Seeing the rainbow

As today's weather grew steadily colder - fewer showers, more sun, but definitely chilly - I was taken out of my preoccupation with our travel travails (hah - I like that!) by attending the funeral of the mother of three of my former pupils, the eldest of whom was a contemporary of my #2 son. I wasn't early - the church, in the photo above,  is two minutes' walk from my door, and I took the photo as I walked down our front path. I walked across wondering if I'd got the time wrong, as there was no-one outside except undertakers, but when I went inside I found a silent congregation sitting, waiting - and no music. It turned out that the organist was unwell. I was asked by an usher if I played - but no, and it was too late to summon Himself. So I just gave it laldy in the hymns, and wondered what I'd have done in the circs had I been in charge. [ For reference: if there's no decent organist and no decent singers present, plug some music into the speaker system and turn the volume up. My preferences begin with Purcell's funeral music ...] 


After that we decided to seize the day and go for a walk. By now it was midday, and Benmore Gardens, though apparently full judging by the car park, was in fact more or less empty. Everyone was in the cafe ... so we climbed up to the top, being slightly battered by a shower as we reached the last stretch, and sat in the shelter till the rain stopped. The gardens were glorious with early autumn things - a single golden branch in a still-green tree, some glossy pink berries on another - and we felt better, though the last bit of hill felt very steep.

We got home to find the piano tuner on the doorstep. (We knew he was coming!). I may have mentioned this before, but it's a fun fact that our tuner, a former pupil of Himself who came to me for English tuition in my child-raising years before I returned to teaching, now lives in Brazil. Yes, Brazil. But his old dad still lives in Dunoon, and twice a year he comes to visit and tunes his customers' pianos. When it was restored to perfection we sat down for a blether with coffee, until I had to start making dinner.

We attended Compline online and then sagged. During the day Imagine Cruising (our travel agent) phoned to see how we were, and to say there was no news yet on our claim. Other than that we managed not to fret too much. This would have been our last night on board ship - and the notices pinged in that online check-in for the two flights was now open, which was ironic. But we'd have been flying home tomorrow and yet we're both still exhausted from the fiasco of the outward journey. So we'd have been exhausted for a whole cruise.

And that's not my idea of a holiday.

Footnote: I apologise for not visiting anyone's journals for the last while; I seem to have no time for the things I usually enjoy doing. I'll be back ...