April 2012
by Carolyn - 11:01 on 30 April 2012
Writing this in sunny Cyprus with sounds of Bibhas working on the veranda and the odour of cow-pat drifting through the window from a passing visitor it's hard to recall much of early April's activities, but they included the Anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, the start of the Bahá'í Ridván Festival, and the last session of the "12 Steps to Compassionate Living" Course which I've been following each month with a lovely group of people at the Unitarian Chapel. (Bibhas didn't join us as he was away for the first two months...)
Godalming was very caught up in the Titanic events as a local boy, Jack Phillips, was the Senior Radio Operator who sank with the ship after remaining at his post to summon help, with 700 people surviving. We attended a simple Service at his family grave in the little Nightingale Cemetary, conducted by James Rattue, who helped at Mum's funeral, passing up on the hog roast and other activities later in the day as we had our bi-monthly Surrey Bahá'ís Reflection Meeting...
We've been part of the Surrey Minority Ethnic Forum's consultative process as they move from being part of 'Surrey Action' to becoming an independent set-up, and attended a very encouraging meeting as they prepare to appoint Trustees.
Ridván began with a leisurely lunch with some of the old Waverley Bahá'ís, before joining Guildford community for their Celebration. Chandra came home to celebrate his birthday and collect his passport , then there was one more meeting at the Pepperpot before setting off for Gatwick & Cyprus.
On the morning of our departure we attended the funeral of Gus Killen, who was at Surrey Heights with Mum. the lovely Catholic Thanksgiving Mass and the wake at Inn-on-the-Lake taking away the distress of recent years for his devoted family.
Everything was looking good when we finally arrived at our home in Karaoglanoglu, after being met at the bus station in Nicosia by one friend and driven across the border to pick up our new car from a second friend. Since then we've been busy with the Feast, National Convention and home visits, as well as celebrating our 34th wedding anniversary with kleftikos (Bibhas) and lamb shish (Carolyn) at Kyrenia Harbour. We'd actually been there the night before with Bahá'í friends from Germany, at a Festival of Tourism inside Kyrenia Castle. Two glorious harbour sunsets in a row, with more to follow...
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