Flying visit

Another warm sunny day with clouds, I woke up at seven, posted today's Morning Prayer YouTube link to WhatsApp and eventually got up and had breakfast at eight, unable to doze, despite getting to bed an hour late. I stood in for Fr Sion celebrating the Eucharist at St Catherine's and then St John's. I bought a pot of fresh blackcurrant jam, and the first three courgettes harvested from St Catherine's church garden, to add to the extra weight It was carrying. A few influential liturgical and devotional reference books from my library came with me to St John's give to Andrew for use when he starts ordination training this autumn, leaving them in the vestry for him to collect. Slowly I'm disposing of the bulk of my library in an effort to de-clutter and make room for a study makeover. It will make it easier for whoever has the task of dealing with my stuff when I'm gone.

After the two services I collected the veggie bag from Chapter on my way home. Clare hadn't yet started making lunch assuming that Kath and Anto would need an evening meal before the Stevie Wonder concert in Blackweir Fields. I was fairly sure this wasn't case, and started cooking, so we ate and hour late. Kath and Anto arrived at three and were happy to settle for high tea, with hummous and salad rather than a cooked meal, as they planned to leave for the gig at a quarter to six to meet with friends. We sat and chatted in our sunny back garden until it was time for tea. It was lovely to watch bees, butterflies and other insects busily going about their business with almost everything in full flower.

After they left for the concert, I walked in the park for an hour. I could hear the distant thunder of bass and drums being played but couldn't tell what song was being performed. The only high pitched sound to be carried a mile and a half from the concert was the sound of cheering. As I arrived home, I saw again the flock of five parakeets heading down to the river from Thompson's Park, and then I noticed further away a flock of another dozen of them flying from another direction to join them, the first indication I've observed of accelerating numerical growth. Shortage of sleep time and an energetic morning left me feeling tired and lethargic. I didn't have the energy to complete the setting up of my new Windows 11 laptop or my new phone. They'll have to wait until I have the energy to concentrate on doing what's required.

We watched an edition of 'The Repair Shop' entitled Favourite Fixes, which was a compendium of repairs from previous series, none of which features the disgraced presenter Jay Blades. And then after the news, bed.