Ordinary time

 Monday 12 Jan nice chat to Ann. The bathroom is postponed. Ann says the dust and mess are awful. We don't need this when Liz is unwell and we are both going to have to stay home. I cancelled swim. Neil Thorns from CAFOD at excellent SDEN zoom. SM meditation good. Only connect, Celebrity mastermind, University challenge.

Tuesday wet. Hot cough mixture from chemist and saw Patsy. Got Salt path jigsaw out again. At 8 a.m. bathroom guy turned up after it had been postponed! Facilitators zoom good. Cancelled going to quiet time. Enjoying Gottingen SO New Year concert conducted by Australian Nicholas Milton on You tube from Concertgebouw. Good chat to Clare. A house through time is excellent London and Berlin. Chip factory. One man two governors from NT hilarious - great to watch it again.

Wednesday another quiet day and it was fine. Animal park. Evensong Ebor singers from York. Started trying to set up a slideshow. First problem is changing a CD track into MP3. Gresham lecture on music of light and colour fascinating. CCA meeting good. Tried to fix bathroom scales - battery needs to bepushed down to make connection, One foot in the grave funny. Digging for Britain very interesting.

Thursday very wet. Interesting programme on Florence Nightingale. To Beck Meth Old 104th is one of the tunes for Sunday week so I have learned Parry’s fine prelude on this tune. Judging by the copy my Dad played this a lot. Seems Mark Baker played the organ at S t Peter's Rome. The email telling me we have tickets for today’s BBC Singers recording today came at 9.11 this morning! We can’t go any way as Liz is isolating. Programme on the Brontes. Start of programme on Hardy. Portillo in Asturias. Worked on funeral photos - still not right!

Friday fine day had a lie-in. Decided not to go and see Hamnet at cinema as Liz can't go. Bathroom fixtures again. Father Brown. It’s a long time since we have walked in Grangewood Park. Good to see buildings painted, playground, new tennis courts and bowling green but mosaics have disappeared and some stairs need railings. Birds in full force before sunset. Finished Another England by Caroline Lucas - excellent book. Hardy film. You tube Matthias Achtleiner conducting New Year concert from Liz with the orchestra he founded himself. An impressive 23 year old!

Saturday overslept so did not go to UN celebration at Methodist Central hall. New floor cleaner really does clean the corners. LSiM prayers for 11the anniversary and interesting chats to people in US, Korea, Lille and Phillipines. To St Peter Streatham for Norman Harper’s recital then to St John the Evangelist for volunteers evening excellent meal. Karen Jewitt was there. Berlin Phil playing Mozart at La Sagrada familia Barcelona 2023. Louise Alder on fine form.

Sunday Darke in F, Taverner The Lamb, Elgar Ave verum at St John the Evangelist today. I met Dr Darke at Cornhill and Taverner at the airport. The last hymn was arranged by Andrew Carter who died last week. Fr John played Widor Toccata. You tube an interesting Mozart work Davide penitente which uses C minor Mass material. New scales arrived. A lovely evensong at St John the Evangelist, Upper Norwood with Adrian conducting and Lionel playing. Murrill in E, Stanford O for a closer walk with God. Good to have 2 tenors and an alto with us. Call the midwife, Pottery throwdown, Antiques roadshow.

Monday chat to Ann, Spidir committee I have volunteered to help on the online course starting September, Aerobics. First session with Julian went well. Liz went to get trousers at Sainsburys. They are digging up Whitehorse Lane at the bottom of our road! o Hinde St Methodist Churches together in Westminster excellent talk on integrating migrants by George Lapshynov. Churches together in Westminster meeting. Fr Dominic introduced me to Jennie who is a TV journalist just back from Greenland. She said the Church's posiiton in China is not what we are told. Only connect, Call my bluff, Face the music.

Tuesday swim. Took Liz to doctor. She wanted to go to Wickes. To carers meeting. Decided not to go to Westminster cathedral. Rowan was preaching about Newman. Also missed Kensington unity week service. Organists recordings on zoom.

Wednesday organ practice. To Garrison chapel Chelsea barracks which is lovely. The icons from the King's foundation school are beautiful. I do think that artists who move away from the iconography are not so successful. Interfaith group. New security men took ages to let us in. We discussed the relevant passages from the final Synod document. Took Liz for haircut as a result too late to go to Catenians and felt tired any way. Nasty wet day. Actors on playing Hamlet. Dame Imogen Cooper playing Schubert Impromptus from Wigmore Hall.

Thursday art and finished the painting of the Buddha. To aerobics as we decided not to go to Holland Park opera concert. Digging for Britain. Excellent talk by Peter Scarborough on food to animators. Liz went to dyslexia workshop in Dulwich. A House through time. The Stuarts in exile.

Friday to Unacc and picked up Liz for lunch. Then to R and B to look at showers, etc and bought a mirrored cabinet at Ikea. Had tea and muffin there. Message from Louise - diocese have said Liz can serve again once DBS is done! Alleluia! Strangely I woke up early this morning feeling really worried about it all and Triniti lifted my spirits a lot. Nice reply from Damian and the Cardinal. Would I lie to you? Father Brown. Gresham lecture Constable's The cornfield 200 years on. Why do we grieve?

Sat woke up too early and did Birdwatch count 7.45 to 8.45 no small birds at all. SM walk near Tower Bridge. Went back to sleep so missed Hurtado and SM! Mass tonight started with Follow me leave your friends and fami-lee and ended with God’s spirit in my heart starting too high so we gave up after 2 verses! At least we used the Armenian prayer for the week of prayer for Christian unity! I cleared away the 1000 piece Salt path jigsaw - too difficult!

Played at St James Riddlesdown. Conversion of St Paul. Parry on Old 104th went well, Peeters on Ellacombe and Thiman Finale in D minor. Bach Mit Fried und Freud as I have some Sundays with no bookings. Recorded life story parts 2 and 3 using my phone. Antiques roadshow, Call the midwife, Pottery throwdown. Indexed two books of hymntune preludes.

Monday Ann out with Mark. Cancelled swim and took Liz to dentist (a new one). Aerobics and Barbara is retiring March 1. Chose photos for presentation. Watched Vespers from St Paul's outside the Walls, Rome to mark the end of the week of prayer for Christian Unity. Pope Leo spoke well and 2 choirs. BBC4 BBC SCottish 90th Grieg piano concerto (with score) Sir Stephen Hough on great form. New piece Ayanna Witter-Johnson, who is known for crossing musical boundaries and successfully combining her classical training with contemporary styles like R&B and soul. She has written a brand new work called Bacchanale to mark the occasion.

To finish the concert, the National Youth Choir of Scotland and soloists Pumeza Matshikiza, Beth Taylor, John Findon and Ashley Riches join the orchestra for Michael Tippett’s epic oratorio A Child of Our Time. It is one of the 20th century's most visionary pieces, composed in pain, protest and empathy as the Second World War raged in Europe. It was Tippett’s response to the Nazi genocide of the Jews, and his music is a never-more-relevant plea for compassion, understanding and peace in our own time.

So relevant today. Quiz evening Celebrity mastermind, Only connec final, University challenge, Call my bluff, Face the music.