Back to being overcast and cool again today. It's funny how the weather seems to alternate between this and bright sunshine from day to day. I listened to the news early but then went back to sleep. Clare was already up and pedalling on her exercise bike. Housework to do after a late breakfast. An interesting radio programme in a series on the dystopian works of Orwell and Kafka, observing how both American and Russian politics over the past century in a variety of ways have reflected in different ways the fictional stories told in both '1984' and 'The Trial'. Life imitating Art or Art imitating life? I prefer to consider them as prophetic observations about the the world we live in, and its capacity to lie and distort the truth.
Chores done, I made the video slideshow for Thursday's Morning Prayer in honour of St James the Apostle and uploaded it to YouTube before lunch. We had prawns with veg, accompanied by noodles made of black rice, the first I've ever eaten. I was unimpressed and would have preferred gluten free spaghetti, for taste and texture. Before going into town, I started preparing next week's offering, just to get some idea of the passage of scripture I'll be reflecting on. Next week it's Peter's Pentecost speech from the second chapter of Acts.
I went into town after we'd eaten, to pay a cheque into HSBC bank. They have installed a new generation of automatic banking machines, enabling you to deposit cash or cheques, as well as withdraw cash and make account enquiries. These have quite large display screens but the font size and overall layout of each page display leaves much to be desired, certainly not to the degree of user friendliness on modern phone banking apps and web pages. In a moment of absent mindedness I forgot to write my name on the cheque, but the machine picked this up and spat it out again, and stayed on hold without spitting out my card until I'd made the correction, so that I didn't need to restart the paying in routine.
When I'd done this I walked through both parts of the St David centre. Now school holidays are upon us, the place was busy with families out shopping, and gaggles of teenagers. I went to see if there were any bargains on John Lewis' top floor. Three teenage boys were wandering around in the electrical goods section, turning up to high volume any radio or speaker system they could find switched on, attracting the attention of the security staff. Eventually they were asked to leave and escorted off the premises. I thought one of them was about to have a physical altercation with a guard twice his weight. With the prevalence of retail theft these days, it can't be an easy task to protect shoppers as well as shock from those intent on making more than adolescent mischief.
Walking back up lower St Mary Street, I noticed drugs being sold openly on the street, an assortment of people lying passed out in doorways or begging, and some conversing or arguing loudly, sounding as if they were intoxicated. I noticed two elderly women sitting on the ground in the street, begging I think but not sure, as they seemed very withdrawn. Then a few paces further on, tables and chairs outside eateries, packed with well dressed people, mostly tourists or visitors from out of town, eating, drinking and chatting seeming unaware of the dystopian scene nearby. I didn't see a single uniformed police officer, nor any of 'street ambassadors' engaged by the Cardiff Business Improvement District organisation 'For Cardiff'. Where are they all?
I walked home along the Taff through Bute Park to Blackweir. It's not as busy, quieter now there are fewer students around. After supper, with nothing better to do, I relaxed with another episode of 'McDonald and Dodds' before turning in for the night.
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