Autumnal city

After a constructive start to the day, with tomorrow's sermon completed and printed by mid-morning. Then we walked briskly into the city centre alongside the Taff, through Bute Park. It was bright and chilly and a feast for the eyes wherever you looked. I spotted a Cormorant flying up and down the river hunting for a meal. Near the SWALEC stadium, a Jay walked through the grass grass verge. It seemed quite unconcerned by our proximity. The footpath was momentarily quiet, so there was nothing to startle it. We stopped and observed it quietly for a little while. For once, I wasn't carrying a camera, and regretted it, though I think Clare was relieved at not have to stop and wait for me to catch her up. 

The majority of the leaves have turned yellow rather than red or brown this autumn. The rain and wind of recent days, has laid a gorgeous carpet of colours over the grass, while leaves still clinging to trees light up the blue sky with flecks of gold. I will need to do this walk again with a camera on Monday to try and capture the scene, before the leaf gathering machines move in. Weather permitting. The centre was busy, more crowded that usual, pending the start of the Wales v Japan Rugby international match. We wandered the shops for an hour or so, then went to the House of Frazer's Cafe Zest for a drink and a sandwich before walking home again.

I noticed there was a new Australian crime drama series to watch on BBC Four called 'Deep Waters', which started last week with a double episode, so I watched those on iPlayer, while awaiting episodes three and four to be shown.  Set on and around Bondi beach, it was about the investigation of a series of hate crimes against gay men, reaching back from present murders to cold cases of thirty years ago. It was fairly straightforward with few twists and turns no background police 'n politics intrigue. A decent effort, but for me, it lacked sparkle, the dialogue seemed flat and uninspired. But it could simply be that Australian culture and English speech feels more foreign to me than anything European regardless of the language differences.