Another mild and cloudy day, but thankfully no threat of rain. Clare managed to sleep comfortably on a spare mattress in the lounge. I slept the usual amount, but last evening's dramatic disruption impaired sleep quality. The Velux installation guy arrived as I was getting up at 8.30, and was at work while we were having breakfast, nailing the wooden casing into place to hold the window. After completing the window job, ridge tiles went into place and the access ladder came down, revealing the finished job. He and his partner finished and tidied up as best they could and left by lunchtime.
I went to St Catherine's for the Eucharist, celebrated by Fr Tomas Watkin today. We were eight altogether including Jane his wife. I got to know her at St John's city parish church as her father Bill Hamlin was one of the ancients of the congregation at that time, one of St John's historians of the twentieth century, along with Bill John, who taught me history at Lewis School Pengam as a teenager.
Both were quiet and thoughtful men, who brought perspective to any discussion about the present and future hopes for the church at the heart of the city. Bill Hamlin had an extensive photo archive of the church, which I would have loved to see but before I could, he died. Clearing his house was a nightmare for Jane, as he was by then a widower. She knew about the photos and their value, but getting around to investigating them was bound to take its time. She hadn't got around to doing this before I retired, and I have no idea if she ever did.. She and Tomos popped into the church hall to say hello after the service but didn't stay, so sadly I didn't get around to asking her.
Just after the service started my mobile phone started blasting out my ring tone, much to my annoyance and embarrassment, as I'd set the phone on the 'do not disturb' setting. But this doesn't silence incoming calls. That's controlled separately and you have to dig down two menu levels to find it. The 'do not disturb' switch kills only those annoying notification sounds it seems, the ones I've replaced with a buzz. It's so rare I get unexpected calls on my mobile, I'm not sure this had happened to be me before. If only I'd put it into flight mode, there'd have been no problem. Lesson learned.
I collected the weekly veggie bag from Chapter on my way home. Clare had already prepared most of the lunch, leave me to cook the pasta and lay the table. I needed a snooze after lunch, and then went out to do the Co-op grocery shopping, before taking an hour's walk around Llandaff Field. When I got back Clare had done her Beanfreaks shopping trip, and started work on cleaning the very dusty attic room. I helped her to restore order to the piled up room furniture, and vacuum white dust out of the floorboard cracks and nail holes.
There are still a few finishing touches needed, as the edges of the Velux windows need grouting, and in several places, roofing nails have penetrated the ceiling plaster and pushed off a small round patch. The attic room is going to need painting, and the bathroom, where nails have also penetrated. All the walls and ceilings from entrance hall to attic too. Nothing has been repainted in decades. When that's done, all the rooms and kitchen will need to be done. Sooner or later it had to be done.
After supper, I booked my return EasyJet flight after my stay in Nerja. The total cost is £340, plus trips to and from Bristol airport. Thankfully reimbursable. With travel insurance costing £153, it's getting to be too costly to holiday abroad. I'm fortunate in being able to spend time in Spain and provide a service that will cover most of my costs of travel, and allow me the satisfaction of doing what I love most in life.
Job done, I watched two more episodes of 'Trigger Point', a complex story of hi-tech' terrorist attacks orchestrated with military precision right at the heart of London's financial industry. Who will prove to be the criminal genius behind it all? That can wait until tomorrow. Time for bed now
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