Wednesday, February 09, 2005

Extra Sensory Perception

As I stepped outside my door this morning, my nose was hit by a strong, sweet smell, being carried on the wind from the Cadbury-Bassetts confectionary factory just across the park and ring-road. It took several seconds to match, while the efficient (manicured?) secretarial fingers of my brain ran through the records stored in the "Nasal" filing cabinet...Pineapple Squares! Yum. Do you remember Pineapple Squares? I suspect the thought is (even?) better than the taste experience - never tinker lightly with nostalgia! - but what a smell...

I took the tram to work (I needed to get there early, and was running late - a not-unusual combination...), and enjoyed seeing two women reading books. I think reading a book on the tram is to be encouraged. But I fear that if I were to do so, I'd get engrossed in the book and go sailing past my stop, into town...but then, both women had a longer journey than me...

At prayers at noon, my friend Lindsay anointed my eyes with oil, to see as Jesus sees...

Today is Ash Wednesday, and I was struck by these words:
"...[God] has sent [us] to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion - to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair..." [Isaiah 61:1-3]

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