Muddy Fields

The day started with rain, but cleared up later, with the addition of strong gusts of wind. I worked most of the day on preparing Morning Prayer video upload material. First to cover for Fr Rhys this Friday, to give him some covid respite time doing nothing. I know how much I needed it this time last week. Then there's next Thursday's in addition. All the Exodus texts I've worked on lately have not been easy to reflect on, as there's so much in each that needs analysing and explaining, and extracting an overall threat from each is an unsatisfactory task. It's just small fragments from a much bigger exercise which might be entitled 'how to make intellectual and spiritual sense of the Exodus story if you're not Jewish'. We might have somewhat different priorities, especially with a war going on in Europe, about whose background us Brits have scant understanding.

After lunch I collected this week's veggie bag, had a siesta and then  walked to the Taff at tea time, where the last of the Urdd rugby tournament matches were being played on the couple of pitches that remained in action. The others already had their flags and goal safety buffers removed by this time. As it had rained, great brown mud patches were evident on many of the pitches. Players being collected by parents were hobbling to the car park in their boots with very muddy legs and sports kit, unlike the two previous days. The starlings crows and gulls would be happy with the scuffed up turf on the pitches, as it exposes insects and worms for them to eat. The footpath down to the river was treacherously slippy with mud, unlike other days. Let's hope it gets cleaned off soon, in the best interests of public safety. Still, a lovely event which I'm sure would have made a lot of people happy.

After supper, more preparation work, and then a couple of hours relaxation with the last two episodes of the Welsh crimmie 'Hidden' - very thoughtful and unsensational drama, if slow moving. Its portrayal of a man with learning needs was possible through some fine acting which gave the character dignity and depth - you admired him rather than feeling sorry for him. Well done BBC Cymru.