From Conservatism to Catholicism

The Harvest Supper. I thought I’d best pop along, take my housemate Stickers with me. See what its like. As you know the previous event went really well. Nothing could have prepared me for this one.   Having had a lifetime of Tory Party events, you get to know how to have a night out and a raffle. I didn’t dress to the nines. That was my first mistake, the place was packed and everyone looked immaculate. Yes everyone was at least double my age but frankly that’s nothing new and I felt very lucky to be there.  The food was essentially a ham salad with warm potatoes but very nice it was too. Only seven pounds a ticket so I splashed out on six raffle strips with our change. There was wine on the table but I was most amazed at how busy it was.  There was a lovely couple opposite us, Anita and Terry and between us we swapped breakdown stories. I mean automotive breakdowns rather than mental ones !  Prone to overexcitement in the face of post dinner raffles, these ...

 The Queen is dead. Her funeral is today. One day we had a new Prime Minister, the next we had a new King. This cannot be good for our country. How interesting it would be to look and compare country's civil rest/unrest after a change of Monarch. There are always patterns, if we would only think to look for them. Charles, the Prince of Wales as he was. We do all know him and I think that alone will erode much of the 'untouchable' effect that The Queen held. She was the epitome of stability. No one ever called her the ultimate feminist I can't help but notice... For the record I'm very big on the Royal family. Not because of some long seated desire to be a Princess or because they are 'royal'. I love the Windsors because they are a family. One for the whole country to be involved in and to watch the children grow up. Even my daughter said of Princess Charlotte - 'I remember when she was born!' quite funny from a thirteen year old.  One thing that cons...

 If anyone can remember what that is. This is supposed to be a blog of two halves of course but the party is meaning less and less to me. At the time, when I was only sixteen / seventeen it provided an important and welcome moral framework. One which included having your own house. I'd be lying if I said there weren't times that I wondered : Would it not be easier to live in a council house and have everything for free?  Perhaps I'm simplifying it. I'm not though am I? There just isn't the bite on these issues that there used to be. It seems we aren't allowed to criticise anyone anymore, for anything at all ever.  When I first started "in my day" it was fairly clear cut in the Town Council chamber, if you were all for work you were a Tory, if you weren't, you were with Labour who would seemingly vote down any reasonable suggestion purely because a Conservative thought of it. There was one Lib Dem - Sue. Sue was ok, I used to bump into her all over ...

 Let me tell you, you can always make Mass. You simply go to www.mass-online.org  and there will be a Mass happening there and then somewhere in the world. It was around five o'clock in the evening and I was away from home.  Initially I was looking for a 'mass near me' but it was a bit of a struggle and I wasn't entirely sure where I was and was settled and so thought this would be a good idea. Turns out, it was. Dallas, that's where I go for mass online if I miss it here. This man is excellent. At first they were talking about donuts and he is voice is quite frankly hilarious. You simply can't stop listening to it. The church is plain but comes through very well on the screen and they clearly have a multi cam system that also shows the congregation. I did donate ten dollars because its so totally worth it to know that you can just make time for Mass in the evening.    Its not all about God, in many cases its about making time for yourself. You will find God wil...