The temperature dropped to minus three during the night. I woke up late to a clear sky and sunshine, Clare got up an hour before me and cooked pancakes for breakfast plus mushrooms for me to make one savoury as well. A labour of love!
In the morning news, yesterday's hostage exchange occurred as planned for a group of thirteen Israelis and eleven Thai citizens held captive. It's a relief this went ahead without a hitch as negotiations involving the Qatari mediators, Hamas, Israel, Egypt, the UN and Red Cross / Crescent are complex. Apparently three Palestinian prisoners are to be released in exchange for each Israeli citizen. A drop in the ocean when there are thousands of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, and hundreds detained without charge or trial 'in the interest of security.'
I had more new material to edit and add to Sway after we'd eaten. It was midday before I was ready to go out for a walk to Bute Park and a snack lunch at a busy Secret Garden cafe. The food served there is very good, so it's no wonder there's often a queue. The staff team work well and hard, dealing with people and keeping everything in order for new customers. It's a pleasure to eat there on a sunny day, even when the temperature is only just above zero.
A large area of the park near the Castle is fenced off enclosing this year's Winter Light Trail Son et Lumière attraction with fancy coloured lights adorning the trees and loud ambient music. It's very disruptive of evening commuter pedestrian and cycle traffic through the Park in the evening, as footpaths are closed at three in readiness for paying visitors in the dark. Last night, crossing the park to get to the Royal Welsh College, the footpath diversion wasn't properly marked or lit. We lost it in the dark and had to navigate our way across the open grass in approximately the right direction without tripping.
Anyway, the way was still open for us to walk into town through the park as the path was still open, so we went to John Lewis, for Clare to collect an order she'd placed, and have tea. The city centre was as very crowded, as Black Friday bargain hunters flocked into town. It was as busy as I recall it being before the pandemic despite economic hard times. I checked out smartphone prices for my sister. Very few bargains on phones at John Lewis' tech' department. Samsung, Google and Apple phones dominate, with entry level prices over £350. The Vodafone store had entry level phones for under a hundred, mostly Chinese.
It caught the bus into Canton and walked home from there. Good to be back an hour before sunset, quite a rarity for me these days. It takes me ages to adjust my daily routine around daylight hours. We had baby monkfish for supper, a small fish with an ugly head, which produced a lot of liquid when it was cooked. It was bony and almost tasteless. Very odd. Afterwards, I discovered a new series of episodes of the Italian crimmie 'Rocco Schiavone' and watched a double episode, set in and around the Aosta to Chamonix cable car, with the most spectacular alpine views. Interesting story about cross-border cross border policing issues when a drug trafficking related murder occurs on a frontier. Some of the dialogue was in a mix of Italian and French with an Italian accent. The scenery took my way back to our time in Switzerland during the nineties.
Today's hostage swop was halted for several hours by Hamas military commanders, disputing details of the arrangements made by the negotiators, accusing the Israelis of not sticking to the terms of the aid agreement. Hamas is going to control the process for whatever advantage they can gain, even in the face of overwhelming force. It's a no win situation for both sides unless there is persistent effort to engage in dialogue. Meanwhile, another group of negotiators in Qatar discusses extending the temporary truce to nine days. Such optimism in the face of such uncertainty!
The last thing to do before going to bed - printing tomorrow's sermon and the Bishop's announcement about the new Ministry Area Leader appointment.
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