Dispatched

A lovely mild sunny day with the temperature rising to 17C, notably higher than usual for the Spring Equinox and most welcome. Owain was up before us having breakfast and a shower. He went off to work at eight thirty, ready for his token day in the office. Crazily, although the Insolvency Agency has people working from home in Bristol the relocation of their regional base has meant the nearest physical office location where he can occupy a desk is now in Cardiff. Next month should be his last, as regional HMRC has a physical office in Bristol, giving Owain his own workstation and a team of colleagues based there, while retaining the option to work from home on suitable occasions. He's looking forward to the change of ambience. Spending so much time working virtually without rubbing shoulders and popping out to lunch with colleagues can't really be life enhancing.

Clare had an early appointment at the bone clinic in Llandough Hospital so I took her there after breakfast. I had a rendezvous with Iona for coffee at eleven. With no idea of how long her appointment would take, I came straight home. I'd not been home ten minutes when she called to ask if I could come and collect her as she'd have a long wait for the next bus. I had enough time to go and collect her, and we were back by half past ten. The appointment was simply to give her an injection of a medication which would deliver calcium to strengthen her bones. It's something she now has every six months since she completed the two year daily regime of self-injection.

Iona and I chatted about the Ministry Area reflecting on the period since she completed her term of office as lay co-chair and how things may develop now. Jan will be finishing her ministry at 'the Res' in June, a vacancy that will be hard to cover adequately, let alone recruit for. The church still retains a key role in the parish hosting an unusually large number of funerals as it's a gathering point for the local community in the face of tragic events. It's a deprived area, seeing an above average number of untimely deaths. Having a pastor on the spot to turn to is really important. Let's hope the vacancy won't be long.

Clare had lunch ready cooking by the time I returned home - roast fish and veg. I found her sitting out in the garden enjoying the warmth of the sun relaxing and reading a book. After lunch I worked on a sermon for Sunday. The Eucharist readings didn't inspire me much, so I looked in my archive to find out how I'd worked with them before. I took an old sermon apart and re-wrote it completely. Looking back at old material like that gave me an insight into how my preaching style has changed over the past twenty years, moving from the heart of the city at St John's to an assortment of places on locum at home and abroad. It's a good reminder that it's impossible to preach the same sermon twice whether with the same audience or a different one. Just like it's impossible to have exactly the same conversation with someone, even if the subject matter is the same.

In the post today a posting bag and pre-paid label from TalkTalk to return the redundant and the duplicate routers. I was starting to wonder how long it would take to receive this delivery. Six days in fact. I packed the bag and took it to the Post Office, glad to see the back of them. From there I walked down to Tesco's to meet Clare and go for a walk. She was shopping for printer ink cartridges but there were none to be found locally. It means a walk into town or to the Western Avenue Tesco's. We walked home up Llandaff  Road and stopped for a drink the artisan cafe cum bakery called 'Ground' since it was taken over and re-branded last autumn. Then I continued walking in Llandaff Fields for an hour until sunset.

After supper, I read some more of Rowan's book and started writing a different ending to grandpa Jack's story until it was time for bed.