Dave arrived late Thursday and stayed through to Monday morning (Monday afternoon he attended a conducting masterclass with THE Valery Gergiev back in Oxford... rather unreal). We decided to try a new church for Easter: neither one of us has been particularly happy with the nearby Catholic church in Roath. Although St Peter's has been beautifully re-done and people had been friendly to me, something about the television monitors (ick), the music choices (hokey song for the Lord's Prayer? ick), and the cacophony of talking/"whispering"/crying/screaming/running-around children making it nearly impossible to hear the priest (GAH) made it a poor fit for us.
But Cardiff is also home to the Cardiff Metropolitan Cathedral (it is also known as St. David's Cathedral, but everything is "St David's Something" in Wales and the Catholics and Anglicans have to compromise). The cathedral is a somewhat austere stone building tucked in behind the busy streets and shopping malls of central Cardiff, and is the seat of the Archbishop, who was present for the Triduum masses. Its congregation was smaller than expected, but crucially it boasts a choir made up of young children from the cathedral school and adult lay clerks. The music choices are entirely different from my existing experience with Catholic churches, featuring a few hymns and lots of polyphony and plainchant; this may explain a) why Dave and I like it so much and b) why mewling infants aren't present. Anyways, for the first time in a long time, I really like a specific church. It can actually get *quiet* during mass, the A-team singers are top-notch, the priest has a beautiful plainchant voice, and the bishop was funny. The only hiccup is that no one in the congregation knew how to queue up for communion (and we are in Britain! this is not supposed to happen here!)
Easter Sunday we invited a few friends over to help devour a leg of lamb. Alan and Cyril live five minutes away, and Alan's girlfriend Sinead was visiting from Dublin for the weekend. (You may recall that Alan and Sinead were the lovely people who helped entertain and chaperone me and Dave after Kevin's wedding in Dublin at New Year's.) We made lamb smothered in rosemary-garlic-butter, cabbage, and 1.5 kg of potatoes roasted in goose fat. Guests brought the roast veg, cheeses, and an apple-chocolate tart to finish off the feast. Oh, and there was a lot of wine.
We feasted for hours, wearing headgear furnished by Sinead (bunny ears for the gentlemen, hand-crafted "Easter Bonnet" headbands for the ladies). We took a brief break to watch Oxford dominate this year's Boat Race against Cambridge, and eventually had the genius idea to wander down to Waterloo Gardens with my camera for some impromptu acrobatics and silly antics. This silliness, and the earlier feasting, are documented and available for your consumption in the Album linked to below. After sub-freezing temps and miserable gray wintry skies, Wales had finally shown us a glorious sunny day. With good weather, good food, and good company, it was a glorious Easter.
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| Easter Shenanigans |
