Time of reckoning

Another bright cold sunny day, but I didn't go out until after lunch. After breakfast I recorded all six of the reflections I've written for next week's Parish WhatsApp group, and then edited them with Audacity. It's good to have this ready to go before the weekend.

I went down to the Taff this afternoon with the long lens attached to my Alpha 68. I got some nice shots of a Mallard mother with four ducklings, and then walking further down the river, saw another Mallard with a brood of eight much smaller chicks. They were harder to photograph, however as their coloration against the clear dark brown riverbed, with a shallow covering of water made them difficult to see let alone focus on. I bumped into Gareth and his wife from church, and we talked about ducklings on the river. He said that Mallards may start with eight ducklings, but it's not unusual to lose half of them to predators in the first weeks of growth.

I had an interesting conversation this afternoon with the Church in Wales Safeguarding Coordinator, who called to put me in touch with former police officer whose mother was a St John's city parishioner which I was Vicar there. He used to bring her to church in her wheelchair, and I took her Communion at home when she could no longer attend, and eventually I officiated at her funeral. We lost touch after I retired, and now he's retired, and is part on the 'White Ribbon' initiative, which works with men prone to violence against women. I suspect that in his years on the force he must have seen enough to motivate him.

This evening we watched the incoming Senedd election results on telly. Welsh labour seems to have done better than its English counterpart, thanks to the steady intelligent moderate leadership shown throughout the pandemic by First Minister Mark Drakeford. The full results won't be in until tomorrow, so we don't yet know if there'll have to be a coalition with a second part for the political status quo to continue.