Clare needed to collect some tickets from the Royal Welsh College box office for a show in early December, so we walked over there and intended to have a bite to eat in the cafe. Unfortunately my daily dose of pain and discomfort was quite bad and I didn't feel like eating there and then, but Clare ate and we both had a drink, before walking on and visiting the castle, busy with visitors on the eve of Armistice Day. I added a photo to the collection I look on Wednesday this week of visitors walking around in the field of crosses, bearing dead soldiers' names. By the time we reached home, I was out of my discomfort zone again. Exercise improves it. I am so grateful to be fully mobile. Sitting down for any length of time is what gives me grief.
The second episode of Beck was on BBC Four in the evening. Out of retirement he's now finding his feet at Superintendent of investigative teams, mentoring and deploying resources. It's being portrayed rather interestingly, I must say.
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I have started reading a book in French, 'Une Rose et un balai' written by Michel Simonet about life working on the streets as a town centre balayeur (street sweeper) in the Swiss city of Fribourg. In his youth, he studied theology, but he found through this a contemplative calling to pursue a much more down to earth métier. His loving attention to detail describing the daily mess he clears up and the people he meets is full of warmth and humour, also word play and poetic alliteration.
French as it's taught and should be spoken but rarely is can be dry and pedantic. How it's really spoken and used poetically is another thing altogether. This is a beautifully written book, albeit challenging because of its word play and mix of vocabulary. It comes from the pastoral heart of a lowly curator of city streets, interested in the environment, in people and their habits, for good and for ill, finding wonder in all things. I wish it was available in English for a wider audience. It's a masterpiece of incarnational spirituality. Here's a brief interview with him from YouTube.
French as it's taught and should be spoken but rarely is can be dry and pedantic. How it's really spoken and used poetically is another thing altogether. This is a beautifully written book, albeit challenging because of its word play and mix of vocabulary. It comes from the pastoral heart of a lowly curator of city streets, interested in the environment, in people and their habits, for good and for ill, finding wonder in all things. I wish it was available in English for a wider audience. It's a masterpiece of incarnational spirituality. Here's a brief interview with him from YouTube.
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