Out to lunch

Another comfortable night's sleep, the weather unchanged, maybe slightly colder. Clare cooked waffles for breakfast. I worked on another five minute talk for Basma explaining the chief features of the Christian calendar year, then recorded and emailed it to her. Andrew invited us to visit him for a snack lunch, so we walked to Llys Esgob, where Andrew lives. He and Bishop Mary have separate studies in a large rambling hotchpotch of a modern house with diocesan offices attached. 

We were introduced to an ordinand who's joining WCMA as a Deacon at the end of June, and an NSM priest who coming to us as well. One's Sian, the other is Sue, but I'm not quite sure who is who, as I wasn't expecting there to be two of them. Rhys and Eluned, and Jan were there, plus Iona and Kate from the Ministry Area Council. Unfortunately the veggie sandwiches all had cheese in them, so I just ate an orange and some grapes instead. We got back at three and after a sardine and rye bread snack, I walked for another hour before sunset. 

The water level at Blackweir yesterday was quite high, although there'd been little rain in the area for a few days. Inland is a different matter. The level dropped over half a metre since then. The fields are slow to dry out as they've been waterlogged for so long, and not been firmed up by frost, so it's still treacherous to walk on the grass in places. For the first time since summer, I saw two swans on the edge of the river in the vicinity of the cricket stadium. Were they looking for a place to feed or to breed, I wonder?

The last of the Christmas turkey was thawed out to make a soup for supper. Clare thawed out a portion of chickpea curry and added some fish to it. Interesting. Afterwards, Clare went out to hear a jazz guitarist in King's Yard. I stayed in and binge watched the rest of 'Arctic Circle' series 2, which I started watching last night. It wasn't so much about cross border crime, as about the cover up of an accidental death which led to another man being pursued for murder, kidnapped by an elite vigilante group which thought itself above the law. In this story the knight in shining armour is a tough female cop with a Downs Syndrome daughter. The child playing the part was a very capable actor with several insightful lines and a good sense of humour. Unusual.