Video Quandry

Although I spent more than eight hours in bed, my sleep was somewhat broken. After uploading Morning prayer with no hassle, I had breakfast, said my prayers and fell asleep again. I must have needed it.

At lunchtime, I drove to Thornhill for today's funeral. Unfortunately with a long eulogy and a couple of tributes, which I had no control over, the service ran on a bit longer than the allotted time. The chapel attendant wasn't unduly worried about this, as the service schedule of the day wasn't completely full, and so there was a gap after the one I was taking. The decline in the numbers of covid related funerals has made a welcome difference. Before the service, I was chatting to the funeral conductor, who told me that in one week at the peak of the crisis eighty percent of the funerals done were covid related.

After a late lunch, I recorded and edited the last two Morning Prayer videos. I'm just about accustomed to the process again. I don't do this often enough for it to be habitual. I may be hampered by using equipment which isn't fully geared up for slick video editing. It makes me wonder if I should upgrade, although for all other purposes, my various computers are adequate to the job. These days 8GB RAM and a Core 15 processor seem to necessary to avoid glitches. Several times I there were moments when the editing suite didn't seem to react to the command given, or didn't display that it was doing what was asked of it. This can be a sign of memory buffers not clearing fast enough I think. Hence the requirement for extra RAM to make the process smoother. The trouble is, if there seems to be no response to a command given, I'll click or press a key again impatiently until I get a response, and that tends to screw things up. 

I look after my computers and although they are relatively old, the don't tend to die on me and need replacing. I could buy a new device and have no reason to use again it for video editing. Setting up a new machine to work with the optimum efficiency and minimum annoyance can take many days of machine minding, something I have less patience for these days. Also I don't need to spend time re-learning a new system, when I have all the digital tools I am ever likely to need already at my disposal. Best use of time is what matters most to me these days.

Just as I was about to go out for walk before supper, Marc called by with a copy of the final edit of the video he and Fran produced about the 'Noli me tangere' icon, and a bottle of wine as a thank you present for helping them get started with the project. It was meant to appear in the weekly Parish 'Holy Ground' slot on Facebook at seven, but there was a glitch, evoking a few puzzled responses. I uploaded to You Tube the copy Marc gave me then posted a link to WhatsApp, just in case but the official version appeared on Facebook an hour or so later.

I walked for an hour before supper. Later in the evening, I did the rest of my day's exercise in the dark. Fortunately it wasn't quite so cold as earlier. The weather is changing again.

Unreasonable delay

After breakfast and Morning Prayer, I drove to St Catherine's for perhaps the first time, certainly in the Polo, but maybe since we've been living in the Parish, as it's such a short walk from home. The reason for this was to transport the heavy Bosch vacuum cleaner which Clare bought when I was in Ibiza last year. It's proved to be too heavy for either of us to lug around the house with painful joints. I offered it to church warden Sue for the church, as it's quite a powerful device, better suited to cleaning dusty surfaces in church. A new much lighter one arrives this afternoon.

For the first time since St John's Day in Christmastide, I celebrated the Eucharist this morning, with an improvised sermon. There were eight of us regulars present and I much enjoyed doing so. Although I've not presided for three months, I was more relaxed at ease doing so this time, not worrying about going through the necessary anti-covid precautions. The correct routine seems now to have embedded itself in my memory.

I received an email from the European diocesan Safeguarding team about participating in the on-line Stage Two training which is now a prerequisite for those who wish to hold a diocesan PTO. Those who have done it say it's a worthwhile activity, and even though it's unlikely that I'll get an opportunity to do locum duty abroad any time soon, I intend to keep my PTO so there'll no hold-up if I am asked again.

Back on 23rd February I was due to have a telephone consultation about blood pressure medication side effects with a pharmacological consultant, who cancelled for reasons of sickness on that morning. Today I received an appointment letter for the 25th May. The initial appointment request had been made by my GP last November. For better or worse I've taken the matter into my own hands and feel better for not taking an additional daily tablet whose side effects made me feel worse. There's something absurd about this. 

Just suppose the drug combinations was putting me at more risk than the side effects indicated? I could be dead waiting that long for an assessment. People with mental health conditions get stuck on medications they don't need and which rob them of well-being because their case doesn't get reviewed. The Covid crisis provides an alibi for delayed treatments, so there's no point in making an issue of it. I think I'll cancel the appointment, but suppose I should report this to my GP, in case the system flags me up as 'no-show' or 'non-cooperative' to cover up the uselessness of a service which doesn't even bother to enquire of a patient what impact the consultation delay might have.

Fran and Mark came over to see us and arrived just as I was returning from collecting our Beanfreaks weekly grocery order. We had a cup of te in the garden and then went for a walk around Pontcanna Fields together. One they watched the footage of the icon video I shot with them, they decided to revise the script and re-shoot it at a different location. The editing has now been done and it'll be ready for showing on the Parish 'Holy Ground' webcast in Easter Week. I'm pleased they were able to get to a finished product they were satisfied with. I had fun being a small part of the process.