Electoral good news for Monmouth diocese

The hottest day of the year so far yesterday. I cooked a soup made from pea shucks onion and fresh ginger from a recipe I devised. It wasn't as good as last time because I inadvertently used too much water to release the goodness from the shucks, but that's a lesson learned for next time. In the afternoon, Ashley and I drove to Chepstow for another visit to our equipment supplier for some troubleshooting on a batch of handsets unable to lock on to the GPS signal they'd been programmed to receive. It's a rare glitch, but a fix had already been devised, so it was just a matter of going through a series of diagnostic tests before applying the remedy to the relevant sets, then returning them to service. I marvel at the sheer complexity and capability of our radio handsets. What can be done to configure them from the server database to enable them to be used with scores of optional settings for different environments impresses me greatly.

There was thunder and a little rain in the night and today was cooler and cloudy. We slept late and lay in bed listening to the radio before Owain arrived to go with Clare for a swim at Ogmore. I didn't join them as I had an appointment to repair a broken filling at mid-day. Once that was fixed, I went and booked an appointment for a hypertension review with the General Practise nurse, for later this month, and then went into the office to prepare a couple of urgent invoices for issue ahead of new radios being supplied to a couple of licensed premises. Occasional demands of this kind come sporadically, not often two in a weekend however,  but the job must be done efficiently in the best interests of service and of security. 

Martin phoned early evening to report that Archdeacon Richard Pain a fellow Ty Mawr Associate of long standing, was elected Bishop of Monmouth on the third ballot. Instead of the process taking several days, it took an afternoon - a measure of support for the man who has been mooted widely as the best choice since Bishop Dominic announced his resignation six months ago. For Martin and family it will mean a new near neighbour to befriend and support just up the path in Bishopstow.

And then to cheer my day further, Rufus emailed to arrange a meeting for coffee and catch-up Friday morning. I'm looking forward to hearing how his first four weeks in Blaenavon Parish have unfolded.