A cold sunny day after a better night's sleep than my less than smart Fitbit tells me. It simply can't cope with reverting from summer time to GMT and stopped recording time at rest (whether awake or sleep) an hour before I woke up and looked at the time on it. I recall this happening last year on this day too, and a few other times in the year for no reason, losing 2-4 hours recording time. It fails to synchronise with the phone app too, even though it says it's bluetooth connected.
I woke up at approximately my usual time to judge by the rising sun, now a quarter to seven instead of a quarter to eight. After an early breakfast I went for a walk in park for half an hour before church, to take advantage of the sunshine. The Sunday Park Run crowd were out on Llandaff Fields putting on some kind of running activity for children - a good hour before the Sunday morning sports training tune up. Physical activity is the new secular society substitute for Sunday School and churchgoing, I reckon.
There was no Sunday School at St Catherine's in any case today as it's half term, so there were thirty of us for the Eucharist, celebrated by Fr Rhys, as Fr Sion and Catherine are in Bologna, visiting their daughter, studying there at the University. The church hall is still disguised for use as a film set, hired out for two weeks to a TV company shooting a children's series. The back room annexe is off limits at the moment as it's filled with film set props and lighting equipment. At coffee time we were allowed a peep into the room to satisfy our curiosity.
After lunch, I was relaxing hoping for a snooze when the phone rang. It was Sir Norman Lloyd Edwards, ringing on behalf of the United Services Mess to find out if I'd be willing to officiate at the Remembrance weekend Mess dinner in two weeks time. In years past, the previous Mess secretary Tony Lewis rang me a month or so beforehand to book me in. It's a duty I've performed most years since I became Vicar of St John's, except for a few years when I was on autumn locum duty in Spain. I wondered why I'd not heard, and admitted it was possible a new Mess Chaplain had been appointed.
Until a few years ago the Mess was a gentlemen only organisation, the exception being women on active service. The only women guests were the Mayor, Lord Lieutenant or High Sheriff. None of the three women clergy who followed me at St John's were recruited as Mess Chaplain, so I remained by default, a sort of legacy Chaplain unless this had changed and I'd not been informed. I was wondering about calling the Mess to check this out in case it had been overlooked. Coming to the night accidentally without having a Chaplain on board wouldn't be looked on favourably. Military folk follow meticulously their traditions and necessary formalities. Most may be non-religious, but respect for the status quo is part of respect for each other. Informality and comradeship still have a secure foundation in customary observance.
Sir Norman, through his office as retiring President of the Friends of St John's was able to obtain my contact details from church rather than Mess records. It seems the new committee didn't inherit them. As he was in charge of assigning top table places, including the Chaplain and the banquet Master of Ceremonies, he spotted the omission and made the call, while I was still thinking about checking this out. I'm happy to accept for perhaps the twentieth time. It's an honour to be in the company of veterans as well as serving members of the armed forces, despite never having done so myself.
Clare was still snoozing when I went out for a walk in the afternoon sunshine. She called me an hour later, we met in the park and went to Coffee#1 for a drink before returning home before sunset, for a change. It's completely dark before six now with the sun setting at six minutes to five, and that's on a sunny day. After supper, I watched an episode of 'Lolita Lobosco', set in sunny Puglia, with some lovely romantic stories running alongside a series of dark criminal investigations. Serious, but also laced with good humour and spiced with wisdom or quotations from the Classics. It helps keep at bay the autumnal darkness we now have to live with for the next four months.
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