Well, a long night's sleep was the pick-me-up I needed. Our postal voting forms for the Council elections arrived this morning. I filled mine in and returned it to the post box on the way to St John's before cooking lunch as I'd forgotten to sign the register yesterday. I noticed the sacristy clock wasn't forwarded two weeks ago, and corrected it while I was there. Mother Frances arrived as I left and we talked about the difficulty of restoring a shared sense of attention to detail in congregational life. Hopefully this will sort itself out, as long as we don't have another pandemic type crisis, fragmenting our social lives and relationships.
I went into town this afternoon. The streets were quite busy though still falling short of heyday years when footfall was considerably higher. Many retail outlets are empty these days, including big chain stores like Debenhams and Arcadia Group stores which left Queen Street after being taken over by the ASOS group. There are simply not enough retail experiences to draw in crowds considered normal a decade ago. It was good to see a sizeable group of evangelical Christians out witnessing, plus a Hare Krishna monk. I didn't see a Muslim preacher as there often is on a Saturday, but maybe Ramadhan isn't a time for this.
I went into W H Smith to spend the gift token Ann sent me for my birthday, and had difficulty finding any item that added up exactly to the amount available. The one item I found at the right price wasn't in stock. I selected a couple of others that added up to the right amount, according to the price tags, but at the till was charged less for them, so the gift token with a residual sum of money on it is still in my wallet. Daft!
I walked home, had an early supper and then drove to St German's for the Easter Vigil celebration. There were just ten of us, but all in good heart. Everything was beautifully prepared. The only problem was low light and my eyesight. I had to use the torch light on my Blackberry to be able to chant the text of the Exultet. It's one of my favourite moments of the season, but this time with an added challenge!
Organist Brian and his wife Barbara went down with covid on Sunday, so we had a substitute organist who made a decent job of an unfamiliar service. Though we were few in number, everyone pitched in enthusiastically with the responses, taking their part in the readings, making it a special experience for each other. It's far from being the first time in fifty years that I've led an Easter Vigil with less people than there were at the Last Supper. For those who come, it's something special, but the majority of the faithful simply don't get it, or have something they feel is more important to do. I'm just glad that I can still lead or attend the Vigil - it doesn't matter which - it's the real turning point of the year for me.
