', telling the life story of Marie and Pierre Curie, and their scientific discoveries that transformed medicine during their time and long after, but also spotlighted the consequences of the development of nuclear weapons and the danger inherent in nuclear power in vignettes of a future unforeseen by them. Fin de siècle chemistry laboratory work, when almost everything had to be done manually, was well portrayed, reminding me of my time as a science student, before electronic analytic technologies taken for granted today became tools in common use. How much the world of science has changed since then!