Unthinkable Wings

A mixed bag of a week, really. I've been getting a fair bit of reading done for the coming term; at the moment I'm wrestling with Maximus the Confessor, who is hard going (particularly as I'm not used to Eastern theological vocabulary), and trying to make sense of his ideas about gender and how the difference of sex in humanity is transcended in Christ. Unfortunately, although he repeats it several times, he never expands on the point. I'm not sure whether he thinks that (a) femaleness is defective maleness and therefore overcome by incorporation of women into the body of Christ or (b) that maleness and femaleness are both accidents and therefore, although to have a sex of some kind is proper to being human, neither is more or less human* or (c) that Christ is in some sense both masculine and feminine, or (d) there's something semi-gnostic going on where masculinity is equated with spirit and femininity with flesh, or (e) he thinks, also gnostically, that distinctions of sex are fleshly and are transcended by the spiritual in salvation. (d) and (e) maybe overly suspicious readings,, but there are other places where Maximus sounds a bit gnostic and inclined to equate salvation with the transcendence of the flesh.

We didn't, in the end, go to court last Monday, as Trotskyite said the court would be full (looking at the court lists does not provide any information on what the charges are, but he has a number of co-defendants). We will probably go down on Wednesday or Thursday, when he's supposed to be on the stand. I tried googling the case number, which gave me a nasty moment when the first hit was Stormfront and the snippet Google provided - no, I'm not going to go on that website - was something about "gang of anti-fascist thugs beating up German..." but the date was last year, so presumably they recycle case numbers? Though Stormfront is a very biased source and while I can't begin to see Trotskyite physically assaulting tourists, I could just about believe him getting into a brawl with neo-Nazis. He's got enough sense not to start anything, but... Anyway, we shall see.

We walked to Ely; I must sort out some photos to post. It's a magnificent walk, although I was very stiff the next day. I need to do more exercise.

I have bought a bike. Hopefully we're going to test ride it this afternoon, if Lawyer can get the wheel back on his own...

I may have found suitable bridesmaid dresses in the John Lewis sale. As soon as I have confirmation of Lawyer's sister's rough size, I must go and see if they're still there.

Couldn't get Downton on the ITVplayer last night. Hopefully it will work this evening. Sometimes I wonder if I should get a tv licence, but I really don't watch enough to want to bother.



* This is what Aquinas thinks. Aquinas' understanding of gender/ sex can, I think, also accommodate trans/ intersex/ third gender, although it's not a concept which occurred to him, because although he takes the gender binary for granted he's not interested privileging masculinity.

I was going to make a longer review post for Vincent and the Doctor, but have accepted that time constraints mean this isn't going to happen this week.

( So: I loved it. )

I have been having the sort of day where everything seems to take six times longer than it should (not helped by lack of sleep due to heat), but I have got the major item off my to-do list, so can't really call the day unproductive. Of course, part of the reason that things took too long in the first place was my poor filing, so I suppose I should have a go at sorting that out soon...

Anyway: hopefully that's the last major bit of paperwork that needs sorted for the next academic year off my desk. Yay!

And now for the ironing...

Lawyer: There's nothing wrong with tentacles. Tentacles are good.

I should note that it starts with me packing the night before, and that the times are wrong, because I am still notionally tweeting from Tehran.

( In which I discover that our Cubs are Harmonians, survive a zip wire, and do not have swine flu )

For the record, the Harmonian song went to the tune of Frere Jacques, and went:

Harry Potter, Harry Potter,
What's he done? What's he done?
Run off with Hermione, run off with Hermione.
Poor old Ron! Poor old Ron!

Short account of evening:

Went punting; had dinner with nineveh_uk and then went to see Harry Potter, which I very much enjoyed despite the over-excited audience. Rickman particularly good, Broadbent pretty good as Slughorn (but too thin!), Gambon good as Dumbledore (and I normally dislike him). Extraordinarily beautiful film, mostly in (sometimes tinted) monochrome, with effective use of colour as and when.

Broke key of bike in lock, so (a) will be walking home and (b) first order of business tomorrow, find bolt cutters (and somehow move bike from Parish Church to college, that being the most likely source of the aforementioned).

The Grauniad has been helpfully providing a series of Italian phrasebooks. I particularly liked today's, which told me how to say 'I saw you at the lunchtime Mass', 'What did you think of Fr X's sermon?', 'Is there a Mass in English?', 'I need to find a priest' and 'Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.' It also included the necessary phrases for 'Would you like to come up for a coffee?' and 'Turn over, you're snoring'. Truly, it covers a multitude of.... bases.

Coming out of the lunchtime Mass, I was engaged in conversation about codicology by one of the other parishioners, and learned how to find out what part of a goat a given piece of parchment comes from (there's a dark mark down its spine and in its oxters, apparently).

... is exhausting, emotionally; all the more so because it's a roller-coaster. The Eucharist is a celebration of Christ risen as well as Crucified, so the vestments are white, and we had the Gloria (Lassus) - with the acolytes ringing little bells - as if it were Easter already. But the readings are on a knife edge - the Passover account from Exodus; the Narrative of the Institution in Corinthians (which sounds really weird read by a layman out of the context of the Eucharistic liturgy, so powerful is habit); and then the Last Supper in the Gospel. The sermon focussed on the foot-washing, and on the odd intimacy of the gesture, and how it's generally more difficult to allow some-one to do it for you than to do it for someone else - but the Christian life is not just about loving as much and as hard as you can, but also being willing to accept the love that is offered, for how else can we be saved? He also pointed out that the foot-washing echoes the anointing at Bethany - so in allowing our feet to be washed, we are accepting the way of the Cross, and a love which costs everything.

The foot-washing - I was one of the designated victims - changes the mood of the service entirely. The celebrant - stripped of his chasuble - kneels and washes feet. The bells at the Mass are replaced by a sort of rattle thing, which I find remarkably sinister; and afterwards, the Sacrament is taken in procession to the Altar of Repose - which was covered in white flowers and candles - very pretty, but rather suggestive of a funeral (for good reason, since the ceremony is traditionally taken as symbolic of Christ being laid in the tomb). And then the other altars are stripped, leaving the church looking bare and stark (and rather more Protestant than it generally does); it's almost like turning a house out after a death...

Stayed about half an hour at the watch in front of the Sacrament - the church in complete silence and lit only by the candles on the altar (well, and the streetlights outside). Rather disconcerting to come out into the town centre...

Here is a link to an extremely funny Black Books vid, to the theme tune from Friends. Which is appropriate, in a twisted sort of way.

In other news, I have just discovered that I washed and tumble-dried my favourite cashmere-silk turquoise pullover. Astonishingly, it came out unharmed, and looking like new.

My current cunning plan for the week - other than putting the final touches to my chapter draft, burying myself in Eckhart's sermons (yay!), eating curry at the rather belated bible clerk's† end-of-term dinner, taking the Cubs swimming, and trying to decide if I should organise a Burns' Supper* - involves going down to London for the Byzantium exhibition. However, while I confidently expect it to be fascinating, it won't take all day.

I rather feel I fail at getting to grips with London, though - there's so much to do that I always end up just falling back on the BM or the British Library Treasures exhibition. While those are among the greatest things in the world, I can't help feeling there's more to London than that.

So: please suggest things I ought to do in London.


† My college's term for the students who volunteer around the chapel, and also say grace every night in hall.

* The problem being, it would have to be on the Saturday night, and while every Burns' Supper I have organised has been a total blast, it has always ensured the worst hangover of the year, and there are reasons why I particularly don't want an epic hangover next Sunday morning.