Scan follow-up

I woke up at seven, posted today's YouTube Morning Prayer link to WhatsApp, then fell asleep sitting up until five to nine. Not the best position unfortunately, as it took an hour for my head to clear, walking to St John's to open up and prepare for the Eucharist as Ruth, who usually does this is unwell at the moment. Fr Andrew celebrated with five of us. 

A couple of times lately, a young woman joined us for the service who asked for a blessing at communion. She said she's a post grad nursing student, working on a dissertation. She mentioned cryptically that she attends church on Sundays, though none of the regular worshippers had seen her though I think I have, arriving at the end of our service with members of the Russian Orthodox congregation to prepare for their Liturgy, which follows ours. When I was celebrating, I noticed she made the sign of the Cross Eastern style - right to left, rather than left to right. Which was a small clue. It's good she feels able do this and is at ease with our concise, much simpler kind of worship.

Clare called to say she was shopping for a new mattress cover for the attic bed which got split during the recent work done on the roof and in the loft. Could I find out the depth of mattress and send it to her as there's more than one size available? As soon as I reached home I measured it and sent her the details. The loft looks great now that the new Velux window blinds have been fitted, and the paintwork touched up by Clare. Instead of dark brown fabric, the new blinds are pale great, which enhances the room when lit up at night with the blinds drawn.

I received a letter from UHW with an appointment for an MRI scan of my liver, a follow up from the gall bladder operation called for the operating surgeon, I wasn't aware would happen. It was booked for 22nd April, when I'm in Spain, so I had to call the Radiology Department and request a postponement, I was offered an appointment on 19th May, when I'm still away. The system doesn't allow for bookings more than two months ahead apparently, so I am obliged to call again a week or so before the date given and ask for another postponement. The lady I spoke to said she would annotate the entry to this effect. It seems that if an appointment is missed or postponed too many times, the patient has to refer themselves back to the consultant and go through the same procedure again. We'll see if this annotation survives on the system until the next time I call.

I cooked prawns with rice and veg for lunch. It was meant to be a risotto, but mistakenly I used paella rice instead of arborio. It could have been either a paella or a risotto. It was ready just as Clare came through the door, brandishing bargain bed linen. I was pleased with the result.

After eating I made a video slideshow of Easter Week Morning Prayer and uploaded it to YouTube, then went for a walk up to the Cathedral and on to Llandaff weir for a change. Though there was a chill wind the sun shone through the clouds and walking was pleasant. I felt less tired than yesterday and walked further. 

It's strange at this time of year to have so much time on my hands, but with no preaching assignments to prepare for Holy Week and Easter, the only thing I have to prepare for is my first Sunday in Nerja. As my flight arrives Saturday afternoon, there'll be quite a lot to familiarise myself with in the chaplaincy house and getting myself to San Miguel on Sunday morning. If using a car is necessary, I need to know how near to the church I'll be able to park. The journey time from house to church may be less than ten minutes, but ten minutes walk across town may be needed as well. I have no answers to these details until I arrive. With time taken up by these matters, I'd rather have a sermon ready rather than writing one last minute. Already I've done a draft, but I still have a fortnight to work on it and print it off.

So, after supper, with nothing better to do, I watched the rest of 'Top Dog' and a few episodes of 'Bones', and then headed for bed, under the Spring Equinox moon.