Reading, recuperating

There were three of us and a child for the midweek Eucharist again this morning. I spent most of the day in the house despite the weather, resting, recovering. It's slow. I have to be patient with myself. In the post was a facture for lab tests on a tissue sample taken from me, presumably to confirm what Mr Cotton diagnosed. I rang him to check if there was a report to be added to the one already given to my GP, but we got cut off in mid conversation. I was reluctant to call again in case there was a medical emergency at the other end, and emailed the surgery instead.

I took the bus into town and back to do some shopping, rather than walk as I usually do. My energy levels are reasonably good, but am cautious about over-exercising while the wound is still draining, albeit now very slowly. Having finished reading 'Girl on the Train', I'm now reading a Swedish novel written as a sequel to the late Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy about modern cyber-crime, by the novelist David Lagerkranz, with the same theme employing two key characters from the original series - genius hacker Lisbeth Salander 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' and investigative journalist Mikkel Bloomquist. It's called 'The Girl in the Spider's Web'. A bit slow starting, but so far so good.

I recent years, my reading has been largely confined to on-line articles and news. To have time to be be reading novels again is unusual. It's something I attribute largely to there being so little attracting my interest on TV, despite being able to get over half a dozen UK TV channels. No chance of catch up, or box set watching out here.

Another wedding blessing, and a new novel

Yesterday we took Rhiannon to the Chateau de Chillon. I was glad for another photo opportunity with a better camera. Back in January I took a camera but forgot to reload the memory card, so I had to use my Blackberry Q10, whose photos aren't nearly as good. It's such an interesting place. Clare and I were interested to observe how Rhiannon naturally gravitated to the interactive video screens telling aspects of the castle's story, rather than the wall and panel displays. A child of her era I suppose. We ate a late snack lunch on the terrace outside afterwards, and were amazed to see scores of tame sparrows chasing crumbs, and even occasionally trying boldly to snatch food from a person's hand. I enjoyed the walk, but it left me feeling uncomfortable and tired, so for the rest of the day, and most of today, I've been confined to the house, and managing my still draining wound.

I had to conserve energy to ensure I could carry out today's wedding blessing. It took me quite a while to make the final preparations, as I'd not really felt well enough to knuckle down and do the necessaries earlier in the week. In fact, I had to concentrate on making sure all the pieces of music I had downloaded and edited for the service would work. This proved to be a nightmare, because the wretched Google music app, and any app interface layered on top of it, refused to work with home made MP3s created using Audacity on a Windows machine. In contrast to last Saturday's wedding blessing, there were just fifteen people with the bride and groom. This made it relaxed and informal, so it was easy for me to officiant and be a digital deejay.

I don't know why an MP3 file should play on several devices and but not on every equivalent device, but I hate Google for this inconsistency. Their original 'don't be evil' policy no longer operates. Thankfully, I was able to get every type of file to play on my tablet, perhaps because its operating system is less up to date. It's hard to play music offline, now that's become the default for so many devices, and I couldn't risk staying online and streaming in an environment with a flaky connection. I succeeded, however and was able to relay music from the table to an old hifi system which sits in the church, redundant. Nobody thinks it works, but I succeeded in using it!

I knew I wouldn't feel like doing much except rest after the wedding, so Clare and Rhiannon went to Vevey on the paddle steamer without me. It was cool and overcast, but thankfully, it didn't rain, so they were able to enjoy the street market and visit the Nestle food museum, before returning with a generous supply of chocolate to take home.

Once I'd completed my sermon for tomorrow, I started to read Paula Hawkins' novel 'Girl on the Train'. It's very dense with intimate detail, drawing you right into the claustrophobic routine of suburban domestic life, too dense for my taste - although the detailed and intimate first person portrayal of an unemployed female alcoholic's domestic life offers an excellent study for anyone interested in addictive behaviour. All in all, it's an impressive portrayal of people whose lives are ruled by the lies they tell about themselves and to themselves.