I went to bed late and woke up early, posted today's Morning Prayer link on WhatsApp then dozed until it was time for breakfast. There were six of us with Meg, who celebrated at St John's this morning. After a cup of coffee, I sent to the Post Office and sent off my driving license renewal form. I feel strange about handing it in. It's invaluable, an identity card by any other name. The renewal turnover time isn't said to be long - unless it get lost. I sent it 'recorded delivery' in the hope that it won't get lost. I'll need it, and an International Driving Permit, when I return to Spain.
On my way back home I saw that 'Oriel Canfas' contemporary art gallery was open. At the moment, it's exhibiting puppetry by Frankie Locke and Pete Raymond with colourful paintings portraying the puppets in their own realm, by Barbara Leith. She has painted some elements of her subject spilling over on to the picture frame. She said she'd have preferred to paint on the walls, so this was a compromise! It a way it was a statement about the power of stories which cannot be confined by imagination.
All three artists have a background in stage design and scenic arts with WNO. The puppets are carved from wood and painted. Sets of them are used to tell specific stories: Jonah and the Whale, Tobias and the Angel, The Owl and the Pussycat, George and the Dragon, for example. There's a Punch and Judy stall whose puppets are also depicted in proscenium arch vignettes. It's all beautifully conceived and executed, appealing to imaginative people of all ages. I found it most uplifting, a real delight, and all just a few streets away from home.
By the time I got back, Clare had returned from another session at the Optometry School and was cooking lunch. I got to work on finishing this week's Sway, which needed a few modifications, once I'd run it past Iona, rather later this week. It was nearly five by the time I finished and went for a walk in the park. It's getting noticeably lighter day my day now. Slowly we're getting back a decent length afternoon in daylight. I'm being careful to increase my daily walking distance gradually. I'm back to 80% already and feeling none the worse for it. I was fearful of losing fitness after lying low for several days, as this does happen when you get older, apparently. Lucky so far, it seems.
After supper I watched another couple of episodes of 'Bones', and then got to work on booking myself a flight to Malaga. Nothing available with Vueling from Cardiff at the end of Easter week when I need to fly, so I had to choose EasyJet from Bristol, as I did last year. It's just a bit cheaper to take the airport shuttle bus from Sophia Gardens to Bristol than it is to take a taxi to the airport, funnily enough. I have a Saturday lunchtime flight, which cost a hundred and seventy quid on its own.
As Clare comes out in mid-May on a date yet undecided, it may be possible to book flights home to Cardiff with Vueling, as the summer timetable will be operating then, although an early flight would be prohibitive as it takes an hour to get to the airport by coach. Or else stay overnight in Malaga. This has been complex to plan in times past. We'll see how it turns out. There's plenty of time.
EasyJet booking website annoyingly defaults to booking two flights at a time rather than one. I had to log into my EasyJet account and navigate my way to a booking page where I could book a single flight in order to avoid a very costly error. I think it may be a matter of deleting cookies to avoid this in future.
Anyway, I'm two steps forward in planning for locum duty. When I get my new license, I can buy my international driver permit, and some travel insurance, and then I'll be ready to travel. Now bed-time.
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