Calendars...

I help in the Sacristy at Blackfen. That means that I have to work with both the Novus Ordo and the Usus Antiquior calendars... it can get a little confusing, especially at this time of year.

This morning was a case in point. I wasn't completely on the ball, and discovered that the Senior MC had set up green vestments, tabernacle veil and antependium for Mass (Third Sunday after Epiphany - no idea why!) when I had been expecting red for St. Polycarp. Zephyrinus was ready to remove the antependium and swap the tabernacle veil to white after Mass as it was due to be followed by Exposition and Benediction. He was then all set to change everything to purple for Septuagesima... only there isn't any such thing as Septuagesima in the Novus Ordo, so it was actually back to green for this evening and 9am tomorrow morning... and then we'll have purple at the 10:30am Mass and green at the 6pm.

I really don't understand why it was necessary to drop Septuagesima in the Novus Ordo calendar. Human nature being what it is, we need the different seasons of the Church's year to be marked out. There is a difference in emphasis between the Sundays after Epiphany and the Sundays after Pentecost. It helps no-one to simply lump them together as "Sundays in Ordinary Time."

And then there is Lent. It is rapidly approaching. I was quite surprised to realise that it's only three weeks away! But without the reminder that tomorrow is Septuagesima Sunday, I wouldn't have made the connection.

Septuagesima is like the warm-up before the race. Lent needs preparation: forty days of prayer, penance and almsgiving doesn't just happen overnight. Now there are three weeks in which to limber up, to work out what to do, and to make those resolutions.

After all, there's nothing worse than making the decision, on Shrove Tuesday, to give up chocolate for Lent, only to find those three bars of Galaxy in the cupboard on Ash Wednesday...

The Kraken Awakes...

It feels as if I've been in hibernation for a week.

I haven't... it just feels like it.

I did get my "snow day" on Monday. This allowed me to spend the best part of an hour on the phone trying to find a garage that was (a) open and (b) had the correct tyres for my car. I had no idea that it would be such a tricky operation! Once I had located the tyres, I then had to sit for two hours in my car, waiting for the breakdown service to arrive to help me get my flat tyres sorted. I hadn't broken down at home, you see. I did ask for someone from the breakdown service to call me when they were close to arriving, but I had a sneaking suspicion that, being so busy on Monday, they wouldn't phone, and, if I wasn't by my car they'd go off somewhere else instead.

I was right - they didn't phone... fortunately I was sitting in my car when they arrived.

Tuesday was slightly crazy. Everything had been thrown out of kilter by the day off, and it was tricky to figure out which classes were "as planned" and which needed to be reassigned. By Wednesday I felt as if I was making enough headway to be able to treat myself to a night out. It was my first time at a meeting of The Keys, and Delia (who sometimes comments here) had invited me to attend as her guest.

I found my way to St. Mary Moorfields without any problems, and actually arrived in plenty of time for Mass (a first for me at this church!) Then we went downstairs for a delicious meal, followed by Fr. Tim giving an excellent talk on New Movements and New Media. It was extremely encouraging to hear how very positive the Holy Father has been about the use of blogs, Twitter and Facebook for spreading the faith, and I'm looking forward to reading his message for World Communications Day which is all about the new media (I just haven't had time yet!)

Delia invited me back for a coffee, and I accepted eagerly, secure in the knowledge that I had already prepared all my lessons for the next day. Alas, I forgot that I am no longer a spring chicken, and it was a very bleary-eyed Mulier who staggered in to work the next day, late (well, 7:15am is late for me these days!) By the end of the day, I had a splitting headache, and, once I had sorted out a few more lessons, I dragged myself home and crawled straight under the duvet.

10 hours' sleep (albeit with some very strange dreams) was almost enough to sort me out, and I was in work at 6:30am this morning, bright-tailed and bushy-eyed; I am not, and never will be, a morning-person! I'm starting to flag just a bit, but there's a chance of a lie-in tomorrow morning, so I thought I'd obey the Pope and do some blogging while waiting for our new Faith Group to start...

More later...

Snow Chaos...

On Friday, school finished a lesson early because the snow of that morning was forecast to get a lot worse, and getting home for many people might be a problem. I took the opportunity to pop into a local supermarket on my way home. As I returned to my car, I noticed that I had a flat rear tyre...

Calling out the breakdown service I pay for along with my car insurance, I resigned myself to a long, cold wait - well, the snow was playing havoc with many people's cars, and the number of breakdowns and crashes being reported was much higher than usual. I felt rather smug as I'd made sure I had a spare tyre in the boot in time for my MOT at Christmas, and so I didn't anticipate any trouble.

Before you ask, yes, I do know how to change a tyre (in theory) but I have knee problems, which means that the practicalities are just too awkward. And anyway, I might break a nail...

Nevertheless, by the time I got home, I was a frozen block of ice, and I regretfully decided against venturing back out for Catholic Evensong at Blackfen, and curled up with a hot water bottle under the duvet for an early night.

By Saturday morning, much of the snow had melted, and I made my way to Mass, Exposition & Benediction without mishap.

This morning everything was blanketed in a fresh layer of the fluffy white stuff. The cats were not at all happy - Monsignor Miaowrini checked it by sticking her head through the cat flap...

... and then she decided to come back in again. Cardinal Furretti, very much a home body at the best of times, and disinclined to leave her creature comforts, watched from a safe distance...

I made my way to the car, cleared the windscreen and mirrors of snow, and started to drive off. It felt a bit odd, but I assumed that it was due to the snow. Halfway down the road I realised that whatever was wrong wasn't just the effect of snow. I pulled over and started to investigate. Sure enough, I had another flat tyre! This time it was a front one... but I hadn't managed to replace the spare...

I must just say that a man waiting by the bus stop actually offered to change the tyre for me, but, as I didn't have a spare I had to decline his kind offer. Still, it cheered me up to think that people still offer help to complete strangers!

I then had a tricky call to make: abandon the attempt to get to church and phone the breakdown services in the hope that they could get me to a garage which sold tyres (and had the correct size in stock) or abandon the car, and deal with it later. The forecast suggested that the weather was going to get worse, and I didn't know whether buses and taxis would still be running if things became icy after dark, so planning to attend the evening Mass seemed like a bad idea. I rang the taxi firm I use most frequently, explained where I'd fetched up, and asked them to come and collect me...

It was definitely the right call. Several of the local garages I phoned after Mass turned out to be shut (a combination of Sunday and snow). The ones that were open couldn't tell me if they had the correct tyre in stock without looking at the wheel (even the franchise dealership I'd bought the car from, which has the car in its computer records, professed themselves unable to access the information!) and I didn't much fancy waiting for the breakdown services to take me from garage to garage on the offchance. I decided to throw in the towel and go out for lunch instead...

When I finally arrived home, the kitties had decided that two bodies were warmer than one, and were curled up together at the top of my wardrobe (normally Miaowrini's domain!), obviously all power games are off for the moment.

The snow continues to fall, and I have great hopes of a "snow day" tomorrow. With any luck, I can get the car sorted out then...