Homecoming remembered

Another lovely hot day with the temperature at around 25C again. I love the weather like this, and easily slip back into the habit adopted in Spain of keeping in the shade when the sun is hottest and brightest, to avoid getting burned. I'm brown enough already from spending so much time outdoors every day.

This morning I completed my preparation for Thursday's on-line Morning Prayer and Reflection, and went on to record and edit the sound file. All I need now is to match this with a handful of images, and put them together in a video upload to YouTube. It's getting easier now I've got the hang of it. I also got the material ready for tomorrow's funeral. I can't risk rushing anything at the moment. Wound discomfort is minimal, but in the morning the internal bruising plays up a bit and rattles my nervous system. It's a distraction that calls for more effort and less distraction to stay focused. Each day is less worse than the previous one so far, but I don't take chances, just in case there's a setback that makes normal activity an effort.

In my afternoon circuit of of Bute Park, Pontcanna and Llandaff Fields, I bumped into David, one of the mid-week regulars at St Catherine's whom I haven't seen since before I went to Ibiza. He's not felt ready to resume live worship, but follows on-line services. Recently he's had the second covid jab and is thinking that it'll give him confidence to return to church, which is nice to hear. 

Talking with him reminded me that it's exactly one year tomorrow since I started my journey home from Ibiza via Barcelona and London. What an extraordinary year it has been. I'll never forget walking out on Pontcanna Fields to stretch my legs after the car journey from Heathrow, and having a family of swallows sweep past me at knee level, hunting for insects. Funnily enough, I thought about this because it happened in the same part of the field where I'd just met David. What a lovely welcome home from nature that was!

In tonight's second round of 'Cardiff Singer of the World' we were treated to four powerful singers, a bass from Denmark, A Korean baritone, and two sopranos, one Welsh and one South African. It was hard to tell who the judges would declare the winner. All four promise to do well in their professional singing careers. It was was the Korean baritone Gihoon Kim who won, remarkable for having been born and raised in a poor provincial town, coming to classical music singing through his local church choir where his musical gifts were recognised. I daresay all four will be recruited for roles by WNO sometime in the future.

Following this was the last episode of the UK Photographer of the Year programme with Rankin hosting six very differently gifted photographers of different ages and experiences. It was great to watch and really challenged me to think again about the rather limited range of photos I take, albeit in abundance. I think I need to work a lot harder and take my beloved hobby much more seriously.