The 10:03 service is currently running 77 minutes late!

Today was a Requiem Mass for The Venerable Joseph DeHart, Archdeacon of the Dicoese of the MidWest in the USA. He recently entered eternal rest following an illness. My thoughts and prayers are very much with his family, friends and his parish at this time.

Whilst I did not know Father DeHart, I have taken the opportunity to learn a little about him, both through the internet and by talking to Bishop Damien (he and Father DeHart were good friends). From what I can understand Father DeHart was a very good priest, friend to many and a very loveable character. I know that he will be missed very much by everyone that knew him, and his passing is a great loss to the ACC. On the plus side I have no doubt that he will now be continuing his work, from a higher office! I hope that his family and friends can take comfort in the fact that he is now with Our Lord where he shall have everlasting life.

Mass today was at 12pm, and as a mark of respect I even wore a shirt and black tie, having to purchase one especially. I even managed to tie a windsor knot (following dirctions found on google!).

I arrived at Ashford station with the intention of catching the 11:03 service to Canterbury West. However (here we go), there was a problem...the network was doomed! There was a fire in the London Bridge area which was causing untold problems on the line, everything being diverted into London Victoria. This in itself was having a major impact as London Victoria is normally packed with it's own trains let alone those for Charing Cross and Cannon Street. This meant delays...and severe ones at that!

The display at the station said that the 11:03 was running on time.....yeah, right! At 11:20 it had still not arrived, despite the display still having it as running on time. The there was an announcement which went something like this, "the 10:03 service to Ramsgate is delayed by 77 minutes. SouthEastern apologise for this delay and for any inconvenience caused". That's right....the 10:03 had not even arrived yet, so I guessed that I had no chsnce of catching the 11:03 and arriving in Canterbury in time to be at church for 12pm! Luckily the 10:03 did arrive...79 minutes late...and I did arrive in Canterbury in time.

The Requiem Mass was slightly different to a normal Mass, so that is something else that I have now experienced which I have not done so before.

After the service we had the normal tea and coffee...well actually just coffee today as we had no fresh milk, and coffee mate doen't work quite so well with tea!

It is Bishop Damien's birthday tomorrow, so I gave him a card and small gift, which he was pleased with. He claims that he will be 83, personally I don't think that he looks a day over 75!!! (Sorry Bishop....couldn't resist)!!!

At 2pm we had 'Stations of the Cross'. After this we said our farewells and went on our seperate ways.

The journey back by train was uneventful and on time. This time I caught the 15:25 High Speed service from Canterbury West, it arrived at 15:42 (right on time) at Ashford...nothing else to say about that really.

I'll try to update again on Sunday, but just in case I can't then I'd like to apologise for the delay and for any inconvenience it may cause!!