I woke up at seven, switched on the radio and dozed until 'Thought for the Day' before posting the link to this week's Morning Prayer on WhatsApp. Not quite sure why I try to listen to the early news when it lulls me back to sleep. The sound of insistent interviewers trying to extract new revelations from tight-lipped interviewees is samey and dull.
At eight o'clock the doorbell rang loudly. It was a deliveryman from Ashton's fishmongers (est 1820) with this month's bulk order of fresh fish for freezing. Clare was at the front door before I could shake off the duvet. Before and after breakfast huge fillets had to be divided in to portions, and packed for the freezer. An itemised bill comes with the fish, we can pay it by bank transfer or by card over the phone. Amazingly there's no delivery charge. It's nicer to buy from the market stall and enjoy seeing a wide range of fellow customers from around the world.
After breakfast I had an appreciative text message from the son of the man whose funeral I took yesterday. It doesn't happen often. I don't really expect it, or need it. It's enough to have been of service to others at a critical time when people are finding it hard to take in what's happening. Martin told me a few days ago that by the time he left parish ministry aged fifty, it was becoming harder for him to be surrounded by the grief of others as often as is required of a pastor, and not be deeply affected himself. There's no such thing as complete 'professional detachment'. In the news at the moment is concern about the alarming scale of absence due to sickness in the medical profession, doctors and nurses. It's not just the aftermath of the covid pandemic, but working understaffed under-resourced, and awareness of unrelieved suffering which depletes the energy of those called to care for others. How can society recover from this?
Mid morning, we both headed to town separately. I had cheques to bank, Clare was looking for a new summer skirt. Missions accomplished, we met in John Lewis' at lunchtime for a drink, then returned on the bus. Walking through the arcades and streets, the number of unoccupied retail spaces is more and more noticeable, despite best efforts made to maintain a cheerful façade.
Inflation has hit many businesses hard and they either close down or re-locate to less expensive premises. Here and there retail spaces do re-open. I've been particularly pleased to see two big chain betting shops close in the city centre, one on the corner of Wood Street and the other at the western entrance to the City Market, now being refurbished to become yet another coffee shop. I hope it thrives. To have such a dignified portal made to look seedy as it did for several years was a planning and licensing error, and it never seemed to be much used anyway.
Clare left at tea time to get a lift to the Fountain Choir concert in Ewenny Priory. I didn't relish the thought of making an eighty mile round trip this evening. The last month or so has been demanding and stressful. Without realising it at first, I've not been getting as much quality sleep as I really need. Now I am resetting the pace of my life so I can keep doing well all that really matters to me.
I spent a quiet evening, first with a walk in the park with my Sony Alpha camera, though I only took a few moorhen pictures. Then a very long phone catch-up call with Ashley, after which I recorded and edited next week's Morning Prayer audio, and fitting it with slides for the video to upload to YouTube. It was pleasing to be able to complete it without interruption in about an hour and a half.
I was suprised to receive an email from the Chaplaincy Warden in Nerja asking if I would be available for locum duty there in September and October. I guess the retirement of their chaplain Fr Nigel has now been announced. This was an invitation I had to decline, as I'm committed to Saint German's over the summer until their new priest arrives. Interviews are in a month's time, so hopefully if an appointment is made, the person will be in post by October.
Clare got home from Ewenny Priory at ten thirty, delighted with the Early Music concert and performance of the Fountain Singers as part of it.
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