Woe, Woe And Thrice, Woe...

My car broke down again today. I was driving merrily down the A2 towards Bluewater, at 70 mph, when the car engine started to rattle. I really didn't like the sound of the rattle, so I pulled over onto the hard shoulder.

The A2 is actually more like a motorway at that point (obviously, or I wouldn't be doing 70 mph... or at least I wouldn't be blogging about it!) so I had to get out of the car on the passenger side.

I am not the most agile of people, so this manoeuvre wasn't the easiest to accomplish. At least this time I didn't end up with my feet stuck above the dashboard as I attempted to get over the gear stick. It didn't help that lorries were thundering past, making my little Hyundai shake.

However, I finally succeeded in getting out, and clambered over the small crash barrier at the side. I couldn't walk very far away because of the bushes growing there, but I thought I was probably at a safe enough distance.

And then it started to rain...

Luckily my breakdown service arrived pretty quickly.

The damage was self-inflicted, and I really could kick myself... I had forgotten to check the oil, and the engine, although fine when idling, is now making a nasty rattle when revved... and, since it couldn't be fixed at the road side, I was driven home again.

The engine will need stripping, and probably replacing. I wouldn't mind, but I have only just had the gearbox done... At this rate I'll have a new car by Christmas...

A Moment To Treasure...

I was driving home this afternoon in the sunshine, and I stopped to allow a mother and her children to cross over to get to the park.

The mother obviously told her children to wave a "thank you" as they crossed.

The youngest child, a toddler, took her words to heart: he came to a dead stop in the middle of the crossing, and, facing me, waved furiously while beaming from ear to ear.

It quite made my day!

I Can See Clearly Now Lorraine Has Gone...

Misheard lyrics can be a source of amusement (like the one in the post title!) However, they can also really change the whole meaning of a song.

I always thought the Mamas & the Papas' classic, California Dreamin', went "Got down on my knees, and I began to pray..."

It seems that they were only pretending.

I also thought it had the line "If I didn't love her, I could leave today" whereas the actual lyrics are "If I didn't tell her..."

*sigh*

I think I prefer my version.

In the wake of having my illusions destroyed, I have been comforting myself with the reflection that this group really must have been strange... the woman in the middle looks as if she's desperate to go to the toilet, and is skittering around on one spot until she can escape, while the chap on the far right is trying to flick his fringe out of his eyes without moving his head too much... and the less said about his "dancing" the better...

I've Been Busy...

...so I haven't been blogging.

I have almost completed all my preparations for the Parish Pilgrimage to Lourdes, and am no longer hyperventilating whenever anyone mentions Icelandic volcanoes or British Airways.

However, in case I allow myself to get too relaxed, a friend sent me a little snippet from the Daily Telegraph about a kitten who crawled into the washing machine for a nap...

Luckily Sylvester is too fat to fit comfortably into the washing machine...

Time For A Cat Post...

Admission By Ticket Only...?

I was quite amazed to hear that the powers-that-be are attempting to restrict the numbers of people attending events during the Papal visit.

Auntie Joanna and Bara Brith summarise the feelings of ordinary Catholics quite well, and Damian Thompson has given some of the background information which might explain what's going on.

I can understand the need to have tickets for events in enclosed spaces, such as the Mass at Westminster Cathedral. I do not understand why people are being discouraged from attending open-air events.

I personally hate large crowds, and my knee and ankle problems make my attendance at such events tricky, especially if it is necessary to walk long distances. However, I am busy reflecting on whether it will be possible for me to go and line the route somewhere...

I remember the effect that the visit of Pope John Paul II had on my father...

I was 14, and had only been baptised a couple of years, and wasn't entirely sure what "being Catholic" meant. My father had been lapsed for so long that, on trying to arrange for the baptism of my sister and me, he had returned after Mass absolutely apoplectic at the fact that "it had all turned ****** protestant!" - something I didn't understand at the time. I now realise that he'd completely missed the introduction of the novus ordo, and its contrast with the usus antiquior must have come as quite a shock.

