Strange meeting?

Actually not altogether strange - but the initial coincidence was. Tell all in a mo…

We set off on our holiday today. But because we’re not flying till tomorrow - well, we thought, we could easily fit in church … Candlemas observed (the actual day is Thursday). Lovely liturgy, wee candles held aloft, blessed, extinguished. Lovely prayers. Plainsong Nunc Dimittis, led my me and Himself. Cold, damp air, great patches of wet on the walls, gusts of wind battering the roof.

Then home - to eat, relax briefly, get the cases shut, persuade the taxi driver to help with getting them to the taxi (he’d not been told). Sit at the ferry terminal for 49 minutes because one of the boats is kaput. Watch the rain. Arrive at the airport hotel in time to relax over a g&t…

With my sister and her husband. We knew they’d be going to Madeira about now - they have done for years. But they’re going now. And their reserved seats on the plane are next to ours. That’s as far as it goes - our hotels are at opposite ends of town. But it was cheering.

And tonight I needed cheering, as I had a phone call just as we checked in, telling me that an old and important friend died yesterday. Rest in peace, Dale - you deserve it.