Thursday 21 April 2011

And so to Zed

Wink and I went to Norwich today, first to my ladies-who-lunch lunch and then to John Lewis because Wink wanted to check out linen baskets and rugs.  We left, chastened by the prices.  Having rejected the baskets, the least expensive of which was £50 and not all that, I wanted to buy something small to get the reduced price on the car park.  I looked at Easter eggs and sweets and was really rather taken aback.  £9 for a small pack of sugared almonds, for example.  What looked like a small coffee cup filled with sweets was £5, which seemed all right until I realised the 'cup' was made of card and the fiver was for maybe 80g of sweets.  I bought a stain removing stick.

We moved on to the Chapelfield mall, mainly because we were meeting Weeza and the JL multi-storey is so badly designed and there are few mother and baby spaces and there is hardly room to park the car, let alone help a small child out of it.  We bought Wink her birthday presents and a bra for me.  I wonder why it is that there are so few in my size.  I have a very ordinary size, but there were lots of 30Fs and similarly impressive small yet big sizes, but not the more ordinary 34Ds.  Not in white, anyway, which was what I wanted.  I'd have bought two or three, including coloured ones, if I'd been able to find them, but I could only find a choice of two acceptable ones (I do not like padding either, it doesn't move when you do) and tried them on, one fitted so I bought it.  Later, I got over enthusiastic about odds and ends and then we went looking for clothes for Zerlina.  Weeza really wanted some plain teeshirts, but Zerlina was thrilled with a bright red raincoat, of all things.  It was marked down to about a third of its original price and I bought it for her.  I mean, it'll rain sometime or other, right?  Weeza bought her sunglasses and Wink bought her a dress.  We also had ice cream.  It was a good day.

Then I went to play the organ at the Maundy Thursday service.  I don't think I've ever been to a Maundy Thursday service before, so I don't know if it's the norm, but at the end the ministers removed everything they could from the altar and its surrounds.  They trotted back and forth while the congregation sat silently, and then they went and sat down again.  I wondered how long to stay.  No one moved.  It was 20 to 9 and I still had dinner to cook.  After five minutes, I got up and went out.  Well, someone has to.  And now I'm tired.  Goodnight.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice to hear that it was a good day.

Dave said...

Stripping the altar is a Maundy Thursday tradition. Even the most recent Methodist service book includes it. Not that we have altars, and our tables are rarely dressed anyway.

Ros said...

The reason the unusual sizes were left in the corsetry department is simple, nobody wants them.

Katy had a red raincoat at a similar age. I love little girls in red.

If I can get some lessons in how to use the hand controls on my new car, I will be delighted to join you on the 2nd, but am not optimistic. I can't prevail upon Katy to drive me as she's having a canal boat weekend.

Z said...

We're having another day out today, Mago. And tomorrow.

Thank you, Dave. I know practically nothing about these rituals.

Weeza has one of those unusual small yet big sizes, and when she was younger she found it almost impossible to find a bra that fitted. Her first trip to Rigby and Peller, where she was treated as normal, was a turning-point in her life. Now she's fine anywhere, but if they sell out of the usual sizes, why on earth not get in more? Larger than 34, there was almost nothing.

I would love you to come, and will keep fingers crossed. Marvellous news that you are able to drive now and becoming independent again.

Anonymous said...

Our altar is also stripped bare and for today's service the whole church is bare of ornaments and pictures, even the Stations of the Cross are covered...it looks a bit bleak really.

Christopher said...

I think you were quite right to leave in mid-altar strip. I'm also very glad that having racked your brains for a suitable piece of music to accompany this activity you didn't launch into The Stripper.

PixieMum said...

It is the same in our church. To quote from our service sheet, "the president and ministers genuflect and return to the sacristy.

They then return for the stripping of the church, symbolising the empty tomb.

As Psalm 22 is said the Church is stripped of all furnishings symbolising the Stripping of Christ".

Our church tends to Anglo Catholicism, sometimes I feel that the symbolism and liturgy takes over from the message.

Haven't gone to the Good Friday Liturgy, Ian had a three line whip as he sings in the choir but I find kissing the Cross for example is not me.

I don't want to change churches,I was confirmed at this one, we were married there, offspring were baptised and confirmed there as well as being choristers and Adam served too. It is also less than half a mile away.

The new vicar came last May and now the excellent NSM is moving to another parish. She says it's because she will have a house for duty. I couldn't possibly comment on a public message board but her decision and other factors are giving me cause for concern.

Sorry, this is a long way from Maundy Thursday.

Z said...

I left the organ stool at the first possible moment and sat in the pews. Well, on one pew. I did wait until they'd finished, it was a matter of how much longer afterwards.

I'd have thought the stripping would have been symbolic of stripping clothes, not an empty tomb, which didn't happen until the Sunday.

I'm pretty low church myself. I went to an RC school and I'm fine with ritual and incense, holy water and genuflectingl, but it's a Catholic thing. It comes naturally there, but not in the C of E.

I think that you and I would be able to speak with understanding, Madeleine. I have known a similar situation.