Annoying weather

Longer spells of intermittent rain today with random bursts of sunshine and strong gusts of wind. It's not cold enough to warrant wearing rain gear, and carrying a brolly in such uncertain arbitrary conditions may or may not be justified. One minute there's light drizzle, the next a brief but heavy downpour and you can't tell what's coming next. I find this so annoying and disruptive of the everyday rhythm of life. It was late afternoon before I ventured out to the shops without getting wet, but as soon as I got home, there was another cloudburst. 

In the news, the suspected killer of a prominent pro-Trump conservative influencer at a 3000 strong student rally in Utah has been detained after being denounced by a member of his family. The murder has shocked the American public as well as leaders. Charlie Kirk the 31 year old victim was taken seriously by all sides in the political arena for his efforts to engage in reasoned debate and promote dialogue between left and right in an extremely polarised society. An openly evangelical Christian, he's now being hailed as a martyr by some. Such a bitter irony that he opposed gun control.

I had a message and some lovely photos from Rachel who's staying at a friend's house on the Florida Coast this weekend. She got a return fare for the equivalent £8.50, by cashing in air miles from various trips she's made in recent years.

Pasta for lunch with a sugo that included chewy bite sided chunks of Textured Vegetable Protein, intended to resemble the texture of meat. The kind we usually buy is more granular with a passing resemblance to minced meat in a bolognaise concoction. I'm not sure about the texture of the chewy chunks, it seems odd to me, unnecessary over processing, and not so easy to impart flavour to it.

After lunch I wrote a reflection to go with the text of Morning Prayer two Wednesdays from now, and then went shopping during a break in the rain. By the time we'd finished supper, the rain stopped so I ventured out for a sunset walk, longer than usual as I hadn't covered much ground much earlier in the day, so it was dark by the time I got back, just in time to watch this week's live episode of 'Inspector Gerri', concluding a far fetched tale of child abduction and murder, linked to a perverse esoteric cult devoted to the Archangel Michael, set in an ancient pilgrim sanctuary. Not very convincing. And now time for bed, hoping for a better night's sleep.