Home winner

I woke up late, sun dispersing cloud, with thunder forecasted again for later with cloudbursts. Last week severe weather warning notifications appeared every day, but there wasn't so much as a rumble of thunder around here. At least it's decently warm. 

After breakfast I did most of the regular house cleaning. While I was doing this, a draft eulogy for this week's funeral came in on WhatsApp, then a phone call to arrange a bereavement visit for later this week in connection with the third funeral assignment I have to prepare for at the moment. It's not onerous but well spaced and regular at the moment. If it was three funerals in a week, which some clergy have to cope with, that would be tough going, but the frequency reflects a shortage of full time clergy, the 'new normal' in a shrinking impoverished church.

I did some work on the order of service and eulogy for Thursday's funeral, and then we shared cooking lunch. I drafted a list of interview questions which I'd like to put to an assortment of people, to enquire of them their reasons for giving up on churchgoing. I shared this with Rufus who was quick to point out that there were perhaps many more people who'd never experience churchgoing as part of their lives and didn't know what it was all about, or had distorted ideas of what it was all about. That's a separate investigation altogether in my mind. What interests me is how people have become estranged from this aspect of life and what this tells us about the character of the church in our time.

Later in the afternoon, I walked to town and visited the Camera Centre to see what second hand kit they might have to interest me. I returned on the bus and after a cup of coffee, went to Thompson's Park to walk some more and enjoy the peace and sunshine.

After supper, the second round of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World, which was won by a remarkable young Welsh soprano from Pembrokeshire and former RWCMD student Jessica Robinson, a fresh exciting performer singing technically difficult songs with great gusto and dramatic flair. A natural favourite with the audience. The other three singers were also very good, but somewhat overshadowed by her brilliance.

Then another interesting episode of 'Springwatch' with a fascinating visual sequence portraying the life cycle of a native jellyfish, and others on rebuilding the population of red squirrels in Angelsey, not only in numbers, but genetic diversity, importing creatures from other habitats where they are abundant. I seem to recall that grey squirrel numbers were reduced thirty or so years ago by giving an incentive to people to cull them, with a bounty on each tail retrieved after a kill. This didn't cause outcry, as local people were keen to see the native red squirrel population regain dominance over what was an invasive species. 

There's a programme to boost the numbers of pine martens in the Snowdonia National Parks, by releasing animals bred in captivity. Another native species which was almost hunted to extinction. Now it's realised that pine martens will predate on grey squirrels, it become desirable to see pine martens proliferate as a measure to suppress the grey squirrel and allow the few remaining areas of red squirrels the space to flourish again as they once did.