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Showing posts from September, 2021

Bournemouth

 Packed up and left 8.30. Big queue at Sainsbury's for petrol and again beyond South Croydon so did detour vis Selsdon and Whyteleafe avoiding queues in Godstone Road. Practised and great to have 3 in choir. Liz sang alto. Thou visitest the earth. I played Sumsion and Thalben-Ball on Monkland and Peeters Wir plufgen. Big spread for Harvest lunch. Left at 2 and got more petrol on M3 - exorbitantly expensive. Arrived 4.30 and room is a bit smaller than last year and only one chair. But it's OK. Had a swim and sauna. Nice dinner roast beef, smoked salmon. Bottle of rose. Watched Leeds piano competition - won by excellent guy from Azerbaijan. The TV screen is big and we can get Netflix and Iplayer!  Monday Dorset breakfast and to St Stephen's met by Julian. Lovely Hill organ in Pearson church. Whitlock played here so played Salix, Moore, Elgar and Howells. What a treat! To URC but organist had forgotten so going Thursday at 11. To Hengistbury head and got land train walked alon

Rosemary

 SM, B and Swk. To Earlsfield for a lovely lunch with Rosemary. Gisela agreed to be treasurer. Abp Welby on reconciliation. A time of singing a new opera. Only watched a bit. End of Call my agent excellent Netflix series.  Saturday woke late. Swk and B. Hurtado on Lectio divina and gospel reflection in Ignatian style. My letter to The Tablet is published and much improved by shortening. Henry came and disappeared twice once in garden once in Bruce's bed! He is doing well at school and at gym. Nazareth around Tower Bridge. Henry came after his swim and seemed reluctant to go! To St John's for LMP and Central band of the Royal British legion Last night of the proms was delightful. Christine Johnson sang really well. Michael who used to be treasurer at Coulsdon came to say hello. Here is the letter: Mary McAleese in a historic speech to the Root and Branch synod made it clear that both the synod route and direct route to Rome should be used for Catholics to send their views o

Monday

 Woke late to dentist. Jesse cemented the crown back in but in the evening it came out when eating an ice cream cone. I have an appointment on Wednesday. Various options denture addition, bridge, implant. Colette's meeting addressed by Pau Bodenham. I was late as Ian picked up the petition cards and we had a nice chat. Trying to find public speaking file! Sent Gisela the rest of the form. SMITF quiet time was good. Balham chat about Richard Dawkins and communion. Croydon care free presentation. Only connect University challenge, the Met and Black lives matter.  Tuesday SM and B. Liz went to Guys and was much delayed. I left 10.30 a.m. to Caterham. Funeral of 90 year old from Somerset at noon. First time I had played Nearer my God to thee! Nimrod. Home by 1.30. Initial letter about public speaking. Finally listened to Diarmuid MacCulloch's church crawls. St Martin's 2 of the wonderings seemed irrelevant to the climate crisis as such and I said nothing. Sam's sumup was ve

Waste of time

 Monday woke at 6 SM, B, Swk. We went for lunch at the cafe and on to Purley hospital dermatology. It seemss Dr Ojo is paid to do this work of freezing warts so it's back to him again! My pills came at last. Reading and watched Repair shop. Listened to the prom of Beethoven with Ben Grosvenor. Only connect, University challenge, Metropolitan museum.  Tuesday SM, B, Swk. Finished my 4th Alexander McCall Smith in a row! Delightful LMP zoom with Tasmin Little and Megan viola. Evensongs from St David's and Greenwich. Quiet time. Come dine with me. Wrote letter about SLIFG subs. SM creation chat was quite good. Rosemary was there. Liz sang at St John's Holy cross day first time since Advent! Chester zoo, Wednesday SM, B, Swk. Liz to Guys for injection. Excellent retreat on the psalms from Belmont. Meditaton. Washing. Grainne had a girl Athene. Evensong from Edington. Heythrop association AGM with Michael Barnes. I am on 2 medicines a day omiprazole and benergen. Liz was back ver

Root and branch

 Nazareth Hampstead Heath but I was half asleep, B, Root and branch all say from 9.15. Baroness Kennedy, Tina Beattie, Jim Carroll. I went on the zoom. Cookery demo from Frank and Bettina. Liz set off twice for Orpington tea but football traffic was really bad. James completed the accounts £500.  The last night was great with an accordionist and Stuart Skelton in cricket outfit - he had several outfits! The strange pain in my right side came back again - like a muscle strain. Watching the US open women's singles final.  Still some straining - it must be muscular. A busy morning at Caterham. Susan led the service. OScar appeared and what an addition to his Duke of Edinburgh form - he is off to uni. We rehearsed the songs at 11. The teddy bears picnic was fun and I played the recital mostly on the theme "Edible England". Sadly very few there! I liked the scarecrows outside and the displays. Enjoying the creationtide ecumenical service from Our Lady of Victories Kensington.

Funeral

 Liz ot Guys. Sm, B, Southwark. To St Mary's got there at 10 so went to Mass and came out early expecing choir to turn up at 10.30. About 10.45 people started drifting in. Penny was late so we actually started singing hymns at 11.15! Eldon was very helpful and found the Schubert on his tablet in D - quite awkward to play! As it happens Nice was much happier singing the Gounod in C- she has good bottom notes. I played Griffiths, Vierne, Nimrod and Pie Jesu. Several priests there. Saw Angela and Arthur. AN Anglican priest on sanctuary. Penny having not conducted the rehearsal at all took over and some things were much slower e.g. How great thou art! One disaster - my mobile which I had forgotten about went off the alarm for meditation at 1 so Sanctus was said! Met 2 priests from Wimbedon afterwards. Watched Lives on stage 3. Root and branch was great with Baroness Kennedy and Christina Rees. Croydon climate action zoom.  Thursday slept in. Chat to Fuzzy - more OJs have died. SM, Swk

Recital

 Green park for Nazareth walk with Richard, B and Southwark,  The organ recital at Christ Church Streatham was much enjoyed and it was good to see friends there. Lunch at Sarah's and a first look at the Slifg archives which contain some real treasures. We also discussed the history video. Nice lunch and got on well with Jack. Home to Peter Holder's Prom recital and British film music. Ian Hislop on trains and the last Arctic programme. Sunday Creation sunday. Woke too early and sent email to James requesting accounts for only this year. Simon celebrated. Lloyd Webber on Holyrood, a new prelude by Alan Gray, we sang Now the green blade, The heavens are telling. To coffee and nice cake. Rizwan with another annoying email this time about food. No wonder the last event he organised cost over £900 double the previous year! B solemn profession of Br Bede with Martin Ganeri. I was so tired I fell asleep on the bed! The intro to the Climate Sunday service from Glasgow cathedral was goo