Sunday 2 August

It was another wet week. I complained at work that they never told me at interview about the rain in the summer but there was little compassion shown. Several folk have been moved from their homes but I’ve been OK since I’m on the 3^rd floor here.

I received a great message from my old bishop John Rawsthorne. He was trying out some voice programme on his i-pad. He had been sent as delegate from UK bishops to El Salvador for the Beatification of Oscar Romero. Any of you who are interested in seeing a recent picture of him might wish to visit the Romero Trust website. He is clearly enjoying his new life as a junior parish curate but still finds time to do what he calls ‘a few bishop things’.

Much of this week has been spent preparing instrumental arrangements for the Parish Patronal Feast Day next Sunday 9 August. It will be the first Mass here that will be intentionally bi-lingual. This parish has a sizeable proportion of Hispanic (mostly Cuban) families and a wonderfully vibrant Spanish Mass on Sunday afternoons.

Creating the arrangements was going well until I hit a button on the computer and lost my work. It was then that I discovered that the ‘undo’ facility was not functioning. A telephone call to the music programme’s manufacturers prompted me to order the latest 2014 edition of Finale.

My ‘little’ brother Richard has been over in USA with his two daughters. It sounds as though they’ve had a great time. Richard hired a convertible to improve his posing. His daughters cut from the same cloth, even dolled themselves up to buy chocolate from the shop around the corner from the hotel! I didn’t manage to see them as they were some distance away but it was great to skype them and find them in the same time zone.

On Friday I had a day off and started by trying to find some glass for a piece of art I bought during the week. I succeeded but when I came out to my car I discovered that I had a nail in one tyre. It was so close to the edge that a repair was not possible so $120 and 20 minutes later I was able to drive home safely. Stupidly I was not cautious with the glass fitting and broke it. So I then had to return to purchase another piece. I took the old piece along and the cutter was able to cut four pieces from it which I can use in the future for other paintings.

I also decided to visit another nearby Goodwill Store since the weather was so awful and I needed a pep up in the way that only a visit to a charity shop can achieve. Having bought nothing at all (rare occasion) I dropped in for a first visit to Peggy O’Neill’s bar in Oldsmar. There I had fish ‘n’ chips which was close enough to the real thing and the chips tasted as though they had been near a potato! In the evening I could be found in my local.

Saturday morning was a leisurely affair as I wondered whether the rain would ever stop. When at 1pm it did I went into work. After the two vigil Masses I dropped into the local Goodwill and bought a set of crockery. There were 8 mugs, 6 dinner plates, 8 side plates and 5 bowls. A quick bit of research on Google informed me that each bowl was $20 in the shops and I bought the lot for $60. Yes, another bargain!

My journey home was halted by the Police who had closed down a main road because of flooding. I then had to do a wide diversion around the airport to get home. Lest you think that I have been exaggerating my moans about the weather let me tell you that the ‘sunshine state’ has been experiencing about 6in of daily rainfall for the last 2 weeks! I have spotted sunshine forecast for Friday which would be comforting if it had not been for the fact that an earlier forecast for sun on Wednesday has since been changed to rain!

My physiotherapy continues to produce progress. I now have less back pain and the neck though not perfect is certainly getting better. My regime has been dropped to 2 visits a week which is easier to accommodate into my schedule.

As I gaze out the window the trees are being rocked by the wind but the fact that I can see them and all the way to the bay means that there is hope where little existed. On this bright note I will leave you until the next exciting episode.