Wet Saturday

Back to gray skies and torrential rain again today. We woke up and had our pancake breakfast late, then with nothing better to do, went back to bed for a late, lazy lie-in, until eleven. Clare was keen for me to try out an armchair in John Lewis' as we're thinking of replacing one of our unsatisfactory sofas with separate chairs. So we took the 63 bus into town, all dressed up in our rain-gear, and visited John Lewis' furniture department. Outdoors it was cold and drizzling. In the store on the third floor, it was pretty warm, dressed for the street as we were. 

After a satisfactory inspection of the armchair - fabric colour to be decided next week, we headed for home. Clare caught the bus and I walked along the river. There must have been heavy rain in the Brecon Beacons overnight, as the water level was up about a metre from yesterday, just covering the fish ladder on the weir. Lunch was ready by the time I reached home, curried prawns with rice and Swiss chard.

Earlier in the day, I exchanged messages with Emma who hasn't yet fully recovered from laryngitis which little Ned brought home from nursery. I offered to spare her voice by preaching and reading the Gospel and intercessions if needs be, and she agreed. We'll be at St Luke's together tomorrow. After lunch I wrote the sermon, reflecting on the meaning of the phrase 'Abide in me.' I enjoyed doing that.

Then I took some time out to watch an episode of the second series of stories about the German detective 'Inspector Falke' on More Four. I think I watched the first series about three years ago. As ever, modern crimmies often deal with crimes relating to current social issues. This one was bang up to date, reflecting the rise of the far right in Germany, resentment against immigrants and Brussels also the indifference if not complacency and ignorance of some young people (though not all by any means) about the value of their own citizenship and social responsibility. A script that exposes the vernacular debate about German society, its past and where it's headed. Not too distant from the conditions in this country really, before and after brexit.

I was relieved to hear that Welsh Labour has secured half the seats in the new term of the Senedd, with Mark Drakeford continuing, at least for the rest of this year as First Minister. It's the endorsement which he and the party deserve for carefully steering their own course this past few years, and not succumbing to the misfortunes that English Labour has brought upon itself. Faithfulness to context is everything when it comes to good politics I guess. Despite the array of nay-sayers, Welsh Assembly government has done its best, given the limitations imposed on it by Westminster. I don't think you need to campaign fruitlessly for independence. A viable case for transferring more responsibility and power for self determination can be made that unites more citizens than it divides. I'd love to see Wales prove this point in practice.