A cold night and morning, but waking up to blue sky with sunshine and some cloud. It's the sort of damp cold that clings to you and makes it hard to get warm and stay warm whatever you wear unless you do vigorous exercise. Then when you start sweating you end up getting cold quickly. Not my favourite kind of weather. It's almost a relief when the temperature drops below zero as the air becomes less humid and less clingy, so to speak.
There were seven of us for the Eucharist at St Catherine's. Rachel brought baby Sebastian with her. Today for the first time he gave me a smile or two, which warmed my heart. Rachel gave me some gigantes from the two kilo gab she brought back from visiting her in-laws in Athens at half term. We got to talking about food pleasures many weeks ago, things you like when you're abroad and can't easily get here. What a nice gift! Sion told us about the six months he spent at an ecumenical work camp at Locarno in the Ticino back in the '80s. It reminded me of the time we spent in Lugano on a Sunday duty exchange with the chaplain there, who had worked in Geneva for years before he was ordained.
On the way home I collected the veg bag from Chapter, then cooked fish for lunch while Clare went out to pick up a prescription from the chemists. Then I went for a walk, first for a circuit of Thompson's Park, then to Victoria Park, something I haven't done for a long while. I was pleased to see that the noticeboard at St Luke's church has been replaced by a new bilingual one, advertising its monthly Welsh language Eucharist. It replaces a noticeboard which may have been fifteen years old and never properly updated. Talking of noticeboards, another new noticeboard was delivered to St Catherine's this morning while the service was going on. It's for advertising events in the church hall, and other community notices. It has a lockable double window opening for easy access. It will make a difference to the look of the church yard from the street. No more laminated A4 posters tied to the fence with string!
Walking back, I was addressed by a man passing in the opposite direction who said: "You look just like Billy Connolly!" I don't know why. In response I said: "I've also been told I look like Sean Connery. Unfortunately I don't make any money out of this!" I walked on, crossed the road and went to the Co-op to get some paper hankies, and met the same man a second time who repeated his allegation. Bizarre. Later I googled Billy Connolly. His white hair is longer than mine, and his beard is much longer. Even so it may explain why often strangers in the park look at me and half smile as they pass puzzling maybe, over why my face may seem familiar. It never occurred to me before!
After supper I scanned another couple of rolls of film negatives from 1987. One, a camping holiday in the Vaucluse Parc Natural de Luberon, plus a few shots taken somewhere in Switzerland to judge by the domestic architecture, but exactly where I couldn't work out or recall. The other was taken on a trip to Taize, a rare occasion when almost an entire roll of film turned out under-exposed, to the point that some scans tweaked to the limit in a decent photo editor revealed no information about the subject. I'm trying to figure out how it happened. The only way that could happen would be if I set the camera incorrectly for the film speed used. A slow film with a shutter setting far too fast, I think.
I stopped in time to watch this week's episode of 'Shetland' at nine, then the news, to hear more about the ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah conflict. Still nowhere near a resolution of the inhumane tragedy of the conflict with Hamas, where nearly 70% of the 45,000 victims have been women and children, according to the United Nations. Netanyahu and the Israeli extremists who keep him in power have a lot to answer for, but will any of them ever be brought to justice, when the fighting is over.
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