Flight purchase hassles

Warm and sunny again today. I woke up in good time to post the Morning Prayer link to WhatsApp before Thought for the Day. After breakfast I went to St John's to celebrate the Eucharist with eight others. After cooking lunch, I went for a walk in the park. When I  returned, more emails from Costa del Sol prompted me to book my homebound flight, and a return flight for Clare. 

It's not as easy to book a flight nowadays as the pricing structure is more complex and granular, laced with options for other travel requirements pushed into the course of the booking process. I came unstuck on booking Clare's outbound flight making a series of errors with the payment verification process before getting it right, I think, but am not sure as the confirmation email is still awaited, instead of arriving within minutes. Our on-line bank account is not yet up to date, so we don't know if the flight booked has been confirmed. 

The problem for me is the secure transaction confirmation applet window, in which a texted one time passcode must be posted. Its size is too small for easy reading and it's possible to make a mistake by pressing the wrong button to send the passcode, as the correct one is on the same line as the request for a re-send is right next to it. My eyesight is not as sharp as it needs to be for such difficult interactions. If the payment issue isn't resolved in the morning, I'll have to go in to the main Santander branch in town to check, and tell them what I think about this readability issue.

I edited my biblical reflection for next Thursday's Morning Prayer, then recorded the Office and edited  it, but didn't get around to recording the reflection. That can wait until tomorrow. This evening's episode of 'The Art that Made us' was the only programme worth watching on telly tonight, dealing with the art of the twentieth century, how literature and visual art responded to the violence of the age, calling into question its meaning and purpose. Interesting.

The UN World Food Programme is voicing concern about the world wide grain shortage resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The whole of the 2021 wheat harvest is still in storage there, shipping it out from Odessa has been made impossible by the war, and this year's grain harvest is due to take its place within the month and there is nowhere to keep it. Not only is the huge increase in the market price of grain boosting inflation globally, but it's hitting poorer nations hardest of all, and limiting the amount available to aid famine stricken countries. An appeal is being made to Russia to un-blockade Odessa, but this is likely to be used as something to bargain with for concessions Russia needs. With climate change leading to extreme weather events resulting in more places being afflicted by famine, this is troubling news indeed.