Chillin' with the chaps

I can't believe today has been so full of interaction. Yesterday my throat ached with so much conversation; today I enjoyed three different experiences on different media and felt positively normal. It began - as is usual on a Sunday - with church. Not actual church, as we're no longer allowed to meet for services, but church (Morning Prayer) on zoom,  when (as I've just learned) 34 people came online together, most of us with video, to pray, to listen to readings, to hear an address, and to feel part of our community. And it wasn't just the usual congregation - my #2 son, who zooms for a living these days, joined in from Edinburgh, the rector's daughter from London, along with members of our sister congregation on Bute and one of two people I only know from Facebook. And the age range was huge - 20s to 80s as far as I could tell, and it was moving and inspiring. 

We followed this with coffee in the company of my bestie who usually sits behind me at church. She and her man sat at their kitchen table; we sat at ours, and talked, face to face, over another medium - this time on my phone, as we wanted to sit downstairs. Forty minutes of face-to-face chat with friends we won't actually be seeing for heaven knows how long. 

We went out, of course - it's been a glorious day - and walked, and smiled to a lone cyclist and a few passing motorists. The only other pedestrians we saw were away out on a sandbank where there's usually sea, playing with their dog. They must have been a quarter of a mile away. Social distance preserved for another day ...

And then we had this delightful half hour before dinner, chatting to #1 son and his boys, both posing like mad for this photo. They had us in tucks of mirth, not the least when James (9) leaned forward and said, in tones distinctly reminiscent of David Attenborough, "You know - we all have to die some time...". 

Notwithstanding the truth of this last statement, a good day. 

Extra photo is of the candle lit at 7pm to join in the prayers for the world.