Last year I courted disaster doing the Easter Vigil on my own at home: this time there was a handful of us observing the proper rites at the church. Things that went wrong included the Paschal Candle, whose wax motifs I managed to break and which doesn't quite fit in the holder unlike every other 2"-diameter candle we've ever bought, but the fire, which is easily the most hazardous element of the whole proceedings, was lit and then extinguished without adverse incident. We had over 60 souls at the main service, more than at any time in a year, and for them it didn't matter that halfway through Bill Gates decided to send my laptop a message, thus diverting its attention from livestreaming the liturgy. Oh well.
Rounding off the day's activity (apart from Vespers) was a protest against the Policing Bill in Guildford. It wasn't a big protest, and I was glad to see someone from Hornington Extinction Rebellion, another person, at least, who could remember the last millennium as the crowd contained more teenagers than I've seen together for a long time. The speeches, once we stopped, were awful and it was a relief not to be able to hear most of them. Almost enough to make you sympathise with Priti Patel, but not quite.
Meanwhile St Catherine's Chapel was at its Romantic best against the blue. Happy Easter!
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