At the time Pope John Paul II visited Westminster Cathedral, my father was helping to re-fit and refurbish the Reubens Hotel, Buckingham Palace Road. He came home that evening, and, with tears in his eyes, he recounted to me how he'd stood at the front windows of the hotel and waved as the Holy Father went past... and how the Holy Father had appeared to catch his eye as he waved back.

I know that this experience had a profound effect on my father, although I never got the chance to ask him about it - he died less than three months later.

He'd never have managed (or even tried) to get a ticket...

Advice For The New Government...?

I have discovered that I can download episodes of various classic comedy programmes onto my iPhone... just in case the wait at the airport proved to be longer than usual!

Among my favourites are the series Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister. The following snippet seemed rather appropriate... though, of course, we have had to endure centralised control of education for well over a decade now...

An Update On Sylvester...

Sylvester has been a little clingy of late.

I am used to being woken up at 3am if it rains overnight, being headbutted by a faceful of wet, purring cat - he has discovered that this is the fastest way to get himself dried off.

However, he hasn't been out quite so much recently. I assumed that he was feeling his age... his whiskers have turned completely white and he's finding it harder to jump up on things.

It seems that there is more to it than simple old age. One of my neighbours has a new cat - a sleek, Siamese crossbreed. The newcomer has been asserting his territorial rights, and Sylvester (according to another neighbour) came off worst in a recent spat. No actual damage done, apart from injured pride. However, he has been top cat in the garden for quite a few years, and I suspect that his demotion has hit him hard...

Is it very wrong of me to consider lurking in the garden with a water spray...?

Summer May Have Arrived In Britain...

Even I have noticed the rise in temperature over the past few days. The mornings are still a little on the chilly side for me...

I got into my car this afternoon, after Mass and a couple of refreshing drinks (non-alcoholic in my case) in the parish club. I put one hand on the steering wheel, and found that it was actually too hot to hold... it felt as if I was in danger of burning myself quite badly...

Fortunately, I was able to pull the sleeves of my roll-neck jumper down over my hands to protect them while driving home...

...and, if it's this hot tomorrow, I might consider leaving off the t-shirt I'm currently wearing under the jumper and jacket.

Possibly.

Tomato Soup Update...

I have been very touched by the response to my request for prayers... both in the com-box and over at Fr. Z's blog. I think the lesson went reasonably well, but the interview less so.

The tomato soup and cardboard ensemble performed as expected. What the students made of it was harder to assess. At least it was the lesson after lunch, so no rumbling tums to disrupt proceedings.

Unfortunately, the media clips I had inserted oh-so-carefully into my powerpoint presentation didn't actually work, something to do with the software version. Fortunately, I had remembered to save the clips separately as well, so got to show them at the end...

I will know by the end of tomorrow...

Prayers Please...

Tomorrow I have a job interview. Part of the process will involve teaching Year 9 about plate tectonics. I find this one of the most boring topics on the specification: I much prefer torturing jelly babies...

In an attempt to liven things up, I have planned a demonstration. When I tell you that this involves pieces of cardboard and a pan of tomato soup, you will appreciate that tomorrow could be a trifle fraught. Prayers would be welcome.

I will be providing my own tomato soup, to ensure the correct viscosity... as well as practicing my pronunciation of Eyjafjallajokull... ah-ya-fyah... aye-ya-fee-ya... ay-yor-feh... that Icelandic volcano...

Where I Will Be In A Fortnight...

The annual Parish Pilgrimage to Lourdes is coming up. I have to admit that my usual excitement at the prospect of spending a week in Lourdes is somewhat muted by the knowledge that the Icelandic volcano under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier is still merrily belching out ash, which may or may not result in flight cancellations, and British Airways cabin crews may or may not be out on strike...

However, if we're lucky, in two weeks' time I shall be praying for you all at the Grotto at Massabielle. I love Lourdes.

Last year we managed to celebrate Mass in the crypt of the parish church in Lourdes. This year we are lucky enough to have arranged two Masses there. We shall also have two Masses in the Domaine - one Mass will be in the St. Gabriel Chapel (an old favourite, next to the Crypt Chapel) and the other will be in the Chapelle Croix Glorieuse. This is a new chapel - so new, in fact, that it doesn't feature anywhere on the Lourdes Sanctuaires website.

