After breakfast this morning, I worked on editing and condensing on next week's reflections for a couple of hours, then went for a pre-lunch turn around the park. I'm amazed at the growth of the French Beans planted three days ago. One of the six hasn't sprouted at all, a fifth is starting to emerge three days behind the others. Will it end up doing as well? We'll see.
More good news about the continued reduction in covid infections and deaths over the past week. This is a review following the easing of restrictions in England five weeks ago, and shows no infection set-back has occurred as a result. This has been sustained both due to over half the country being once vaccinated and a third vaccinated twice, plus social distancing and other precautions still being followed by many. It's so good to see pubs and restaurants opening for outdoor service.
I was particularly pleased to see that the tiny St Canna's Ale house on Llandaff Road has transformed its back yard in recent weeks with the addition of a solid canopy sheltering all the yard area at a three metre height above ground. I think this is a far sighted investment by a popular real ale pub with a substantial following.
Most places have gone for tents or umbrellas within enclosed serving areas. Heaneys, our local nouvelle cuisine restaurant with its own cocktail bar-cum-cafe next door has canopied its car park. The building was once a paint store, with huge shop windows and a narrow forecourt, where clients parked off road. Not the most congenial of dining environments even after an extensive makeover. The forecourt is fenced off now with outdoor tables under big umbrellas and flowering plant pots punctuating the enclosure line. The shop windows no longer detracts from its appearance. It's somehow more inviting now. I wish them success in the bounce back to normality. The pandemic has really changed the ambience of city centre and Pontcanna streets for the better.
After lunch I drove Clare over to Cathays to the University Optometrists to collect her new varifocal specs which look very good on her, and deliver a hoped for improvement, given the slow deterioration of her eyesight. She's been for a DVLA mandated two-eyes field of vision test at Specsavers this week, and now we wait to hear whether the results will permit her to hold a license or not.
Then, another walk down to the river and back before supper and this week's episode of 'New Amsterdam', which was all about the ethics and values behind crowd funding for medical aid for patients who couldn't afford life saving treatments. A discussion of the issues in an essay wouldn't be nearly as engaging as a well thought out film script in the hands of the right director. The argument in words may be something any reasonable person could follow, but a movie condenses and symbolises the issues in a way that allows the reason, imagination and critical faculties of a recipient to engage with. It provokes genuine discussion over values we can identify with. We need all the tools we can find to help us analyse and think creatively
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