City lights upgrade

It was past nine when I woke up this morning, having dozed off again after listening to 'Thought for the Day'. It looked as if it would be a brighter day, but wind from the west blew in more rain clouds, giving us light showers and a beautiful rainbow at midday. After breakfast I edited the sound files from last night. I found it hard to relax into sleep after making a recording late in the day. I must resist the temptation to do this again, and wind down earlier for improved sleep.

We took in a parcel for Sarah who lives next door. Shortly after the postman arrived, she sent a message to ask if we would take it in, as she's got covid. Last month, her next door neighbour got covid. Neither of them move in the same circles socially as far as we know, and as older people it's likely both have had the necessary jabs. The virus is not so life threatening now, but it's still in circulation, and people my well be more prone to pick it up as individual levels of taking precaution have waned as time passes. The evening news reported 3,600 people currently in hospital with covid in contrast to over 9,000 this time last year.

We had a snack lunch, planning to go out to eat this evening, but having booked a table at Stefano's Clare unaccountably lost her appetite. We went for a walk, to see the new generation of snowdrops bursting into flower, then Clare headed for home and cancelled the table. I continued walking until sunset, then caught a bus into town, to see how busy it would be now the sales have started. 

By this time of day, it wasn't so crowded however, as people were already heading for home, and the influx of night time consumers wasn't yet under way. The Christmas illuminations in St Mary Street have been given a colourful upgrade, with animated banners bearing bilingual Christmas greetings, and the St David's Centre decoration have also been given a makeover. Nothing worth buying in the sales yet.

I caught the bus home as it was drizzling, and cooked lentils with quinoa for supper, as that was what Clare fancied. I started work on Sunday's sermon and for a change I adapted and edited one preached in Montreux six years ago. How time flies! That was a wonderful locum.

Then we watched the 2017 version of 'Murder on the Orient Express' with a star studded cast, all of whom had minimal roles showcasing Kenneth Branagh as Poirot. The interior settings portrayed the train with period piece accuracy, but all the winter landscape settings were constructed with CGI animation making it look more like a computer game than a movie drama. The whole thing was slow moving and wooden. A waste of two hours viewing time.