Monday 23rd December - A day full of incident

But first, and maybe last, the O Antiphon of the Day - listen, and relax

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U21la_YEJbY

O Emmanuel, our King and lawgiver, for whom the nations wait, their Saviour: come to save us, Lord, our God.

Now, those incidents;

I am mulling over in my mind what to do about refreshments after my godmother's funeral in the New Year. It is possible that there may be only a scant dozen present; me, Himself, my father, maybe her cousin, her next-door neighbours, their neighbours, and possibly one of the delightful team who came in every day during the last ten days of my godmother's life. So that's nine. In a chapel that holds up to one hundred. They had better not all sit in the back row!

So, about these refreshments - I know that the neighbours won't stay, they said so, and now we are down to a possible seven. All I want is somewhere that will let us sit in a quiet corner of a lounge and serve tea, coffee, and a slice of cake. Maybe a sandwich.

I do not want to book a full buffet for a minimum of 20 people!

Still, I have another couple of days to sort things out.

We drove to that neck of the woods today, through a lovely bright morning, admiring the shimmering effect of the sun on the flooded fields on either side of the rivers... found the crematorium, looked at one nearby venue (closed), tried to find another, and then our attention was caught by a strange noise coming from the car tyres. At this stage we were on a busy dual carriageway, so kept going until we reached the first venue - a pub called the Golden Retriever. Now open! This meant that I could wait in the warm, by an open fire, while Himself and the AA solved the flat tyre problem - fitting the space-saver spare.

I'd have chosen the Gold Retriever for the funeral refreshments then and there, but for two things - 'we are usually open by half past ten' - hmm, usually is not good enough - and 'no, we don't serve cake'.

By this time we were pretty well finished, so drove to my godmother's house, picked up a few things that we need, and then to a nearby restaurant/hotel for lunch. He had a steak - it had been that kind of day. This place would be pretty well perfect, but they don't serve cake either. Just restaurant and bistro food.

After a good meal we just came home, for coffee and - not cake, mincemeat surprise scone from yesterday, warmed with butter. He's organised a new tyre for Friday, and I've informed one set of relatives 'I doubt we'll be able to come - Mum and Dad are very frail now; even getting to the shops is a huge effort for them' and the other is not answering the phone tonight.

Supper was easy - I made vegetable soup, and have set aside two portions for the freezer. If we don't have them later, I'll have soup to take to work next term.

There's a fair bit of tinselling to do yet - it might happen, or it might not.

I keep getting distracted by other things... knitting.... doodling