The Same But Different

'I expect you're feeling a mixture of pleasurable familiarity and anxious trepidation', said Fr Donald after the service this evening. There were in fact many other mixed feelings as I found myself in a pew back at Lamford Church where I was curate to attend the Revd Fr's installation as its new Rector. My main concern was not to give offence by forgetting too many people's names, though I would surely be forgiven for having letting some slip my mind over the 13 1/2 years since I left the place. Lamford has had a long gap since Il Rettore left, and they are justifiably very glad to have Donald and his family in place. The Choir is a little greyer than in my time, but were in good voice. The Bishop did everything one could want so one can't complain, but it was a little bit odd to hear the Choir singing the Canon of the Mass in the usual Lamford setting and him interjecting with something which was sort of like Merbecke, but not quite. It was like Bjork's description of her proposed duet with Meatloaf at the 1993 Brit Awards: like onion and chocolate, two things you might both like, but which don't fit together (she ended up singing with PJ Harvey, of course). We were plagued throughout the service by flies, and there are various Biblical conclusions you might draw from that.