I got to bed by eleven and slept through the midnight hour, without hearing any more fireworks, waking up just in time for Thought for the Day, delivered in verse by regular contributor Jane Manfredy. Clare and I had a lie-in together until breakfast time. Another bright sunny day, four degrees this morning. We went grocery shopping together. Most shops were shut but the Turkish supermarket on Cowbridge Road East was open. We bought vegetables and I cooked fish to go with them for lunch when we returned. I slept for an hour after we'd eaten, overwhelmed by tiredness.
I had an email message this morning from Staysure travel insurance about advising the company about any change in health status likely to affect my travel policy when time comes to renew it in three months time. Well, sadly that won't be happening. I won't be travelling abroad any time soon, maybe never again. To avoid complications with automatic policy renewal hassles, I'm going to cancel the policy early. I don't know if I'll get a refund for the last couple of months, but if I do it I won't need to contact Staysure and go through the hassle of dealing with the renewal process debiting my account automatically on the assumption there is no change in my insurability.
I received an email this afternoon from the niece of one the last of the stalwart faithful members of Saint James' Parish Church Tredegarville telling me that Iris Salmon had died recently, aged 92. Only ten days ago I sent her a Christmas card and newsletter, containing our contact details. Hence this message. She was a diminutive bright eyed woman with a wry sense of humour. I enjoyed working with her when she was church warden and I was Vicar of the church, now converted into apartments.
Having failed to obtain EU social funding to turn the building into a church community resource centre, it was a hard decision to give up worship in a building that the small congregation could no longer afford to maintain, but her love for the parish she lived in and its church school led her to support the decision to continue services in the school hall on Sunday afternoons and Mondays after school, and she was a regular participant in these while they lasted, always quietly steadfast and faithful. I remember her telling me that as a young seamstress during the war she had worked on making parachutes for the military, so thorough, patient and loyal.
I'm especially thankful to our Maker for her gentle kindness and devotion to church life and its school in daunting times for faithful people. She never married, but was devoted to the children of the Parish. She never gave up on God or His church, as so many others did. May she rest in peace and rise in glory.
I walked in Llandaff Fields an hour as the sun was setting. At the top end of the park, I was accompanied by a big Mistle Thrush that hopped along the grassy path just ahead of me. Sometimes as the light begins to fade I glimpse movement in the trees or undergrowth, maybe a dark shape, but because of my visual impairment I can never be sure if I'm seeing a bird, or a floater in my eye, or hallucinating. This time the bird hopped slowly, unafraid of me it seems, and its distinctive plumage was clearly visible at close range.
Today is the 75th anniversary of the launch of BBC Radio 4's soap opera 'The Archers', which I remember being listened to on the radio at home on BBC Light Programme when I was a boy. Several programmes in the schedule are devoted to discussions about it. Womens' Hour this morning explored the portrayal of female characters over the years, and The Archers podcast is now a regular feature. Recent episodes have focused on the toxic and disruptive behaviour of young ex-prisoner George Grundy whose personality disorder drives him to alienate himself from family, friends and villagers. In tonight's episode George is found unconscious on a bridle path after a bottle has been smashed over his head.
In an unusual innovative spin-off, a Radio 4 drama follows, set in a local police interview room where key soap opera characters, whose relationship with George have turned bad, are interviewed by the lead detective conducting enquiries. An interesting way of probing and exposing motivations. A great way of spinning out a dramatic story line affecting the whole village throughout the holiday season and turning it into a 'whodunit'. Then, the annual New Year's Day concert from Vienna's Musikverein on BBC iPlayer. As ever, it's a great delight. Given the many uncertainties the world faces with the shadow of war and catastrophic potential of climate change to destabilise the world, taking refuge in two hours of genteel optimistic music is a consolation before going to bed. It may not change the way the world is, but it may lift the spirits enough to help us face the future and keep us from despair
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