Birthday out...

It's my mother's birthday today (I won't tell you how old!), and we spent the day at Sevenoaks. We went to a nice restaurant just outside the town. I had misgivings as we parked the car, as the place looked a bit modern, but it was comfortable inside, with a nice conservatory, which is where we ate. Since we are also going out this evening, we decided to have something ''light'' so I had the sausage and mash (which was delicious). It was one of those curly sausages, and very meaty. They were rather stingy with the mash, but it was delicious with the onion gravy. While perusing the menu, my father and I were making fun of the ''vegetarian'' options...

On the opposite table were seated two old ladies (well into their 70s), one of them was from South Africa. My parents had gone out to smoke (I still can't stand that tyrannically liberal smoking ban), and they started to talk to me about various things. The woman from South Africa told me that her grandson was studying Classics, and I told her that I was studying Latin - which she seemed pleased about. She told me that she was Catholic then, which was obviously something we all had in common, and she began to reminisce fondly about the ''old Latin Mass.'' Things started to get interesting then, and I told her about my going to regular Old Rite Masses. She said that quite apart from the evident sense of the Sacred at ''old Latin Masses,'' she said that there was an obvious aesthetic quality to them quite apart from that. It just goes to show the appeal that the Old Rite has for people of so many divers ages, from late 70s to early 20s. I think that the cut off criteria, however, is that you were about my age during the Council, as most people in their early 60s seem to be raving liberals...

When they were leaving, they wished me good luck with the degree, and then asked me what I would do next. I said that I wanted to read Classics at Oxford, and they asked me why not Cambridge. Ever so prone to making social faux pas, I said that Cambridge was too Protestant for me, but fortunately they laughed and went on their way. It was quite amusing just to hear them talk among themselves - they seemed to say nothing remotely interesting, but they had quite a humorous air about them. Good luck to them!

The above photo comes from Google Images; apparently it is somewhere near Sevenoaks. I can't remember seeing it today, but it's just a photo to liven up the post!