Leap Year Day

The sunshine returned this morning, but the cold biting wind still persists. After a tasty breakfast of veegan recipe pancakes, I walked to Blackweir Bridge again to see if the Taff had burst its banks in the night, having heard that the river Ely had done. The Taff had indeed burst its banks in the night and floodwater had collected in the field area below the first dyke, but was already draining away. 

The river was still high, lapping the footpath, but it had already dropped by a foot judging by the level of wetness on the concrete pier of the bridge, not yet dried out. The volume and speed of the water flow was truly impressive, seen close up. Last weekend I hadn't been able to walk all the way to the riverbank because of the extent of the footpath flooding. Today it was only a matter of a ten foot stream of water flowing across the path from north to south on the lower level. Last week the footpath on upper as well as lower level was inundated for several dozen yards.

Later, Clare and I returned, crossed over the river and walked through Bute Park, footpaths and grass areas still flooded near the Castle, disrupting walkers and cyclists yet looking lovely and tranquil in the bright sunlight. We had lunch in the Secret Garden cafe, enjoying a very tasty squash and lentil soup. Everything used and sold in the cafe consists of locally sourced organic products, a real little showcase for the Welsh food industry, and a credit to the park estate. 

We continued into town and went to John Lewis' in search of a new Kindle for Clare. We learned that the store no longer sells Amazon products. I guess Amazon has taken away a lot of their trade, so why give its products retail space? They had a few Fire tablets in the stockroom, and we bought one, albeit at the same price as we could have bought it in Currys. Then we realised that the device hardware had a back-lit screen not the front-lit display Clare was hoping to have once again, so we returned it before leaving the store, went to Currys and bought a Paperwhite Kindle there. Much mote expensive, but it fits the bill, and even the existing protective cover, as it's the same size as the old one.

It was early evening by the time I got around to writing and completing my sermon for tomorrow, late in the week for me, but I've had other things on my mind. All done and printed out in time to watch the third episode of the Cymru Noir crimmie 'Hidden' - very sinister and creepy. I shall miss the rest, as iPlayer doesn't work abroad, unless you use a VPN link, which I won't.