Sunday

Am settling into the local church here, everyone is very kind and friendly.
 

Went with Tim to the 8 o'clock, which this Sunday was Communion.   Clergy here don't have the irritating habit of Episcopalian priests, or lay ministers of communion, who - when proffering the chalice - cling on to it for dear life and try and tip it down the communicant's throat.   Here, they give it to us, we can hold it IN OUR HANDS, and hand it back.   Perhaps Episcopalians are afraid we might spill it, or something.  I remember one of our suffragan bishops knocked a chalice flying across the altar, and the world didn't end.  Perhaps the Baptists have the best idea with their little shot glasses.

In the evening Tim dropped me off at the evening service.  

Although that followed the BCP for Evensong it didn't quite feel like it.  Probably because the worship songs were projected on to a screen - they were quiet though, not rousing and jolly.   It was followed by their monthly evening communion service, but as I had already taken it in the morning and we can't communicate twice in a 24 hour period, I slipped out and strolled back.  It was a pleasant evening, better than the morning.   The houses round here are very nice, some with huge gardens round them, and I liked looking at the pretty front gardens as I walked back.

The weather this morning - which is actually Monday - is wet and grey, but it might brighten up.

Changing the subject briefly from services - I noticed on the BBC Internet News, that there is an unprecedented rush on applications for Irish passports, and an applicant who can go back as far as a great grandparent can apply.   Thinks "I've got an Irish great grandfather.  Perhaps I should jump on this bandwagon.  One never knows when a spare passport might be handy".