Monday closures

We all got up late after the the intensity of yesterday's musical experiences. The weather promised to be a mixture of sunshine and showers. Before going for a walk and lunch in Porthkerry Country Park, I made a bereavement call about the funeral I've been asked to take a week Tuesday

We intended to eat there at Mrs Marco's café, but found it was closed on a Monday. We walked for an hour in Cwm Ciddy woods and found the remnants of the ancient grain mill on the banks of the stream that runs down the valley, then drove to Cold Knap in Barry, where the Romilly's Coffee shop was open. We had a snack there in a pleasant eaterie, next to Mr Villa's fish restaurant which we thought might be open, but wasn't. Fortunately it didn't start to rain until we started out for home. We drove to the Bay Barrage at the Cardiff Marina end, to book a table for tomorrow's birthday lunch for Clare at la Marina. The receptionist said all booking was now done on-line, but helpfully produced his laptop and made a booking in situ. 

When we got home, I slept for half an hour, then went to Tesco's for a birthday card for Clare and some ingredients needed for the paella I cooked for supper. While cooking I also worked on next Sunday's Patronal Festival sermon for St German's, before settling down for a couple of hours in front of the telly with 'Secrets of the Museum' and this week's new episode of NCIS.

Driving around today, it took me a while to realise that some of the petrol stations I noticed had their fuel price displays set to zero, a sign they had no fuel to sell, even if they were open for other reasons. Fortunately I filled up last week before the new media began to report on the occasional fuel station that had to close for lack of delivery. This reportage sparked a round of panic fuel buying. exacerbating the recent fuel delivery problem prompted by delivery driver shortages. 

This crisis, in my opinion, has been stoked up by media reports, and pushed the government into doing what it should have done several weeks ago, to recognise the urgent need for temporary visas for drivers resident in the EU to return and work here until new ones can be trained, having been de-motivated by brexit to stay here and work as they have done for decades. A populist government, driven by mostly right wing media moguls. And this is modern democracy?