Cooler today with cloud coming and going. I uploaded this week's YouTube Link to Morning Prayer on WhatsApp, just before 'Thought for the Day', then got up and prepared breakfast.
I went to St John's to celebrate the Eucharist after breakfast and did the weekly food bank shop on my way there. There was a queue for the human checkout, so I braved the hated robot version which seems to have done away with admonitions from the synthetic voice, unless I was lucky enough to comply with its protocol. This week I bought cleaning products instead of food, as these too are needed for recipients who can't afford to buy them. One of these produced a till alert, I didn't notice which one, but it brought a staff member to confirm I was old enough to make the purchase. As happens with alcohol sales. This is new to me. I imagine human assistants working on the robot tills get run off their feet when most of the tills are occupied. Is this really any more efficient than deploying real human beings at the checkout?
There were seven of us for the Eucharist, which was preceded and followed by a fuss over the flower arrangers' stock of oasis, which couldn't be located. Cupboards were searched, phone calls were made that were't answered. The mystery was solved while we were have coffee and a chat afterwards. It seems the remaining stock of oasis was in a box that had been pushed to the back of the relevant cupboard, out of sight. Tomorrow is the funeral of Gill Winton a long standing church and Mothers Union member who died last month. Decorating the church in her honour was naturally an essential, but last minute undertaking. A crisis distracting the congregation from worship was over. I just had to go with the flow.
When I got home Clare and Rachel were just about to go to town. In their absence I got to work on baking a batch of bread ready for the arrival of the rest of the family this weekend to celebrate Owain's birthday. He called while I was kneading to report he'd not been offered a more senior job in the department, which he'd been interviewed for. It wasn't a surprise. He thought he lacked certain experience, although he's currently covering the vacancy in question. At least he is being recompensed for the additional temporary responsibility. Fair enough in a job where he is seriously underpaid due to agreed pay deals not being signed off by the Treasury because of the General Election.
When the girls returned, I took the 61 bus into town to visit John Lewis' summer sale in search of Owain's birthday present. I learned some time ago that he'd like to have a Chromebook with a large sized screen to serve as an internet TV fitting in a discreet space in his lounge. I got lucky and found a suitable bargain with a 15" screen, about the size of a small telly and much less obtrusive.
Rachel cooked seabass fillets for supper, with spring cabbage, corn on the cob, and braised carrots. A tasty combination. This last week I've been suffering from stiff shoulders and neck, and she gave me a therapeutic massage after supper. A double treat. I have a clear head again for the first time in days. I finished the day with a quarter of an hour's walk in the cool fresh air, as the street lights came on. And so to bed.
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