Unfinished stories

Late last night I had a request for help with editing the order of service for her son's funeral, and that was my first task of the day after breakfast. Meanwhile another request to take a funeral came in. This time a solicitor is making funeral arrangements on behalf of a nonogenarian lady with no next of kin. The last occasion I had to take funerals with no mourners was in the St Paul's area parish in Bristol, and that concerned destitute homeless men.

Then a walk to St Catherine's to attend the midweek Eucharist and catch up with friends over a coffee in the church hall afterwards. There were eight of us altogether, and rather than sit in the main hall, we used a side room with south facing windows, as it was a bright blue sky sunny day. Too cold to sit outside, so this was the nearest we could get to sitting outdoors.

The weekly veggie bags have re-started after the Christmas break and I went and collected ours before lunch. Finding our labelled bag is harder than ever. I feel sure there are more bags full of fresh picked veggies crammed into the locker than there used to be. The Coed Organics scheme is quite a success.

I walked down to the Castle in the afternoon, and returned through the North Road entrance to Bute Park and along the periphery all the way to Blackweir Bridge. As I walked past the Royal Welsh College with the sun heading toward the horizon, several song thrushes were singing loudly above the footpath, each out of sight in a different group of very tall trees. It's as if they are competing for attention with the  sounds of music being rehearsed by students in rooms overlooking the park. As the sun reached the horizon, the temperature dropped and a bank of mist began to form across the fields for a second evening. This is winter at its best.

I made a home bereavement visit before supper, the second this week. When the next of kin are older and triple jabbed, and there are no children around, it doesn't feel too much of a risk. Older folk are keen on self preservation, and on not infecting others, less carefree, or is it careless than  some younger folk. The deceased was the middle one of three brothers all of whom worked as lock gate keepers in Cardiff Docks. They had lived through the entire Bay Barrage construction phase before retirement, what an extraordinary working experience.

After supper I finished watching 'When the dust settles', a thoughtful observation of people traumatized in different ways by a terrorist attack. In times it was difficult to follow as several of the story threads featured women with long fair hair, making it easy to confuse their stories. Some story threads had a  happy outcome others were sad, several inconclusive. 

The story telling left viewers without closure. Ten often highly intense episodes left me wanting more, wondering how some story lines might continue. In other words, portrayal got me interested in them, caring about fictional characters. The last series which had me caring about its characters was the American hospital drama 'New Amsterdam', which now runs to three long series. Is this inconclusive ending another bid for attention from film investors and producers? We'll see.

Boris Johnson has admitted his presence at a Downing Street drinks party during the first covid lockdown but insists that the independent conduct enquiry reports back to Parliament before considering his position. As it could take a week or so, and public feeling as well as the feelings of many in his own as well as other political party members is already at a high level of indication, one wonders if he will fall on his sword or wait to be stabbed in the back, before grass roots Tory support evaporates completely.