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Christmas and beyond Christmas itself was predictably quiet. The Carol Service on Christmas Eve went as well as could be expected, on a very cold night with a small handful of people. On Christmas Day morning we went to mass at St Alexander’s Roman Catholic cathedral.  There were maybe 200 people, and excellent music withContinue reading “Through a glass darkly – 63”

Snow comes to Kiev When it came, it came very suddenly. On the Monday before Christmas we had been to the central Post Office to post a second, and final,  batch of postcards. That is the only place where they can be stamped ‘Par Avion’. Unstamped they are unlikely to arrive before next Christmas. AndContinue reading “Through a glass darkly – 62”

Kiev calling – 2 It is going to get a lot colder here in Kiev: temperatures on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are forecast as -9ºC up to -6ºC. And it should be snowing by then. According to the BBC forecast on my MacBook. Which is good news, I think. For the last several daysContinue reading “Through a glass darkly – 61”

Kiev We arrived in this city after dark a week ago. After changing planes in Frankfurt. It took a long time to clear customs as we were behind a sizeable group of  orthodox Jewish rabbis, all wearing long ringlets under black hats, who attracted a great deal of attention from the suspicious officials. I thinkContinue reading “Through a glass darkly – 60”

We landed in this unfamiliar city after dark …  Opening Up No, we haven’t quite got that far yet. It’s just like what they say about London buses. You wait for ages and then two come along at once. This will be my second attempt at blogging this week. Not because it has been aContinue reading “Through a glass darkly – 59”

We arrived in this city last week after dark  … but I am getting ahead of myself. Sticky wicket in Yorkshire It is about three months or so since I last blogged. Where has the time gone ? I started to write something about racism and Yorkshire cricket a few weeks ago when Roger HuttonContinue reading “Through a glass darkly – 58”

Monasteries and Retreat Houses I spent the middle of last week in a monastery. It was only a couple of nights. We  were staying in St Mary’s, the Redemptorist monastery on the side of Kinnoull Hill, just on the edge of Perth.  My recollection of staying there some thirty years ago, most probably for post-OrdinationContinue reading “Through a glass darkly – 57”

Unlike Jonathan Goodall, the Bishop of Ebbsfleet [and a wholly invisible contemporary at Wycliffe Hall in the late-mid 1980s], who has just left the Church of England to join the Church of Rome,  I’ve never had any desire to be a Roman Catholic. Much as I like several Catholic priests, mainly French,  there are aspectsContinue reading “Through a glass darkly – 56”

Not gone to Birmingham We should be in Birmingham. Except that we haven’t gone there. We are still in Edinburgh. My younger brother, Peter, has a 70th birthday this weekend. Sadly he isn’t very well: what he thought was long COVID turned out to be a brain tumour. He was bravely going ahead with aContinue reading “Through a glass darkly – 55”

Abroad We had an excellent early summer here in Edinburgh; dry and sunny with the temperature hovering around  23ºC.  Good weather for enjoying the garden. And also for church walks. But now it is raining again. I feel for our children who are heading for the Scottish Highlands in a camper-van. For the little girlsContinue reading “Through a glass darkly – 54”