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Early to bed, early to rise
Those of you who have benefited from military service will recall with less than joy the rigours of guard duty. For those who have never had the pleasure, let me explain that this was not in place of, but in addition to, normal everyday work. For the privilege of serving Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth we had to stay awake half the night, watching out for her enemies coming through the barrack gates. As there was a prominent hole in the perimeter fence, not two hundred yards away, this was a pointless exercise, but traditions had to be upheld.
We were unlikely to arrest anyone as those who were not on stag used the cell in which to sleep fitfully. It was a case of two hours on, four hours off, and, as none of us could afford a wrist watch on the six quid a week that they paid us, we used the guardroom clock to tell when our time was up. Paddy, who was the man on duty before me, tiring of sitting staring out of the window, thoughtfully put the clock on an hour and alerted me that it was my turn. This would have been a good wheeze had it not been for the fact that I had the task of waking the cooks at 5.00am. When they arrived at the cookhouse, to discover that it was actually an hour earlier, there was something of an uproar. Needless to say, I blamed the little Irish fellow, and he, not I, ended up on the adjutant's carpet.
There are complaints, from those who do not understand the lunar nature of calculating the date, that Easter is early this year. This is true. It is almost as early as it can be. In three year's time it will be whole month later than this. But, unlike the cooks, who had to start burning the breakfast an hour sooner than they normally would, this should fill us with happiness. We can put aside the deprivations of Lent and prepare to celebrate the Risen Lord before the end of March instead of having to wait until the daffodils have all died off and the bluebells are in bloom. The secularists, who would fix the date of Easter in the same way that they tried to do with Pentecost, do not share our feelings. We want to greet our Saviour as soon as is possible. For we Christians, this is not just another of those interminable Bank Holidays, this is the big one. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
May God bless you all, Fr. Allan
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