Don't tell him Pike!

Sad, sad news on Monday. Ian Lavender who played Private Pike (Don't tell him Pike) has died.  He was the same age as me.  He was a wonderful actor, and a part of many of our lives.  He made us laugh so much.  And his death only underlines for me how short our lives are now.

The pic, from Captain Butterfly's photo galley is of a Pike, in Ian Lavender's honour.

And I hope that when the time comes, during the Thousand Years, he will be woken from the dreamless sleep of death and see this lovely earth again.

I only just made it to the Kingdom Hall for the Sunday meeting, arriving as the singing began. My left hand was playing me up and it took me a time to get myself dressed in reasonable order. Could not get my socks on though.  Col had left very early for The Field, or he would have been there to help.

There was a great adaptation of David Copperfield on the Telly during the afternoon, the one with Rodney Trotter (Nicholas Lyndhurst) as a wonderfully creepy Uriah Heep, and Maggie Smith as Betsy Trotwood.  Oh and with Zoe Wanamaker, playing Miss Murdstone, a similarly ruthless character to the one she plays in My Family.

Surely Copperfield is Dicken's masterpiece?  I sat spellbound and sometimes sobbing over it all afternoon. And did not fall asleep once!

Apparently Col has sent off for a Contraption to Help Me Get My Socks On.  I only hope I can work it when it arrives, otherwise I will be needing a Contraption to Help Me Use My Contraption to Help Me Get My Socks On.  And then, if I can't work that, I will need... And so on ad infinitum...

We had our usual family chat on Zoom on Monday - all seem well, and we had lots to laugh about.  One of the invisible cats - possibly Abra, maybe Tabs - was visible in bits as she walked all over Nute and did her best to jam her typewriter keys. They were/are such shy cats, yet they settled down so well with Nute.  I wish Janet  could have know that, she was so worried about them.

I hope she will know, one day.  And as just at the moment I am really feeling "the sadness that belongs to the world",  I must try to keep strongly in mind the happiness, the healing, that lies ahead when the whole earth is being transformed into paradise under the loving rule of the Kingdom of God.