The organist librarian

 Hot and sunny. Blackfriars, no SMITF so morning prayer from Durham. Phoebe TM Chow played brilliantly at Bromley Parish Church. The Bach was brilliant and I liked the Bedard, Rheinberger and Howells Rhapsody No. 3. Walton Crown imperial main theme rushed and not Elgarian. Nice chat to the Toplises and William McVicar. Glorious sunshine so the shorts are on! Birdsong in the garden. Second part of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk Birmingham opera company 2019 Graham Vick brilliant production, Balham Catenians at the new venue and it works to zoom from there. Liz watched the Call the midwife special. Sad that this series is finished. Repair shop. Tuesday hot and sunny again. Blackfriars and SMITF. Controversy over Bojo's wedding rages. District nurse came. Lovely flowers again. Henry home and he loved Odds Farm yesterday. Essex interfaith zoom on "What is truth?" Some replies about trees. Fake or fortune on Marieschi. Ben Collyer at New College playing Bach and Alain - strange sound...

 Woke early. Blackfriars. SMITF morning song. Ellen Teague's article in Tablet more balanced than Ruth Gledhill! Started clearing back garden using blower - the catkins are hard to pick up. St Mary Warwick Lucy Morrell playing Widor 5 immaculately. A good diocesan reps meeting and Jane and Magdalena did the presentation on small groups which was excellent. They still will not tell us who the environmental leads are!!! Gonville and Caius Paul Plummer playing Bach. Dido from Royal Academy. Hilarious tribute to 10 years of Friday night dinner - so sad that Paul Ritter died. Hilarious!  Saturday woke late. Blackfriars and St John's. Found a list of London council tree officers so fired off emails about trees in November (copy and paste). Swept back garden patio area and cleaned up barbecue and got it working. I think a cat had been near it. Beautiful prayer walk with Richard Carter to Kenwood house - 99 words book. Choral evensong from Durham including I saw the Lord by Matthew Ma...

 Preludes on Veni creator Bach, Alec Wyton, Pachelbel and Walther. Like the murmur of the doves song Alan Smith Come Holy Ghost. Improvisation on Veni creator John Cook for Pentecost. I thought the loop was not working but it was wax blocking my right ear hearing aid! Lots of traffic! Lovely to have the chant sung so well at Blackfriars, Commissioning of animators from Rome and Assisi some technical problems Cardinal Tagle delightful! Lovely singing at Arundel cathedral Catenian conference Mass and Bishop Richard spoke well. Death cafe,  Christopher Stoakes playing Leeds Town hall organ. Gonville and Caius vespers. Martin Baker playing in socks and large choir! Antiques roadshow. Call the midwife was lovely and addressed Asian women. Pursuit of love.  Monday woke at 6. Blackfriars at 7.30 SMITF. Created Facebook and Instagram LSIUK pages. Webinar with Cardinal Turkson on WASH safe water for medical facilities. Colette's zoom chaired by Fr Tom covered a lot of ground. Elen...

 Nazareth community walk in Windsor Great park using the Book of Joy. Catenian conference well organised and presented - at last a brother without a tie! Archbishop Bernard Longley spoke well about the home and family and evangelisation. Zoom chat to Eddie O'Donnell and stressed we now need hybrid meetings and conferences to reach those who can no longer come to meetings. Blackfriars, Alexander Woodrow playing Guilmant at Leeds Minster. To St Michael Beckenham for organists association AGM and a unique recital with 3 duets by married couples! I had not been there since I left 4 years ago. After all the fuss a kitchen and foyer have been added but the main fabric has not changed. The paintings by Alan Burtenshaw's brother have all been taken down and the font has been moved onto the apse. The tuning of the organ did not disturb me as much as it used to (it depends if the music is chromatic and which key you are playing in) but I thought the soft stops seemed very subdued. After ...

 Driving too fast (being chased?) and cornering badly. Fire what would I save? Paintings, photos, laptop.  Catenians singing hymns at 10 to 11 a.m. before meeting - tried to get them to sing what I wanted! No luck! Stan Trollip grown much taller and parking a large car and had to go back for keys. Person starts to write names of murderers. Aversion therapy and its results (Call the midwife). Competition team of 4 to show salvation. 3 others had not practised guitar or piano. Went swimming, lots of people there, Not ready to start. Straight from the pool sort of treasure hunt. Show salvation, sacrament, redemption like a crossword. Priest running away from me. Tudor music of "piety" becomes English nostalgia.  Christmas I had not been well so decided to go in the congregation with the family and a little girl (not Clare or Louise) dark hair and long dress. Purley? Addiscombe? Very full we had booked seats, swopped presents. Fr Anthony had gone to the school and got the chi...

