Mondays seem to come around quickly. Housework after breakfast, then finishing the last few chapters of Patricia Cornwall's 'Book of the Dead'. Her stories are always padded out with detailed descriptions that set the scene and mood, but also scientific or technical minutiae, often difficult to make sense of, if you know nothing about flying a helicopter or using an electron microscope or MRI scanner. What's the point?
I was, however interested in her portrayal of a powerful psychiatrist with a popular TV show, a dark dirty secret in her past and skill at manipulating clients and interviewees into believing they are sicker than they realise, a lost cause - what I think is called 'gaslighting' in current jargon. This was written fifteen years ago, and the misuse of mass media inferred in the storyline is so reminiscent of the plague of 'fake news' and psychological warfare tactics characteristic of our time.
Clare cooked a tofu stir fry for lunch. Afterwards, I went into town to look for bargains, but didn't find any of interest. There were noisy groups of excited young men in the street, high on the prospect of World Cup football matches for Wales and England today, or drunk in anticipation. I did some shopping in Tesco's on my way home for Sunflower and Olive oil. The Coop hasn't been stocking sunflower oil lately. It may be that its supply chain is broken due to the war on Ukraine.
I worked on this Thursday's Morning Prayer reflection after supper, and recorded it later, after watching another ridiculous episode of Blacklist on catch-up, avoiding the news, dominated all day by World Cup football. Too much football. Although I was tempted to glimpse the results on Twitter. Oddly the Parish Daily Prayer WhatsApp group has been full of exchanges about tonight's Wales v USA game all day, but these exchanges stopped when the match ended, without any prayer of gratitude being offered for a score draw.
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