Started the day with a church pastoral meeting on Zoom which happens monthly but I am not always available so it was good to catch up with everyone. Although not as cold as other mornings recently R, being isolated, (so today’s blog will be very limited!) took opportunity to stay under the duvet as we didn’t have the heating on. Not having moved the boat, the batteries are a bit low and that means to heat the radiators we really need the engine on, but that is very noisy so not a good idea with a Zoom meeting in progress. The upside for R was that I made him breakfast in bed – a steaming bowl of porridge with molasses and a big mug of tea. I have hardly ever known him have breakfast in bed, unlike me! The Zoom was followed by a long telephone chat with a friend who happened to have presided at her first funeral yesterday. I was licensed to officiate at funerals a few years ago and have to say I think it is a great privilege to be able to do so and it is a very rewarding ministry. It also carries a weight of responsibility because you want to do the best that you can for the bereaved family, offering them support and listening to their wishes so that the service is meaningful and true to the person who has died. All a bit more complicated with social distancing. Two of my main practical concerns are not arriving late at the crematorium due to traffic issues and making sure the service does not overrun, the latter being of real concern at the moment with the crematoriums being so busy. They have to allow for extra time between services to sanitize so 30 minutes becomes 25 and obviously you don’t want the family to feel the service is in any way rushed. Undertakers do an amazing job and many are experiencing increased levels of stress, working really hard in difficult circumstances. I think they are unsung heroes because they hardly ever seem to get a mention or thanked in public. So I shall thank them now in this blog!
It was nearly lunchtime by the time we got the engine running and I took the opportunity to vacuum the floors and give them a thorough clean as there was a lot of mud around. A bit of a thankless task with so much rain and our muddy boots in and out most days. Still, not being able to leave the boat until Saturday should help to keep the floors clean for longer, although wet patches from condensation can make the floor unexpectedly wet! As it was Thursday there was another physics talk, this time on sound and light. All very interesting – I just wish my brain could interpret the information rather than leave me confused! Light relief followed a in the form of an episode of Vera. Only 5 to go before we reach the end of them all so eeking out!
NarrowboatTLC 