Winter Sun

The boys went to Callum’s birthday party this afternoon, a lunch-time affair. After dropping them off we came home to get lunch ready for ourselves. But since the boys weren’t with us, there was no particular rush to have lunch, so instead we had coffee and wedding cake (Sharon gave a piece of boxed cake to Nick this morning at church) and chatted outside, and then made ham rolls which we took to Castle Gardens. The weather in town this afternoon has been perfect – a mild breeze, the sun comfortably warm, the sky blue with a few clouds. We took the picnic blanket to the Gardens, and the doves wanted to share our lunch, so we broke off bits of roll for them. They are obviously very accustomed to people, as we got them taking crumbs from our fingers. Nick brought his guitar out and I read a book, and then we chatted, and it was so nice. I haven’t had so much vitamin D in a long time – one either avoids the summer sun, or the winter rain. Not much winter sun. Funny though, because Nick’s song is called “Winter Sun” – written from a South African perspective! The doves continued pecking at crumbs – one brave little one even walked right over my legs. We had a good talk about the state of the church on the island, and what needs to happen. The conclusion is that a revival is needed! In 20 years the Baptist witness could be dead on the island, as the church consists of people mostly over 50, with the handful of younger people who would be the next generation of “the church” not being very serious about their attendance.

There was a tragedy on the island yesterday morning, when a parked car rolled over the edge of the ladder hill mountain, bounced a bit and fell into the sea. Two young people were killed. There is much speculation as to what happened and why, but since it was a boy and a girl in the car, people are drawing the obvious conclusion. We don’t know the identity of the people, but apparently it was a difficult identification for the police to make, as the bodies were badly battered in the fall.