I had an email this morning from Peter Hammond in La Cala de Mijas, who's been invited to give a Lent talk about a favourite hymn. He's chosen 'Guide me O thou great Redeemer' and was asking me what tune it might have been sung to before 'Cwm Rhondda' was composed in 1905. The English translation dates from 1771, the Welsh original by William Williams Pantycelyn was part of a collection of hymns written in 1762. Pantycelyn, his pen-name taken after his place of birth was a prolific hymn writer, a poet and a theological writer in the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist tradition.
It was an interesting but unsuccessful hunt for an earlier Welsh hymn tune. The Welsh version didn't cross over from non-conformist use into the Welsh Anglican hymn book 'Emanau'r Eglwys', but the English version found its way into the 1861 Hymns Ancient and Modern. Truth to tell, several 87 87 87 metre Welsh melodies would fit the bill, and may have been used in different chapels and churches in either language. It was only this evening when checking far down into the a wiki page on Cwm Rhondda that I discovered the essential detail that the original Welsh tune used with the Welsh language version is Capel y Ddôl. I must tell Peter!.
Lunchtime, a technician from energy supplier SSE arrived to upgrade our electricity smart metering device and before fitting one to the gas supply, installed a new gas meter. Two years ago when we went 'smart' the technicians who came couldn't fit the gas smart metering device because the meter cupboard wasn't big enough - there was a disused legacy gas pipe obstructing the space. We have on a few occasions enquired when this would be done, as we've had to take a reading and phone it in, or enter it on SSE's website, a nuisance if you're away and keep on getting email reminders. When we had our annual inspection a couple of weeks ago, the guy who came rang up and organised a new gas meter and the upgraded second generation smart meter.
Now its done, and we have a new posh monitor to tell us how much energy we are using at the moment or across different periods of time. All very clever, but whether we'll bother much with it I doubt. We are steady although not big users of energy and our bills showed little variation over years until I got sick and then had a post operational wound to manage. Then, there was a lot of extra energy and water consumed washing sheets and towels. Thankfully, that's reduced again over the past six months of improvement with less washing needing to be done.
I went to the Post Office after lunch to buy one of their Travel Money cards and some Euros, so that I have a ready source of digital cash as well as banknotes left over from previous travels, to cover different circumstances on my way to Ibiza next week. The card comes free, the real cost of use is embedded in the exchange rate used.
Clare has used one for several years and has used it for Euros Dollars and Swiss Francs. Rachel has one as well, which Clare has the details of and uses to send her Dollars from time to time. I've been reluctant to adopt this kind digital finance technology, also contactless payment, as I know how vulnerable to fraud all kinds of digital creations are. The volume of digital transactions is growing exponentially and replacing the use of physical money. Poor people and others on the margins of society are likely to suffer most from this. Safeguards on digital finance are on the whole pretty good, but the hassle of having cope when something bad happens is a risk I want to take only if it's really necessary. Maybe I've got to that point now. We'll see after this trial run.
No Parish pancake party for me tonight. Pancakes contain eggs I can't eat without them giving me stomach cramps, and I've already renounced wine, dark chocolate and chocolate biscuits for the time being, being very scrupulous about the diary free diet to allow my digestive system to recover completely after last weekend's episode of stomach cramp. It seems to be working, and already Lent is here, time for a little restraint. It's an easy win, compared to dealing with the irritable humour that wound irritation provokes. I'm impatient and not good at coping with any physical impediment to my version of normality. I need to do better.
My afternoon walk in the park was accompanied by strong cold winds. It started off sunny, then the rain clouds gathered and showered me with hailstones on the way back.
I went to the Post Office after lunch to buy one of their Travel Money cards and some Euros, so that I have a ready source of digital cash as well as banknotes left over from previous travels, to cover different circumstances on my way to Ibiza next week. The card comes free, the real cost of use is embedded in the exchange rate used.
Clare has used one for several years and has used it for Euros Dollars and Swiss Francs. Rachel has one as well, which Clare has the details of and uses to send her Dollars from time to time. I've been reluctant to adopt this kind digital finance technology, also contactless payment, as I know how vulnerable to fraud all kinds of digital creations are. The volume of digital transactions is growing exponentially and replacing the use of physical money. Poor people and others on the margins of society are likely to suffer most from this. Safeguards on digital finance are on the whole pretty good, but the hassle of having cope when something bad happens is a risk I want to take only if it's really necessary. Maybe I've got to that point now. We'll see after this trial run.
No Parish pancake party for me tonight. Pancakes contain eggs I can't eat without them giving me stomach cramps, and I've already renounced wine, dark chocolate and chocolate biscuits for the time being, being very scrupulous about the diary free diet to allow my digestive system to recover completely after last weekend's episode of stomach cramp. It seems to be working, and already Lent is here, time for a little restraint. It's an easy win, compared to dealing with the irritable humour that wound irritation provokes. I'm impatient and not good at coping with any physical impediment to my version of normality. I need to do better.
My afternoon walk in the park was accompanied by strong cold winds. It started off sunny, then the rain clouds gathered and showered me with hailstones on the way back.
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