It was quite cold overnight and this morning and I woke up late to clouds and sunshine. Despite going to bed early I slept light, and posted today's YouTube link to WhatsApp three quarters of an hour later than usual. Clare got busy preparing a casserole for a late lunch, before we drove to Rumney for a late morning hairdo appointments with Chris.
He's still working in his salon behind its wrecked front section, boarded up after a malefactor drove a lorry into it two months ago. Loss adjusters have reported on the damage but the insurance payout will only cover a quarter of what a like-for-like rebuild would cost, so he's planning to re-model the premises to make it less vulnerable to attack, with bollards added outside to defend against ram raiders in future. Hopefully this can be done in a more cost effective way. The police seem to have done little to investigate. The day's news reported on the current epidemic of shop lifting, some of it carried out to order and re-sold to crooked retailers at a discount price. A criminal enterprise driven by the cravings of drug addicts, sadly.
It was quarter past one by the time we reached home, but thanks to the casserole Clare made we were soon eating lunch. I had a message from Basma reporting that she had been able to arrange with the Holiday Inn management to store and prepare her special diet food, and retrieve warmer clothing from storage in a corner of St German's Church Hall, thanks to support from Hilary and Peter.
After we'd eaten I walked as far as Tesco's on Western Avenue and down the Taff Trail on the east side of the river to Blackweir. I got a few good close up photos of a heron standing at the foot of gradient next to the fish ladder, then crossed over and walked along the west bank, where I spotted an egret perched high on a tree branch overlooking the river. It's the first time I've seen one do this here, and it reminded me of times I stayed in Mojacar and saw many hundreds of egrets roosting overnight, clinging to the reeds and bushes on the sea shore where the Rio Agua outflow is blocked by a sandbank and ends in the charco which forms the nature reserve.
In the mail yesterday we received notice of vaccination appointments for two week's time. It informed us that people in our age bracket were prioritised to be offered the jab to protect against something called the Respiratory Synctyial Virus that slowly affects lungs nose and throat, causing cold-like symptoms, unlike 'flu which comes on rapidly. Its impact has more serious consequences the older you are. Thirty thousand under fives and nine thousand over seventy-fives are hospitalised with RSA each year. If it's possible to prevent this spreading, it's going to diminish demand for medical treatment. I guess we'll be offered the 'flu jab as well in a few months time.
After supper, I watched the classic 1971 American crime thriller 'The French Connection', awarded five Oscars. Fast paced with pursuits on foot through New York and a hair rising car chase pursuing a train on an elevated rail track, brilliantly filmed in glorious Technicolor. The celluloid original has been digitized, and while it lacks the sharpness of a modern movie, the colours are faithful to the original film evoking an earlier era, just as black and white movies do. I noticed the difference when digitzing my collection of old slides and negatives when I do it correctly. And nowadays, the popular resurgence of film cameras with negatives digitized after processing indicates the interest in a unique medium for capturing colour and light subtleties in contrast to the tendency to harshness in images captured by a digital sensor. A reminder to me that I still have many packets of un-digitized negatives to work on when I get around to it.
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