 Monday , A cryptic reply from Fr John Scott! Blackfriars, SMITF, breakfast in bed. Played Teddy bears picnic. The end of Fr Kevin Alban's funeral at Aylesford. Zoom with Colette - outrage at the Bishops letter. William Fox playing Bach at Cornhill. Evensong from SMITF. Excellent Laudato Si' webinar with Fr Augusto Zampini. The start of Laudato Si' week. Enrolled as a Companion of the Nazareth community - a beautiful and moving service from St Martin's in the Fields. Gresham lecture Richard Harries on Seeing God in art. Tuesday Blackfriars. SMITF. Henry came. Natural history museum talk on disappearing UK wild flowers. Laudato Si week webinar on education. Disappointing it was all about universities. Fake or fortune on Sir Thomas Lawrence. Took Liz to West Wickham for ear wax removal and hearing test. Prof McQuade on Investing in nature. Excellent talks Buddhist and Jain on Faith and nature. Delicious fish and chips by Deliveroo.  Wednesday kept thinking it was Thurs...

 Blackfriars and SMITF Ascension music. Chat to Sharon Doherty Southwark education contact. Took easel back to Beryl and spoke to workmen about rubbish in lane. Mick on good form. St Mary Warwick Oliver Hancock. RAM Mozart grand serenade. Luke Fitzgerald playing at Gonville and Caius. Chat to Castello in North Carolina. Chopin, Weber and Wagner programme. Saturday Blackfriars, SMITF in the church, Lovely Belmont retreat on the Ascension. Daphne's letter that John had died. Won Tablet crossword again. Took letters and invoices to neighbours and Dave from no 37 came round in support of a gate. Joyce gave me £35! Dave came from 37 and no 41 was in touch by email. They agree to a gate. There may have been people sleeping in the lane! The asbestos belongs to No 12 Canham and they have arranged for it to go! Charles and Harry did not learn anything. Four in a bed. Call my agent. Programme on Claridge's hotel. Sunday. Morning service from Lichfield cathedral. Played Heut triumphiret B...

  Today played Preludes on St Fulbert by Douglas Guest and Philip Moore, Erschienen Buxtehude and Walther, Dubois Toccata. We sang God is love and Ye choirs of new Jerusalem. The Dubois was much enjoyed. Nice chat with Caterham folk on return home. Sadiq is reelected. Patsy came second in Croydon and Sutton assembly. Bach from Royal Academy. Fr Bruno at Blackfriars. Nice lunch pork. Abp of York on prayer. After all the bother the Human Fraternity event went very well and all 4 speakers were excellent. There were good questions and a lively chat. 72 came. Call the midwife was lovely. Monday Blackfriars, SMITF. Zoom with Malini and Colette lots of ideas for London Climate action week. To Emmetts garden a lovely walk especially the bluebell woods. Bought lemon curd and Liz got a summer hat. Most enjoyable. Coffee and a pasty. My right knee survived. Zoom Tower Hamlets dying matters so spoke a lot about Death cafe. Maidstone circle. Discussion about livestreaming memorial Masses and me...

 Wednesday. Awake in the night with burping and wind. Liz was sick in the morning but reported all OK when she went to Guys. Blackfriars, SMITF, St John's. Faith Action coffee zoom. Bit of meditatio then Ben Nicholas playing Howells, Bach, Franck, Martin and Elgar at Cirencester. The soft passages were too soft. 3 lots of washing all done and bed changed. Still awaiting reply from Fr Witon - I emailed this morning. Mark Jones playing Easter music at Holt. Faiths together in Croydon and Cathedral Live simply group zooms. Ashley Grote playing at Norwich. Cathedral challenge won by the directors of music - very well presented. Sewing Bee and QI.  Thursday woke too early and Liz got to Guys late! Blackfriars, SMITF, Diocese of Worcester on legacies. Zoom with Clare. Gresham lecture on Napoleon and gardens very interesting. LSI' meeting. Cardinal Fitzgerald giving the Georgetown lecture. I skipped bible study - too many zooms. Excellent recital from Birmingham St Chad's David Sa...

 Interesting dream about Christmas featuring a little girl with black hair and a long dress (maybe thinking of choir or possible granddaughter?). St Joseph the worker. Excellent Belmont retreat on Thomas with Mass. Had a look at Migrants Mass from St William of York - 4 servers and singers at a mike near sanctuary!! Bishop Paul. Fine recital by David Halls from Salisbury. New ear moulds came but I shall wait for the new hearing aids to come. Lovel calendars from Catherine in Glasgow Jesuits in Scotland produced them. Colin Baldy songs from St Edmundsbury cathedral. Enjoyed May day morning from Oxford - it was prerecorded. Vespers from Belmont. Sarah Macdonald at Gonville and Caius. Jonathan Scott playing at St Leonrard, Middleton.  Sunday played Thalben-Ball and Willan on Vulpius (copy needs repairing) Bach preludes for Eastertide. We sang Good Christians all and The Call RVW. Saw Jacob's sheep on Kenley common. Zoom chat with Caterham folk. Enjoyable recital from Paul Carr at...