Today, Mrs T and I attended the joyous Silver Anniversary celebration of Dr & Mrs O in one of the Cambridge colleges. It was remarkable for bridging two faiths and two cultures.
The journey thither was graced by the avenue of flowering cherry trees, buds bursting into bloom in the sudden warmth of the day after the bitter cold of the past week. It reminded me of Sei Shonagons Pillow Book entry from over a millennium ago:
"It is a great pleasure to break off a long, beautiful branch from a cherry tree and to arrange it in a large vase. What a delightful task it is to perform when a visitor nearby is conversing!"
The anniversary celebration began with a Service of Blessing in the College chapel, officiated in tandem by both a Catholic priest and a Lutheran minister. They alternated in good humour and also between Hymns and lessons in English and German. Indeed, for one hymn, "Ich Lobe Meinen Gott", we first sang in German and then in English, whilst for the last "Now thank we all our God", the congregation was directed to sing in their preferred tongue, the result being counter-intuitively more musical than cacophonous.
Following the postlude, we migrated to a college meeting room. The full moon loomed large upon us during the procession, this being the first Perigee Moon for twenty years, thus presenting a face some fourteen percent larger than when viewed during the lunar apogee.
Circulating amongst the cosmopolitan guests, conversation ranged from experience with the test firings of the Arianne rocket engines to the development of novel beverages. Time passed quickly in pleasant diversion.
Strolling back to our automobile, we looked up again at the swollen moon as it illuminated the contrails of six jet aircraft coming from several locations into one formation. Their diminishing roar suggested at a continued voyage together, perhaps to the new conflict in Libya.
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