The organist librarian

 Tuesday supervision group at All Saints. Picked up Forest church booklet which Jaimee will like and CS Lewis in Advent. To Worth arriving at 4. Scott let me into St Bruno's. Some came on Monday I think. To Mass , Evening prayer dinner Fr Peter came over to explain everything then compline. Slept OK.  Wed. Did not get up for 6.15 but went to morning prayer at 7.30. Lectio  on Isaiah with Fr Peter. Went for a walk but could not get to quiet garden - too muddy but saw horses. Sketching. Midday prayer and an hour with Fr Peter in the library for confession which was marvellous. At Mass Fr Peter mentioned our lectio in the morning - very synodal. Evening prayer and dinner but missed compline as we talked too long!  Thurs. Morning prayer and lection. Midday prayer lunch and home feeling very calm and happy. Liz OK. LSiUK zoom was good. To White Hart and parked nearby. Excellent meal and company - meditation group. Home at 9 pretty tired.  Friday to Acton and Liz got ...

  Wachet auf Bach and Walther Anthem Veiled in darkness Rudolph Advent (Prelude) Martin How. Bruce came and we went to lunch at SJ. Beautiful Advent service at St John the Evangelist, Upper Norwood . We sang O radiant dawn and Michael Fleming’s Kindle a flame. We sang at the first performance - it’s a lovely piece. Dennis Ann Marie and Henry came down so Henry could light the first candle on the Advent wreath. Wolf Hall was terrific. Johannes out of Strictly. Monday woke at 9.30 - yesterday was tiring. Chat to Ann. She sent piano playing by Owen at concert. He has taken to the trumpet. Swim and aerobics. We went to Beckenham to buy a new Bosch dishwashe and it will come on Thursday. Homebase is closing down so got a 5 foot Christmas tree for the front garden as the original one has rusted badly. It's really old! Sent Christmas letter again with photos by email. Daniel and Malcolm - it was too large. Only connect, Mastermind, University challenge, Masterchef. Tuesday woke late agai...

 SM at Battersea Power station.  Hurtado on the bus. SSG morning prayer lecture very good. Played for Mass before servers AGM St Aloysius Euston. Fr John at mass - miserable night. David Bima cooked us a chicken. Strictly. Sunday Christ the King. Paul Miller added a lot to the hymns and Crown Imperial. Exciting. Tony Hemson's Alpha and Omega ought to be published. Practised 4 choir carols. Took food to SJ. Christmas letter. Salisbury cathedral evensong. Annoyed by senior choristers hear. Katherine Jenkins does not listen! Wolf Hall was terrific. Strictly Jamie out which is a shame. Antiques roadshow. Monday woke late. Swam 20 and aerobics. Chat to Clare. I got the changed date for the visit to the organs in Purley wrong so it will have to be rearranged. Only connect, University challenge ended in a tie. Soas should have won. Mastermind. Watched first part of NT Big chicken wing but gave up. Rake's progress from Norway good. Tuesday SM Ann rang. Swim and quiet time. Carol servi...

 Tuesday to solicitors. I got the time wrong but Judith saw us any way and we did all the signing. It now goes to the court. To Fragile Beauty at V and A  Most shocking of all The falling man from 9/11 and the assassinated Robert Kennedy. The inherent violence of the US very obvious with a powerful Civil Rights section. It seems male nudity is now acceptable. A real treat! Ben Bloor playing at the Guards chapel - beautifully controlled. I am going to play For the fallen much more slowly and not get carried away on the big runs up to the climaxes! Martin Ford made us very welcome and the Harrison organ is a joy to play! I played two Andrew Moore pieces. Liz had council meeting. Mastermind. Worked on jigsaw. A sad day for the Church and the victims with the Archbishop of Canterbury resigning. He really had no choice. The Tablet has an excellent article about his possible successor and how those round the table discussing this would be passing a loaded revolver to avoid being th...

To solicitor - I got the time wrong it was 12 not 10 but Judith saw us any way and we have signed all the documents! To Fragile Beauty at V and A - photos from Elton John and David Furnish collections. It lives up to its name with many lovely images. Times have changed that we can now see male nudes.  Most shocking of all The falling man from 9/11 and the assassinated Robert Kennedy. The inherent violence of the US very obvious with a powerful Civil Rights section. A real treat! Ben Bloor playing at the Guards chapel - beautifully controlled. I am going to play For the fallen much more slowly and not get carried away on the big runs up to the climaxes! Martin Ford made us very welcome and the Harrison organ is a joy to play! I played two Andrew Moore pieces. Watched Mastermind and Only connect first part that I had slept through. Archbishop Justin resigned - he had to really but it is all rather sad!.

 Wed 6/11/24 woke to find Trump back in the White House. This is disaster for so many people especially migrants, Palestinians, Ukranians. Hope in despair! SM Sam was some comfort. John gave a good homily at Blackfriars. Swim then to Thornton Heath library to see my Cezanne hung upside down in the art group exhibition. It does not look too bad but really ought to be the right way up. Gave up and posted letter to Marketing director Croydon IKEA although I doubt such a person exists! To Beckenham florist, jigsaws to St Christopher's hospice shop and bought 5 500 piece jigsaws. Saw Terence! Bookshop has no calendars. Picked up framed portrait of Sean and it looks magnificent! Chose hymns for Jan/Feb. Gemma was brilliant n the Synod at sisters of Sion. Very struck by Mary Ward on the need for experience. If only thse men experienced female ministry. Why can't they look at You tube and Facebook and watch people like the Bishop of London and Lucy Winkett preaching? Contacted Journey ...

