[Acrylic-bob]

But then again, 'The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there.' (L.P. Hartley. "The Go-between")

I can recall coming back from holiday in Cleveleys, my father met us at the train station with the awful news that Pope John XXIII had just died. I can recall thinking that it was somehow right that it was raining, I felt there was some kind of link between the rain and my own tears. The shock that we felt was real and our grief was almost palpable. It was as though a member of the family had passed away. I can also recall -just- watching part of his funeral on television. It was the first time I had seen anything of this quasi-mythical place called the Vatican. To say that I was spellbound would be something of an understatement. I had never seen anything like it before. I think that one event, has coloured my life in ways that I can only now begin to guess at.

Will we and our children feel the same when the current incumbent eventually passes away? I somehow doubt it.