Both Clare and I had a disturbed night. She felt dizzy for no accountable reason and stayed in bed most of the morning. I was feeling lethargic but managed to record and edit the audio for next week's Morning Prayer and Reflection, make the video slide show and upload it to YouTube, before cooking lunch. Then I did a heavy grocery shopping trip, but still didn't get everything we needed, so Clare and I went out to the shops together for the missed items.
It was getting dark by the time we got home so I continued walking into the park under a clear sky. It was wonderful to see a waxing moon, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars shining in an arc above me once more. All too often, cloud obscures the night sky. Worth braving the twilight chill for this.
After supper I watched both episodes of 'Silent Witness', telling the story of two army veterans suffering from an undiagnosed traumatic brain injury, leading to a succession of violent murders in a tragic chain of events. It's set in the context of Nicky and Jack deciding to move from cohabitation to marriage. While it's very romantic, a shadow of uncertainty over the future is implied when Jack finds out that a contemporary from his days as an amateur boxer has lost all his memory. Also a product of traumatic brain injury. It's the last double episode in this 28th series. It's a very popular show, so I'd be surprised if there wasn't a 29th.
In Gaza the ceasefire still holds. The dreadful task of recovering bodies from ruined buildings throughout the Strip, after eighteen months of war has raised the death toll to 61,000. And now there are more deaths in West Bank territory as the Israeli army conducts 'security operations' against armed Palestinian militant groups, with more innocent civilians killed than jihadis, and many family homes being bulldozed with the same excuse. Nothing new there in a long history of Israeli occupation. Trump is ambitious to do deals to resolve all the problematic relationships between Middle Eastern countries and claim he has brokered peace in the region. It would almost be a miracle if he succeeded. One miracle he cannot make happen however, is the healing of innocent Palestinians, brutalised, dispossessed and bereaved over generations. A huge open wound, impossible to heal or forget in a future yet to be forged by peacemaking deals.
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