I have been told that the chapel is near the Way of the Cross, but that's all I know. I am just praying that it doesn't in any way resemble the St. Patrick Chapel. That chapel resembled a large cupboard... or possibly a small garage... and was the deciding factor in His Hermeneuticalness' decision to run the pilgrimage ourselves, rather than using tour operators who thought it acceptable to arrange to celebrate Masses in cupboards simply because the cupboard had been named after a saint...

This year I shall have my snazzy camera with me. I am toying with the idea of bringing my monopod, but it'll be a bit of a hassle to carry it everywhere. I shall be armed with an 8GB memory card as well, so I should manage to get a few little photos for the blog...

Aborted Baby Cried...

This has to be one of the most horrible stories I've read... I thought that, in China, if the baby managed to take a breath, then it was classed as a person and had the right to life - which was why, in cases of "illegal" second pregnancies, they had the practice of injecting formaldehyde into the baby's head just as it crowned, so that the child would be born dead.

Twitch of the mantilla to the European Life Network.

Church Sign Apologetics...

Larry D, over at Acts of the Apostasy, had me snorting into my cup of tea with this offering. Be sure to go over and read the entire exchange!

The Truth About Planned Parenthood...

I posted the Blood Money trailer back in September of last year, but it bears a repeat showing. Fr. John Boyle received an email about it today, and apparently the producers need people to visit the website so they can demonstrate interest.

The Holy Father In Portugal...

Fr Gonzales (of Overheard in the Sacristy fame) posted the following photo, which made me smile. I would just like to point out to His Hermeneuticalness that the phone in question is not a clunky Android phone, but a super-sleek iPhone...

...like the one I have.

Fr. Gonzales also posted the Holy Father's text number. I hope it's true... I shall try it out tomorrow (after all, it's 10:45pm over there now, so it's a little late to be getting text messages from strange women...)

And Another Link To Check Out...

I do occasionally stumble upon new blogs (ok, new-to-me) without having received a heads-up in the com-box or a plea to be included on the blogroll.

The Noise of the Crusade is a new blog - it appears to have been started in April - and there is no information on Last Knight, the author... not even location or sex. From the subject matter, I shall assume that the Knight is male, unless he informs me otherwise... and the current blogroll (on which I am honoured to be included amongst very august company) seems to indicate that he may hail from Albion's shores...

More Links To Explore...

Autumn asked me to publicise her two blogs and to add them to my blogroll. After checking her out (she's a wife, mother, grandmother, homemaker, and still has time to update two blogs!!? I'm doing something wrong!) I am happy to recommend both of them.

I vaguely recall Autumn as "Autumn Rose" - her main blog URL seems familiar - but I suspect she got culled in a previous existence... I get rather ruthless about cutting out dead or inactive blogs from my blogroll, sometimes too much so!

Anyway, she's got lots of fascinating stuff, and her talents in the cakemaking realm leave me utterly speechless (and drooling... definitely drooling!)

So, go and visit Life on the Home Front if you want to know about cakes, homemaking, war-time recipes and other stuff, and Autumn's Leaves for musings on life, the universe and everything else... and be sure to tell her that I sent you!

Busy Again...

I've been busy with my camera this afternoon, taking photos at the last of our First Holy Communion Masses.

The children were ever so sweet.

I have loaded all of the photos onto Flickr, so they are freely available for downloading. Alternatively, you can just look at them as a slideshow.

Linky Love...

This week in Linky Love, I would like to draw your attention to four different blogs by one author, one grateful heart.

One grateful heart is a Catholic wife, mother and grandmother in the United States. Her excellent blogs are:

Grateful for Purgatory - which takes note of St. Pio's injunction to pray unceasingly, as we need to empty Purgatory.

Eucharistic Adoration for Priests - encouraging the Faithful to pray for priests, especially during this Year of the Priest, before Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.

Grateful for Life - an excellent pro-life blog.

Venite Adoremus Dominum - what I would consider to be the blog proper!

All excellent blogs, and I can heartily recommend a visit.