Missing the big story
On Monday mornings, I teach Sacramental Theology at St John's Seminary at Wonersh. Usually, I leave around lunchtime so that I can get a couple of hours' work in before celebrating Mass in the parish so that people can come after work or school.
This evening, however, I was up at Maiden Lane for 6.30pm Mass, which was followed as usual by a drink nearby. It was there that I learned from Leutgeb of Bara Brith that I had missed the main Catholic news story of the day: Pope Benedict's Address to the Bishops of England and Wales. Leaving reasonably early I reckoned that I would have time to write something without staying up too late.
... TFL (Transport for London) had other ideas. Having luckily caught a number 11 bus from the Strand to Westminster, I was on schedule to be home by 10pm. After I had descended through Westminster Station (which always reminds me of the Nazi rocket-firing bunker in Normandy) there was a platform announcement that the Jubilee line was suspended between Green Park and Waterloo. It is possible to get the District & Circle Line to Embankment and then the Northern Line to Waterloo but I thought I would be virtuous and walk over Westminster Bridge ("The exercise will do you good, Father.")
Then (having once again gone down to the platform), I heard the announcement that the Line was now suspended between Green Park and London Bridge. Rather than take the Bakerloo Line to the Elephant and then the City branch of the Northern Line up to London Bridge, I took the SE railway from Waterloo East.
At London Bridge, a train arrived at the platform, slowed down enticingly and then drove off again. It had been vandalised, apparently. I finally got to North Greenwich at about 10.30pm and home shortly before 11pm. This is the consoling message posted at the TFL website:
This evening, however, I was up at Maiden Lane for 6.30pm Mass, which was followed as usual by a drink nearby. It was there that I learned from Leutgeb of Bara Brith that I had missed the main Catholic news story of the day: Pope Benedict's Address to the Bishops of England and Wales. Leaving reasonably early I reckoned that I would have time to write something without staying up too late.
... TFL (Transport for London) had other ideas. Having luckily caught a number 11 bus from the Strand to Westminster, I was on schedule to be home by 10pm. After I had descended through Westminster Station (which always reminds me of the Nazi rocket-firing bunker in Normandy) there was a platform announcement that the Jubilee line was suspended between Green Park and Waterloo. It is possible to get the District & Circle Line to Embankment and then the Northern Line to Waterloo but I thought I would be virtuous and walk over Westminster Bridge ("The exercise will do you good, Father.")
Then (having once again gone down to the platform), I heard the announcement that the Line was now suspended between Green Park and London Bridge. Rather than take the Bakerloo Line to the Elephant and then the City branch of the Northern Line up to London Bridge, I took the SE railway from Waterloo East.
At London Bridge, a train arrived at the platform, slowed down enticingly and then drove off again. It had been vandalised, apparently. I finally got to North Greenwich at about 10.30pm and home shortly before 11pm. This is the consoling message posted at the TFL website:
