Clouds, occasional showers and strong gusts of wind during the day. It was just after eight when I posted my All Souls' Day Morning Prayer YouTube link to WhatsApp. The death toll in Gaza is over nine thousand now. The Israeli army is now encircling the suburbs of Gaza city, and speculation mounts about how it's proposes to engage Hamas fighters in their underground refuges. There's said to be a network of 400km tunnels beneath the city. Meanwhile hundreds more foreign passport holders are being let out of Gaza, but there are several thousand more foreigners wanting to escape.
I needed the brolly when I walked to St John's for the Eucharist after breakfast. I bought Food Bank offerings from Tesco's to take to church with me, but had to join a queue of older people paying for their purchases at the service desk. Both check outs were closed and the self service checkouts had very few customers. People vote with their feet against the imposition of self service tills, but the food retail overlord don't listen.
I arrived at St John's just before the service started. Fr Dyfrig who wasn't presiding, had turned up to open the church, as nobody arriving for the service had keys. I didn't think to pocket the church keys which live in the rucksack I use to carry my alb to and from church, so he had to return an hour later to lock up again. What a shame! It seems he wasn't aware that I have keys and would have willingly acted as 'doorkeeper in the house of the Lord' when necessary, as I attend this service whether I am presiding or not unless there's some other pressing demand. There were four of us with Fr Colin celebrating.
I returned home, finished this week's Sway and while Clare cooked lunch, started work on another project envisaged by Iona for St Luke's, as there's a proposal to print a publicity card for Christmas services for distribution in new-build housing areas of the district for which this is still the Parish Church. I dozed in the chair for an hour after lunch then went for a walk. It's not surprising the Taff water level was up to the top of the fish ladder at Blackweir given the amount of rain falling over the last 48 hours.
When I got back home I distributed this week's Sway, a task I still find tricky as the routine detail involved in editing Mailchimp still hasn't lodged itself perfectly in my memory. It's just as well that it's possible to send a test version to myself to ensure it's correct. It took me three attempts to get it right. It seems to me the user interface is rather dated, and it doesn't having a fast track way of changing the vital URL pointing to a new Sway. It's a free on-line version however, for a limited number of free recipients before costs are entailed. I daresay the paid software is not so basic.
After supper I set out to relax by watching last night's first episode of the eighth series of 'Shetland' on iPlayer, but by mistake ended up watching the first double episode of the first series, which I don't recall seeing before. Ah well, another night. Before bed, I listened to the late news and read more chapters of Diana's novel.
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