I got up at the same time as Owain this morning, saw him leave for work at half past eight and then had breakfast. Rachel and Clare went out shopping, and I started work on next week's Morning Prayer, which falls in Christian Unity week, so I had to think about adapting the texts for the day to reflect the occasion.
Rachel asked if I could take her to Ystrad Mynach, as she wanted to see the street where I was born and bred, so we drove there mid morning, and I told her stories about the family and life in a mining village as we went from place to place. We visited the site of Penallta colliery, as well as Glen View. In the fifty years since the family house was sold the street has undergone many changes. Most noticeable is the lack of chimney stacks that used to ventilate coal fires. Almost all have been taken down and it's surprising how different the houses took to the way I remember them - all double glazed, posh front doors, front gardens paved over, populated with pots. Since my last visit about five years ago, the new area hospital has been completed and is operational. This has led to a boost in the local economy. Many shops have been spruced up, empty shops are now filled with new businesses. There's more traffic in and around the town, and changes in street layout reflect this. Next time I visit, I'll go by train, take my time and walk around for a few hours rather than go by car.
In the news, the Israeli government and Hamas have announced that they are very close to agreeing the details of a cease-fire deal which includes exchange of hostages and Palestinian prisoners. The aim seems to be to get the process started before Trump's presidential inauguration, to forestall what could be a very disruptive intervention of an unknown nature on his part. A report from independent research into the Gaza death toll puts the figure of lives lost at closer to sixty thousand, a third more than the Gaza health ministry has consistently reported. Two thirds of the victims are believed to be women and children. Many people are missing presumed dead and still buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings.
Somehow the remnant of Palestinian people will survive and rebuild. It's too early to say what damage has been done by Israel to its own reputation. Perhaps this won't become apparent until the Netanyahu government is swept from power democratically and subjected to judgement by law, both nationally and internationally.
When we got back, I treated myself to beans on toast for lunch, then a long walk in the park afterwards. It was cloudy and bitterly cold. Again I fell short of completing my step quota for the day.
In the evening I watched part two of this week's double episode of 'Silent Witness' which was unusually complex in that it had a story about a municipal political scandal over rehousing homeless people in an asbestos ridden tower block, linked to another story about girls in foster care being abused, resulting not in justice being done but an explosion of vengeful murders by an unlikely perpetrator. I was reminded of this year's Reith lectures by Dr Gwen Adshead about violent criminals. Then I read a chapter of my Spanish novel before making an effort to get to bed early.
No comments:
Post a Comment