The sound of rain in the night and early morning, but by the time I got up at eight, it had stopped, and the cloud was slowly lifting. After breakfast, I listened to 'The Life Scientific with Jim al Khalili talking with Paul Murdin, the British astronomer whose application of measurement protocols from conventional old Physics made possible the identification of a black hole, demonstrating the reality behind relativity theory which postulated they could exist. It was an amazing observational breakthrough, but didn't earn him a Nobel Prize, as the work wasn't innovatory, just a thorough application of establish scientific method. He's also the author of many popular books on astronomy, aimed especially at young people. He was mentored and encouraged by the late great popularizer of astronomy Sir Patrick Moore when he was young.
Clare's study group arrived for their session and I went out to mail a birthday parcel for Amanda at the Post Office. Then I popped into the Coop opposite for some tea bags and bananas, and remembered a few other items from the weekly shopping list, and collected them. I had to beg a recyclable plastic bag for the bananas and succeeded in squeezing in the other items, though they nearly burst out on the way home. I sat in the front room and did some preparation work for the next weeks liturgical distribution, having time on my hand until the group finished. It's good to get ahead as it eases deadline pressure and reduces errors.
Clare cooked us tuna for lunch. Then, I went out and shopped for the remainder of the items on this week's grocery list that I hadn't remembered this morning. As I was nearing home, Clare came down the lane, about to go and buy all the items I was going to cross off the shopping list when I arrived. Just as well we met when we did!
I found an interesting item in today's news feed in the form of a press release from the Welsh Government about the 20mph speed limit which is being implemented in residential streets of cities, towns and villages across Wales next Sunday. It's a message of encouragement to Wales from the head of the Spanish national road safety monitoring organisation Alvaro Gomez. Spain introduced the 30kph limit in 2019, and has seen seen a significant drop in accidents, injuries and deaths in speed limited areas. We'll soon get used to it, he says, and won't notice much difference in journey time or congestion as a result.
I believe in some regions of Spain it was implemented long before it became universal. Having spent so many months driving in Spain since retirement I'm already accustomed to the more relaxed rhythm of 30kph/20mph motoring, and find it less stressful. I hope drivers in Wales will soon give up whinging about the imposition and appreciate the benefit to their state of mind, as well as the improvement in road safety it's bound to bring.
After shopping a walk in the park listening to the news, then supper. Two interesting TV documentaries to watch this evening. Katya Adler presented the first part of 'Living next door to Putin' touring Russia's neighbouring states - Poland, Lithuania and Lativia and interviewing a variety of people whose response to the threat posed by the invasion of Ukraine was worth hearing. Likewise Laura Kuenssberg in the first of a series on the story of Brexit and the UK Parliament, called 'State of Chaos', broadcasted last night. We heard about it from sister in law Ann today and watched on iPlayer. Both were sobering reminders of just how divided and unstable the world now is, under the influence of mass media with such ability to spread lies, confuse people and heighten their anxieties and undermine their confidence.
Time for just a short read of 'Battle for Spain', and then bed.
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