A good sleep, thanks to milder weather, although still feeling physically tired after the exertions of the past few days. It was lovey to return to the congregation for the Eucharist at St Catherine's. There were a dozen of us present to celebrate the feast of St Aidan, and happy chat over coffee afterwards. We discussed the possibility of opening the church hall regularly from 9.30 - 12.30 throughout the colder months of the year to welcome people living locally who might benefit from a heated space in which to spend time, whether working remotely, chatting with others, swapping books. We're thinking of branding this as the 'Warm Wednesday' initiative, opening up and seeing what happens, once we start to publicise it the vicinity.
Before lunch, I took my heel worn shoes and sandals needing heel strap shortening to 'Canton Cobblers', a traditional family business near the Post Office on Cowbridge Road East. Three generations were in the shop when I arrived, grandfather, father and son, eight years old. To my delight, I was served very nicely by the lad, with support from Grandpa in making out a receipt. Two jobs, twenty five quid for both, ready Saturday. Amazing! Then I fetched this week's veggie bag, lighter than usual as it's crammed with salad veg. I also bought a tray of cherry tomatoes at coffee from the church garden, so now we have abundance, but I'm the only one that eats them nowadays.
After a siesta in the chair, a walk down to the Taff. An air ambulance helicopter was circulating over our neighbourhood very low. By the time I reach Llandaff Fields, it had landed and its paramedics ministering to a very young child, who didn't seem to have any physical injuries to be attended to, but was screaming with pain and distress. Maybe a sting, or an allergic reaction, but something distressing enough for such an intervention. Given the ambulance deployment crisis in Britain at the moment, it may have been the only rapid response possible to avert a more serious crisis. I noticed one of the paramedics giving the screaming child a lollipop in an effort to calm its terror. Better than a sedative in those circumstances.
Curious kids on bikes turned up to take a closer look at the helicopter, whose engines had quickly been switched off fortunately. Outside Cafe Castan stood three police cars. I saw no police officer heading to the landing zone, to stand between the aircraft and the curious kids on bikes. I found this disturbing. It was unclear what three patrol cars were needed for. Certainly not to protect the mother and her child as they were sat out in the open and given plenty of space by passers by.
The river is running low, enough water for youngsters to be jumping into the deeper pools, but the flow of water revealing the extent of the banks of alluvial stones that lie just under the normal surface level. A heron was keeping vigil in one narrow place where water was flowing fast. Green algal bloom which has floated downstream is depositing on the banks of stones and consolidating them into islands that may be harder to wash away when flood water returns. I wonder if any river bed dredging will be done before Wale's monsoon season returns. It's terrible hearing about the extent of the floods devastating Pakistan at the moment. More grim evidence of climate crisis.
I spent the evening relaxing in front of the telly, watching the first of Michael Portillo's travelogues in the Pyrenees relating to his parents' history during the Spanish civil war. Then 'Blacklist' then 'Shetland'. Sheer indulgence.
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