Wednesday 3 April 2024

Surprise Party

When I got up this morning the news was full of yesterday's killing of seven food aid workers, targeted in an air strike, even though their route had been identified their transit authorised through a conflict zone in accordance with agreed protocol. The Israeli military say it was an accident. It remains to be seen how this happened, but in this war zone already there has been a case of released Israeli hostages gunned down by by Israeli soldiers on the ground suspicious that the while flag of surrender the victims brandished was a terrorist false flag. 

If this tragedy was due to a drone strike, it show that even a remote control operator not caught in the heat of battle, confused by the fog of war is equally prone to errors of judgement. The death toll in Gaza is now nearly 33,000, inhabitants on the brink of starvation for lack of aid supplies and as a result of this incident, aid convoys have been suspended yet again. The Israeli government has targeted key Iranian military men in a strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, and inevitable reprisals will destabilise the situation even further for Israeli citizens. Whatever next? 

After breakfast I went to St Catherine's and celebrated the Eucharist with ten others.There was no coffee and chat today as the church hall is being redecorated, so I went straight to Chapter to collect this week's veggie bag. Clare cooked lunch, then we took it in turns to do the weekly grocery shopping using a new shopping trolled Clare had bought. Unfortunately, it's not as easy to handle as previous ones and not as stable so it will take some getting used to. Then I went for a walk, and when Clare returned we went to the Western Avenue retail park to look for a suitable new step ladder, but found nothing. We'll need to drive to B&Q at the top end of Cowbridge Road east tomorrow to get a better selection.

We were mysteriously invited to go to Iona's for drinks at six. When we arrived, we were joined by nearly a dozen officers from churches in the Ministry Area, for what turned out to be a thank you party for the work I did running Sway over the last seven months. Paula my successor was there as well, and that was good. Iona didn't realise that Paul has already taken charge of Sway. I was pleased about that as it meant the handover was in effect seamless. The party was such a surprise, and it was in a way a celebration of the end of the vacancy, and the successful ownership of one collaborative venture that helps bind together the six churches of the Ministry Area.

We returned for a late supper and afterwards I watched the finale of 'This Town', and then last Friday's episode of 'Astrid - Murders in Paris' which I missed. Then bed, later than usual.

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