Living through Good Friday

Friday 3rd April 2015

What has happened to the Rectory gateway and wall?

It can be a profound and testing experience to spend Good Friday mulling over the death of Jesus, his self-sacrificing life and the cruelty that human beings can show.

     This year the testing experience was less profound but more surreal.

     I rode Molly out of the driveway just as a fire engine came past with blue lights flashing.  We made a quick escape to the left before the sirens started.  After an hour's exercise we came over the bridge towards Bellingham only to find police turning traffic away.  Cars were doing three-point turns and a large delivery vehicle was stationary with the driver in conversation with the police.

     Hoping that the manoeuvring cars would let us through, I overtook the HGV, only to be stopped by the police:

" The road's closed."

Me: "But I live there."

PC: "You can't go through."

Me [pointing] "But that's my house."

PC: "I know where you live.  The tarmac's exploding."

Me: "Is my husband all right?"

PC: "I don't know.  Is he in the house?"

Me: "I don't know."

After a bit more of this, and a bit of riding to and fro to avoid turning cars and resume the dispute, I insisted that my house was this side of the second "Road closed" sign and before the parked fire engine.

     A brisk trot took me to my gateway  --  which turned out to be a pile of rubble.

 

*******

 

     Meanwhile, my husband, who was all right, had answered the door to a stranger and seen the police cars, hoping rather hard that there hadn't been a riding accident.  No, just a car and caravan turning round in the entrance to our drive.

 

*******

 

     All this was caused by some electrical fault underground in connection with the recently buried broadband cabling.  We thought rural life was inconvenienced by the lack of high speed broadband.  But the lack of a through road for any traffic including pedestrians and horses) was even more of an inconvenience.

     I only just made it to church for the Good Friday devotions with a few seconds to spare.