The temperature dipped down below freezing again overnight then went up to 6-7 degrees, under cloud with rain showers for much of the day. The cold clammy atmosphere left me feeling colder than when it was minus one. After breakfast, a walk over to Lidl's in Leckwith to get supplies of several kinds of nuts, as we'd run out. I walked again after lunch and for a change, trod unfamiliar streets in the housing area of Llandaff Parish adjacent to Canton Benefice.
The oldest houses are fine original late Victorian mansions spread over a wide area of land. Each probably had extensive grounds originally, but between and after the wars in the twentieth century, detached and semi-detached houses in laid out in streets took up what once would have been rolling south facing slopes. Some roads seem to follow the line of older tracks, while others are part of the layout of a small housing estate with similar houses. Some of these have acquired extensions in this century, garages, attic rooms and so on. It's interesting to see the variety of domestic architectural styles, reflecting the period of their construction.
The older the houses, the more use is made of coloured brick and Pennant sandstone, then plain red-brick is used, and then white painted concrete rendered exteriors, as the decades pass. There is just one house, entirely built of Pennant sandstone, enclosed by a carefully planned garden which looks as if it may be from earlier in the nineteenth century, maybe a farmhouse, with a terrace of half a dozen small labourers' cottages next to it. Some of the street names suggest this was once orchard terrain, and domestic gardens in the area still have surviving fruit trees.
I looked at these things keenly as the streets were new to me. They held my attention and made me think about local history with fresh eyes. Not a bad thing on such a dull cold day.
The grim threshold of a hundred thousand people dying from covid has been formally noted in today's news, one of the world's worst infected populations. The true number of excess deaths to date may be even higher. Epidemiologists reflecting on the past year admit responses to the pandemic Europe wide, not just in the UK, was too slow at the outset in imposing restrictions to curb virus spread.
Llandough and Heath hospitals have experienced sharp spikes in hospital generated contagion. It's said that people who don't know they are infected are coming to hospital seeking treatment for other ailments or accidents, not being diagnosed in advance to prevent them from infecting others. We're still not making a priority of universal regular testing for covid infection. Expensive to achieve maybe, logistically complex, but much needed. Hope are pinned on vaccinating as many people as possible as quickly as possible, but that won't stop the lethal spread among the un-vaccinated. It doesn't make sense.
I've been asked to do a funeral in two weeks time at the graveside, not in church or chapel of rest. Back in my first curacy days, it wasn't uncommon to have prayers in home of the deceased and then go straight to the grave or the crem. I struggle to recall if I've ever done a funeral which is simply in the open air, and will need to give it some thought. Given the restrictions on using places of worship let alone homes for a service it's not surprising that a common sense decision has been made. Graveside only services have been around since time immemorial, but not in my ministerial experience. Being outdoors in a natural setting is possibly consoling to a group of mourners, although bad weather could have the opposite effect. I just hope there's no strong wind or heavy rain.
It was consoling this evening to watch the nightly nature programme 'Winterwatch' on BBC 2, with some lovely landscapes and closeup shots of birds, voles, beavers and otters. The enthusiasm of the presenters is delightful. Likewise the enthusiasm of Professor Jim Al-khalili on the BBC Radio Four 'Life Scientific' programme. Each week he talks with a leading scientist from a wide range of disciplines. It's a half hour of intelligible conversation about scientific discovery and the careers of the discoverers themselves. He's by far the best interviewer the BBC has. I wish he was used on news programmes. In my opinion, few of the present generation of news presenters and interlocutors are really good enough for the job.
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