A grey day with low cloud, and although the Accuweather phone app said 'no precipitation' this was not at all true. The dropped kerb zones along the neighbourhood streets, having just about dried out recently after weeks of rain were small ponds again, causing grief to pedestrian and wheeled users. It was after nine by the time we got up and had toasted waffles from the freezer for breakfast. Then I answered a few emails, wrote, recorded and edited another couple of talks for Basma, then cooked mackerel, quinoa and veg for lunch while Clare ventured out in the rain to get frozen foodstuffs from Iceland.
Afterwards, I went and walked for an hour, and was soaked by fine rain blown by the wind. I had to return and change my waterproof top layer to finish off. I met Jan and Peter out walking their dogs. We walked together and chatted. They had to park their car in a side street opposite the the park, as car parking in spaces at the periphery of the fields were all taken up by these walking into town for the big match rather than pay extortionate city centre parking fees. One of those things you have to live with when you're half an hour's walk from the National Stadium. Apart from a few other dog walkers the park was deserted, though there were a couple of guys in kilts walking purposefully in the direction of the city center for this afternoon's Wales v Scotland rugby match. I guess they're used to this kind of weather more than we are.
I spent the evening writing and re-acquainting myself with elements of the history of Arab Christianity, to remind Basma of what she inherits by being baptized. Arabic has its many dialects and an evolved oral culture. I was fascinated to find that Jews, Christians and other ethnic groups of Palestine and Syria spoke Arabic as well as their mother tongue and Greek. They would read scripture in Hebrew, Aramaic Greek and translate into Arabic as need arose. It wasn't until the end of the tenth century that a written Arabic translation of the Gospel appeared - in Moorish Cordoba, of all places! Moses, the first Bishop of the Arabs, in the fourth century was a hermit and desert nomad shepherd, who was consecrated as a missionary to evangelize nomadic Arab tribes. Complete freedom from religious institutions. Wow!
The Northern Ireland Assembly met today for the first time in two years and appointed Michelle O'Neil of Sinn Fein as First Minister. It's a remarkable moment in the troubled history of Ulster, and hopefully a positive turning point in the social and political history of the province. Meanwhile, Wales lost at home to Scotland by one point. There'll be some mournful faces in church tomorrow.
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