Last week was St. Catherine of Sienna Day and there was a special Mass at the kids' school. It is a very orderly group. As usual, the head teacher said "Good morning everybody" and the children replied in unison "Good morning Miss Q, good morning everybody." She told them to listen quietly and sit up straight and there was a ripple of straightening.

She didn't get into the invisible wedding ring made of Christ's foreskin or the other kinkier parts of St. Catherine's biography. Instead, building on the successful integration of Irish step dancing into the St. Patrick's Day service, the school decided to focus on sharing the childrens' talents. Singers sang, piano players with assorted levels of mastery played. A girl came out in a gold lame leotard with felt candles on her hands and sang a verse from "Be Our Guest". The cheerleaders (treated in Europe as a standalone sport with no connection to its sideline origins) took turns hoisting each other aloft. The kids in the audience perked up for the first time when the martial artists dragged out a mat and kicked at the air. I'm sure their efforts were appreciated by all the angels and saints.

On Saturday we went to a ram roast held by the Scouts. The ram in question was sliced in chafing dishes, served on white or wheat bread, and accompanied by mint sauce. T said it wasn't bad. Other than a few rented games, the amusements were mostly provided by the scounts and their families. Below is the "Human Fruit Machine". To play, you pulled a large lever and on the count of three, each of the three boys working the tent picked up a piece of fruit at random from behind the black cabinet and held it through the opening. If they all happened to pick the same fruit, you got a prize.

Selectoin of other offerings: a tombola, "Crazy Kitchen" where you could throw a ball at a shelf full of dishes, "Hook a Duck" which the mom we were with pronounced rather sad compared to the standard, darts, bouncy castle. We missed the Morris dancers. All very cosy in a way you can't really picture an American public gathering being able to manage, for all our other entertainments.