A grey and damp day again. We both slept late and started the day late. Clare went shopping for food to take with us. I cooked lunch and afterwards went shopping to Lidl's in Leckwith for a few extra things to take with us. It's quite a collaborative logistical exercise catering for several days of Christmas feasting for seven people staying in a holiday let in a remote rural area.
Hilary and Clive invited us along with friends and neighbours for drinks and nibbles at their house, from six until eight. Some people we knew, most we didn't, but some interesting conversations took place. I was fascinated to listen to Gareth who sings in St Catherine's choir talk about the Canton he's known for the past seventy years since he moved here as a boy, a time when there were still orchards, and working farms with lots of artisan businesses and warehouses with new housing gradually transforming the patchwork of industrial occupation until it became almost entirely an industrial area. He has an encyclopaedic memory of changes over generations, as well as recollections of stories told from decades before he was born. He claims no expertise, but he is the consummate local oral historian. I would love to record him for a few hours, and regretted coming this evening not equipped to take advantage of the moment, I must make a plan for an interview, to map the history of the area's development in an audio recording.
We got home before nine, and I went out again for a walk in the park to quieten my senses after all that social stimulus, and complete my daily step quota, before bed. Thankfully, the sky was clear and I could see a few planets and stars, despite the urban light pollution. Always a lovely moment at the end of the day, as it was when I was a kid, looking from my bedroom window at Ty Isaf farm above Penallta Road. A lot more stars were visible in those days.
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