 Thursday jigsaw and set off for Chatham in good time. Lovely day. Hotel is very near M2 - noise in the night from the road. We both woke at 4. Spa treatment very invigorating scrub then shower and massage. Nearly fell asleep! Swim and sauna. LsiUk zoom went very well at 7. Big discussion about encounter next year some of it hardly helpful eg North Wales or a monastery an hour away from Salford by car! Dinner was Ok and met 2 Catenian couples.  Friday swim and good breakfast saw our new friends again. To Chatham Dockyard and visited 2 ships. Di d not attempt the steep stairs or the sub. Call the midwife tour was very good - a lot of walking and standing but the room with the sets excellent. Spent a lot in the rope shop - the ropery not working. RNLI museum very well done. Back in time for 4.30 full body massage very relaxing. Swim and sauna. The dinner was god if the service was slow. Chris Woodward from Wimbledon got me a hearing aid as I had forgotten to bring spares and the...

 Woke early. R4 on BBC singers and morning service. Played Willan on St Peter, Moore Barcarolle and Toccata. LJWhite prayer of St Richard of Chichester went well. Chose hymns for Advent and agreed to use Christmas ones from last year. Drove to NJ overground and underground to North Harrow. 3 flights of stairs. Al Salaam centre is still a building site! Huge sports area and theatre and prayer hall above. It is for everyone. Presented a copy of Laudato Si' and mentioned petition to save Interfaith network for the UK. Chatted to several people. 30 there. Nice samosas. Got home quite tired. Liz had been to messy church. Young musician semi final - wrong 3 got through! Judges are rubbish!  Monday chat to Ann, rang GP as they had not rung back but Xray was on system so straight to Mayday and crown is in my stomach thank goodness. Wait another week. Swim. Liz went to pack medals. Cancelled aerobics and took notes at Colette's meeting. Powerpoint about Salford. Had trouble with sound ...

 Wednesday to Glyn Close to collect the car and swim. Nice chat to Sam. It seems beofre Covid they had one man who went round the 5 centres each week to fix things. Now they have to bring in people each time! Our road looks great and disabled markings done. Drafted letter to bishop and environmental lead about Laudato Si' centre. Heythrop AGM and talk by Daniel Soars on the grammar of God. BBC Singers evensong with orchestra and centenary concert.  Thursday no swim as went to pick up Cathy to go to the funeral. She thought it was next week. Took Liz to Rose's. Got little cakes for my birthday. Art and very good progress. I only have one picture on paper the Cezanne for the library exhibition. Delivered letters about the multiple occupancy proposal at no 47 to Canham Road. No 20 knew about it but had done nothing. Joyce will send email. Badge posted to Karen Thompson. Notes from the encounter circulated. 22 at LSiUK which may be a record. We edited the notes in reply to 7 quest...

 Thursday confusion over time of train bus and tube but we were a few minutes late so paid more and got next one. From Piccadilly walked to get bus and arrived at Luther King House. It's clean and there's a lounge and trees and it's quiet and cheap. Large library. Congregational foundation. To Bridgewater Hall and ate at Society where you order your food on your phone. Very nice but noisy. Pre concert talk with Colin Matthews and Kahchun Wong the Halle's new conductor, Britten Prince of the pagodas suite and Mahler 1. Good seats at the side so we could see conductor. He is brilliant! We have a double bed against the wall so we swopped over.  Friday to the Whitworth gallery textiles and history of life drawing. Nice garden Coffee and scones in lovely cafe. The breakfast was large! To Manchester museum which has been refurbished. The exhibition Wild showed excellent work with kids and we visited the natural history galleries and vivarium. To St Ann's where Alex from G...

 Monday chat to Ann. Dennis came. It seems Clare had to come to the bank in Bromley! Swim and aerobics. Liz went for blood test in Purley. Deacon Ray's father died last night so I am landed with showing The Letter tomorrow night! I have been sent some links and I downloaded it from You Tube. Liz bought hard drive and USB so saved photos. She went to UCM. Only connect, Mastermind, Univ challenge, Mozart's story. Enjoyed Dear Octopus with Lindsay Duncan very much.  Tuesday 17th SM, S and B - Fr Rock was dreadful about Nain and a toasted cheese sandwich! Swim. Liz did not go to Guys trains cancelled. Filling at dentist. Quiet time. To Beckenham Jonny and Rosemary set up teh film and I downloaded it as a backup. Home for dinner and we both went. 20 came and all went well. Polish priest had moved the equipment but it all worked. Not really enough time for discussion. 7.30 was too late to start I think.  Wed slept in B. So no swim but in fact I did my activity for the day. To N...

Autumnal feeling.  When I got to church I realised I had left my organ version of The heavens are telling at home. In the end I played from vocal scores. We sang The garden of the world lament. It was school blessing day. Jaimee managed to drop the communion wafers in front of the choir. We picked them up. I don't think we should have done as our hands were not sanistised. In fact Jaimee should have consumed them and consecrated more. Lack of training showing again! She said something at the notices about nice to see new families - it's not always as bonkers as this! I played One more step on the piano but was not given enough time to get to the organ for the Haydn. Julie said she had asked for the short prayer before the accamation to be reinstated. I pointed out that I needed to be told! Also there is a priest coming next Sunday but we have not been told! To St John's for a lovely lunch under the trees cooked by Fr John now sporting a grey beard! Scaffolding is up for the...