Tuesday, February 11, 2014

The river...

...at Kingston was lapping up against the verandas and swishing over the banks, as the train chugged across the bridge this afternoon, taking me to a meeting at Strawberry Hill.  Elsewhere, homes are flooded and people are being evacuated.

The weather matches the sense of solemnity felt today: the anniversary of the resignation of dear Papa Benedict...it is good that he is still with us, praying with serenity, close to Papa Francis, and presumably still working quietly away on the books that will be part of  the rich theology that he is contributing to the Church and which will illuminate minds and hearts for generations.  We are grateful for so much...for that wonderful visit to Britain in 2010, for his joy, his teaching...

Rain falling, and an icy wind cutting into faces.

Like vast numbers of other people, I can't travel by rail to the West Country later this week...the coaches to Taunton are still running, so I've booked a seat on one, but the western rail route down through Reading from Paddington is disrupted by flooding. A planned visit to Cornwall has had to be postponed indefinitely as the railway line along by Dawlish has been swept to pieces and is partly in the sea...

Spent the day partly working on a piece for the Catholic Herald (for a couple of weeks ahead:  first anniversary of Papa Francis election), and partly mulling over plans for some possible further academic work...all this interspersed with work for Christian Projects (25th anniversary of Schools Bible Project) and EWTN (I fly off to the USA - weather permitting! - in a couple of weeks' time to make a new series).



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