We left at 12.30am from Blackfen whilst the altar servers dressed in DJs serenaded us with, 'God bless our Pope.' Just a regular Saturday night on Burnt Oak Lane.
Arrived at 4.30am having bumped into another dozen coaches in the services on the M40. Party time! Walking past houses one lady was looking out of the window in her dressing gown. What a sight.
Everything worked fine and it was easy getting in and to my relief the one disabled pilgrim with us both had transport to the site (a golf buggy!) and was set down very close to our pitch. We met up with friends and had in total about 16 children with us, who slept, played and kept us all in very good humour all day. The ground sheet was a great boon, especially as a number of folks had come more or less direct from Hyde Park.
The Mass was very prayerful is all I can say. The Pope is so concentrated on everything that he does, that he doesn't demand your attention because he isn't seeking it for himself. The Magnificat books were magnificent. Holy Communion was distributed so efficiently that we didn't have time to sing all the hymns so the choir sang the Elgar Ave verum after the Mass. Go Midland's composers!
We all got back to the bus early and arrived home very early. Our coach driver was excellent in every way and used to drive the Jumbalance - remeber that? - so you can see the measure of the man.
A great day and a great visit! I wish every weekend was like this.
And so to work.
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