Women taking action

It may be damp and overcast again here in Cardiff, but news of the opening at last of the Rafah border crossing from Egypt into Gaza for emergency aid trucks to enter. Yesterday a video was posted on the WhatsApp Daily Prayer thread about an organisation in Israel called 'Women Wage Peace', with its own peace song 'Prayer of the Mothers with images of peace rallies from Yael Deckelbaum, an Israeli singer and activist. Women Wage Peace is the largest grassroots peace movement in Israel whose purpose is to promote a political agreement, involving women in the process, a movement with more than 44,000 members. It embraces a membership of Jewish Muslim and Christian women. It brings some light into the dark macho mood of this past few weeks for people in Israel and Palestine.

We both slept late, but Clare made pancakes for breakfast nevertheless. I cooked some baked beans with mushrooms to accompany some of mine. Then I started working on texts for Morning Prayer for the week after next, as there was time to spare before driving to Rumney for a hair appointments with Chris. On the way back we called at B&M to buy some crocus and daffodil bulbs. Clare went straight to work planting them while I went for a walk. Thankfully there was no rain at all. 

When I got home she was roasting veggies and grilling sardines for supper, as we only had a snack lunch, There was an aroma in the house that reminded me of the Paseo Maritime in Fuengirola. Almost as good as baking bread. After we'd eaten, I continued working on texts for All Souls' Day Morning Prayer and Reflection before watching the final episodes of 'The Fall'. 

It finished with a surprisingly violent murder and suicide in secure custody engineered by the perpetrator, just before the actual ending when it seemed like it was winding down to a courtroom battle over fitness to plead. Having set a slow measured pace for the very detailed eighteen episode series, it sustained interest right to the last before going out with a shock that revealed the primal rage driving a highly intelligent man to kill. Embedded within it, a history of abuse in a childrens' home with a paedophile cleric in charge. The dialogue driving the story forward through conversations and interrogation struck me as authentic and not exaggerated, with contempt disguised as compassion and concern devoid of love. Hard to watch on times but worth the effort with plenty to think about.