11:15 We drive the 17-mile journey to Ashchurch, a suburb of Tewkesbury, so Lois can take part in her church's communion service this morning. A lot of the church's British members are ill with various cold and flu symptoms, but attendance at the meeting is boosted by the numerous contingent of Iranian Christian refugees - I estimate that of the 30 people present this morning, at least half are Iranians - my goodness!
It's a special service today, because yesterday two of the church's Iranian Christian refugees, Mohammed and Yasmin were baptized in Chief Elder Andy's garden hot-tub. And this morning Andy welcomes them each into the congregation with a hug, which is nice.
Andy gives the couple a gracious little speech, acknowledging how much the existing British church-members had benefited from this influx of what he calls "our Abrahams": here he was referencing Abraham the Hebrew patriarch, who according to the book of Genesis left his home city of Ur to settle with his family in Canaan, where God promised him he would found a new nation. Andy compared this with the journey of the Iranians to England, also embarked on for reasons of faith - being a Christian in Iran is extremely dangerous if not life-threatening, he said, and one of the Iranians in the congregation confirmed this.
Flashback to yesterday: Phil baptizes one of the Iranian refugees, Yasmin,
in Chief Elder Andy's garden hot-tub, while Mohammed,
draped in a towel, looks on, also Andy, the Chief Elder (extreme right)
Lois and I arrive, as usual, during the lunch break between the day's 2 services:
Lois can be seen right the way down the hall standing at the drinks table
and making us two cups of tea. Our late Queen looks down from her portrait (right)
Lois here can be seen here down the hall on the left hand side
talking to a seated Daphne about Daphne's allergy problems
- Lois is so kind-hearted. Why can't I be more like her??!!!!
And although we've never actually had to do this, it's reassuring to know that, if necessary, and if we're sitting right at the back, as we are today, there's easy access to the Disabled Toilet in the lobby behind us.
You're not supposed to use the disabled toilet if you're not disabled, to save the Parish Council from having to do too much cleaning. However it avoids us making a spectacle of ourselves by trying to tiptoe quietly to the front of the congregation and edging ourselves out of one of the doors either side of the platform while the preacher's giving his exhortation, so on balance it's well worth it - that's what we think anyway. Call us impossibly cheeky rule-breakers and iconoclasts if you like haha!!!
flashback to 2021: Ashchurch Village Hall, where the Sunday morning meetings are held.
The disabled toilets are behind the window to the right of the entrance's doorway
- useful to know if you're ever there and happen to get "caught short" !!!!
And don't worry - the windows are comprehensively "frosted", and the door is lockable haha!!!
15: 00 For some reason the signal sounds as expected on my Samsung phone, but not on Lois's. But then, hers is a Huawei, so maybe this is a case of Chinese sabotage. Or is it? I definitely think we should be told before it's too late!
the display that appears on my phone at 3 pm.
15:10 After the excitement of the alert, Lois and I feel it's safe to spend the rest of the afternoon in bed. But we find that it's really hot in the bedroom, and we discover that the radiator is on, at a time when it's not supposed to be, so we have to open the window, something we only do normally in the afternoon in cases of extreme emergency, alert or no alert!
But what a madness it all is !!!!
Then I realize that there must have been a power cut at some time over the last 24 hours, because the central heating clock has reset itself to some ridiculous time and date in 2019, probably the time and date when the system was installed, or churned out in the factory. What a crazy world we live in !!!!!
Then I remember that the electric clock on the wall of the Village Hall during the meeting this morning was also showing a crazy time - did you notice in one of the above photos?
Bet you didn't haha!!!!
[That's enough madness for today! - Ed]
(Copyright: Gordon Lightfoot)
And as I said, Lois and I didn't realize that Joni Mitchell was originally a pianist. Tonight we see her playing her version of "Woodstock", which she also wrote. Remember that one, from 1970?
the electric clock on the wall of the Village Hall today shows 8:35
when the real time is 12:16 - what absolute utter madness!!!!
19:30 A phone-call with our daughter Alison, and a chance for her to exchange gardening chat with Lois. It's still surprising to me, although it shouldn't be really, to realize how much Alison has inherited Lois's delight in growing things - flowers, vegetables, fruit you name it. It's an interest that you would never have guessed was going to burgeon in Alison, looking back to when she was a teenager, when she was more interested in clothes and clubbing and 1990's rock bands - "Genes and DNA will out", that's what I always say, and how true it is - my goodness!!!!
Social media post from Ali today, working in the family's beloved but massive
6.5 acre grounds. She's been working on improving the wire fencing around
some of her fruit trees and bushes to thwart the frequent nibbling attacks by local deer
- yikes!!!
Meanwhile, it's hard to believe it, but our other daughter, Sarah, who for 7 years has been living with husband Francis and their 9.5 year-old twins Lily and Jessica in Perth, Australia, are finally at the point of moving back to England.
Is this really happening?
Their flight from Perth to Dubai takes off at 10pm local time tomorrow night - 3pm British Summer Time. They left their rental property a month or so ago, and since then have been camping in a field near Perth Airport, and, more recently, in an AirBnB.
flashback to April 3rd: the twins standing by the family's tent
There's something about the idea of camping near an airport that always reminds me of that song, "Early Morning Rain" - do you remember it?
Good one, Gordon!!!!
Lois and I have twice visited Sarah and family in Perth, 2016 and 2018, and both times we left on a 10pm plane, touching down en route in Dubai in the early morning, before flying back to Birmingham. And that's what Sarah and family are going to do now. They'll spend a few days stopping there in Dubai before flying on to England. Hopefully it'll be a chance for them to relax and enjoy the luxury of being in a hotel, which will be nice after their last few weeks in Australia.
21:00 We wind down on the couch with a relaxing hour of piano music.
The programme includes lots of fun facts flashed up at the bottom of the screen with interesting sidelights on the pianists featured. Funny to see how many of these stars were real child prodigies of piano-playing and qualified for music scholarships etc from an incredibly early age - hardly out of nappies. My goodness!
flashback to April 2016: Lois and I spend the night in Dubai
at this hotel, on our way back to England from Australia
Some of the piano-playing stars we see tonight Lois and I didn't realize were pianists, like Joni Mitchell, Lady Gaga, Barry Manilow - we thought they were "just" singers. Excuse our ignorance - it's just madness!!!
Nice to see Jerry Lee Lewis tonight, sporting an unexpected beard, and singing his "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On", as well as his cover of the Big Bopper's Chantilly Lace, the first record Lois ever bought, in 1958 - and on an old 78, what's more. It wasn't old when she bought it obviously haha!
the first record Lois ever bought - on 78 rpm, naturally (1958)
Jerry Lee Lewis, sporting an unexpected beard
Joni Mitchell singing "Woodstock" (1970), just one of her many compositions
Fascinating stuff !!!!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzzzz!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment