Euro-weekend

Clare's choir conductor Anna and her husband Klaus came to join us for lunch yesterday. We talked of our shared passion for sacred music and things European. Anna is Italian and Klaus German. We heard how both of them had made the effort to obtain UK nationality well before the brexit vote, sensing the wind of euro-skepticism chilling the climate of openness which has prevailed for the past forty years. We heard how lengthy and expensive a process it was, and how intricate legislation makes it hard for some long standing European residents to prove to the satisfaction of the Home Office, that they have been here living and contributing to society through work and taxes for decades. The system is loaded against the poor and not so well informed, who nevertheless play a full part in making Britain the place it is, or should I say was. I am unhappy about the movement of the country away from moderation and fairness, toward right wing elitist dominance. 

This morning drove to St John's Canton to celebrate and preach at the Parish Eucharist this morning before going on to St German's for the Solemn Mass. This morning in worship we used incense that I'd been given by Dr Laura Ciobanu on her visits, as I had enough to use for a full service in small packs of the same kind, originating from Mount Athos in Greece. It had the characteristic aroma of roses, ad a few people with sensitive noses noticed and commented favourably on the change.

After lunch and a siesta, we walked both banks of the river Taff as far as the Millennium footbridge, enjoying the birds and wild flowers in Bute Park arboretum. Bluebells are starting to diminish now, but alium (wild garlic) is flourishing, carpeting the grass under the trees with vivid white blooms. 

No sign of Mallard ducklings today, just an assortment of adult couples and same sex pairs. A bit like the human leisure seekers, out enjoying the sun in great numbers.

In the evening I watched the second episode of 'Lanester' on the tablet's All Four app.  It was just a two part drama not a series, adapted from a single novel - disappointing, as the main characters were potentially worth exploring further. Interestingly enough the German 'Inspector Borowski' series and 'Lanester' portray a gifted senior detective, workaholic, single and 50+. Both find themselves working with and needing to relate to a capable and highly intelligent woman, old enough to be a daughter. In the former the woman is a detective. In the latter, a Parisienne cabbie. Gender and generation differences are the underlying relationship issues not sexuality, for a change. 

Perhaps French TV moguls felt their thunder had been stolen by the German series, and didn't bother to pursue the theme further. Although, come to think of it, there was another French crime drama series in 2015 called 'Disparue' set in Lyon, which also has another workaholic middle aged detective, Bertrand Morel, divorced, and obliged to relate to his feisty teenage daughter who prefers to live with papa, who's more laid back than maman. All these story lines portray men who, despite being lonely, obsessed with solving hard and complex cases, are superb team leaders, yet with messed up personal lives. The role of these different confident modern women portrayed challenges the men with positive outcomes in the crime stories, and humanises the solitary male. It's not the romantic tale of heroic knights of old with an admiring lady gazing nobly from afar. It's more like a real world contradiction of this theme.

   

Smart meter day #1

I celebrated the Eucharist at St John's Canton yesterday morning for a congregation that we half the usual size, as many regulars were attending a funeral elsewhere. Then, after lunch I walked along the Taff on my usual route around Pontcanna Fields, this time accompanied by the Sony Alpha 55 DSLR that I haven't used for a while. Although the zoom lens I use isn't as long as that of the HX300, the cropped photos resulting can be just as good, although it's more challenging to use, being heavier to hold.

The trouble with using almost full zoom length is that camera shake intrudes, even when the lens and camera are equipped with optical image stabilisation. High shutter speeds compensate to some extent. It's something of a gamble to shoot the camera at just the right moment. I could use the facility all good digital cameras have to set the shutter for multiple shots, much loved by news and sports reporters, and then select the best one when editing later, but trying my luck, and being surprised (or disappointed) by the result still has its appeal for me.

This morning, I wrote a sermon for Sunday while waiting for the arrival of the installation team from SSE our energy suppliers, who are going to fit new 'smart' electricity meters. They came a hour earlier than expected due to a cancellation, and left half an hour earlier than anticipated, as they were only able to fit a new electricity meter. There wasn't room in the gas meter enclosure in the hall to fit the extra monitoring device, because of legacy redundant lead piping which had been left in place decades ago. It will involve a further visit by a specialist to get rid of this and re-position the meter atop the monitoring device. 

I had an interesting conversation with one of the engineers about how the new meter monitoring system works. It makes a 4G wireless connection to the suppliers' data network using frequency extensions to phone band-width made available by the government ending the lease of the broadcast frequencies used by secure radio systems like Cardiff RadioNet, the Prison Service and other public bodies, until this time last year. All now have a different set of frequencies leased to them, and the old ones will provide secure encrypted data channels to the entire country. In theory they are un-hackable, and won't overload in the way phone networks do, as the volume of digital monitoring data over a year is a minute fraction of the digital data stream of any ordinary voice call. 

SSE's network service providor, Vodaphone, gave sufficient coverage for the workers to use their mobile phones inside our hours, where with EE cover this isn't possible without a signal booster, and this meant the monitoring box could remain always in contact with the area network. Clever, as long as there's power enough to run every component of the system. SSE also provides a dedicated device that feeds the monitoring data to a smart display which tells you how much electricity you've used and how much it cost you. It's a re-chargeable device, not as powerful as normal wi-fi, with much smaller data requirements. But it only works within a short range of the smart meter cupboard, and if moved away, it starts bleeping a distress signal. Not such a good idea. Do we really need or want it?

After lunch, I drove Ashley to Chepstow for another trip to CBS equipment suppliers. Traffic was very heavy and we arrived too near the end of the working day for more than the basic business we'd come for. Still, it was a pleasant drive, with plenty to talk about, and it helps to keep things running smoothly. After that, another quiet evening, this time watching a French crimmie on the 'All Four' tablet app. A nice change to listen to good clear spoken French, and understand most of it.

     

Another funeral, another outing

This morning, another funeral at St German's, another full church, another occasion to put my digital sound workaround through its paces. The fact that it worked fine wasn't as important to me as whether I can officiate in a calm and relaxed manner and operate the devices without feeling under pressure. Sure it's always possible to involve someone else to work the sound system, but the acid test is operating on one's own. It doesn't happen to me here in St German's, but I recall times in the past when I've had to cope single handed with a church funeral - 'Be Prepared' - old Boy Scout motto still holds good for me.

At the crematorium there was a music and photo presentation of the life of the deceased during the brief committal ceremony, appreciated by all present, from the reactions to it. The display screens used are positioned well enough for the congregation, but not for the officiating minister who is left looking at a sharp uncomfortable angle, once positioned, close to the front row of mourners. I mentioned this to the crematorium manager, who just happened to be on duty this afternoon. She thanked me for my feedback and said that the Bereavement Services team was reviewing the layout prior to refurbishing the chapel. The last makeover happened in 2000 at the time the smaller Briwnant chapel was added to give more capacity, so it was all new to me when I returned to work in Cardiff in 2002. The video screens were added around the time I retired, if my memory serves me well.

I was home again in time for lunch, and then went to Motorpoint to collect Ashley for another trip to the RadioNet suppliers in Chepstow. Once again we had pleasant weather for the journey, and despite it being a Bank Holiday weekend, little delay either way. In the evenings this week I continue to watch episodes of 'Inspector Borowski', learning new things as I go about life and social issues in Germany today. Apart from visiting Connie and Udo three years ago and Leipzig in November 1989, we've spent little time there since we were first married, as our connection with Clare's teenage pen friend faded away. All that would change if Owain were ever to move to Berlin to work. Still, in the meanwhile, it's comforting to discover that with a little concentration spoken German still makes some sense to me.
 

Borowski in veiw

I spent this morning in St Michael's College with a group of other retired clergy with permissions to officiate in the diocese, at a Safeguarding training session, run by the Provincial Safeguarding team. It is and should be requirement for us to ensure we're well briefed about those really sensitive pastoral issues one comes across from time to time. This was prompted by recent legislation changes regarding responsibility for reporting potentially abusive situations and how this should be undertaken, but it still relies on pastoral awareness, common sense and discernment to know if action is required. And that's not often easy, if as a visiting priest you're not fully acquainted with the people and their context. It was a good and refreshing experience nevertheless.

I returned home for lunch, and afterwards walked into town to shop for some small items. I rang Ashley and then we met in John Lewis' top floor restaurant for a cup of tea and scone, for a catch-up before returning home to cook supper and eat it with Clare when she returned from her choir rehearsal. Then an hour watching an episode of 'Inspector Borowski' on the All Four streaming site. I'm about a third of my way through a 'box set' package of episodes of european TV series, branded as 'Walter Presents'. I like this website, as it's easy to use, swift and reliable, also it's as easy to pause and resume viewing for a few minutes or a few days.

As for Inspector Borowski, he's a sympathetic character, and like so many heroes of detective fiction he is middle aged, workaholic, getting over a broken marriage and with difficult offspring. Each episode, as well as telling the story of a nasty serious crime, shows something of his everyday life and work, and his social context, in a relaxed and quite amusing way. Having said that, the most recent episode I watched was just hilarious, portraying his eccentric boss taking refuge with Borowski during a marital crisis, and a very young looking female recruit to his team who is streets ahead of everyone else in her ability to analyse and research a case, mature beyond her years. How he manages to take this in his stride in his dominantly men's world, with gentle respect and appreciation, give an insight into what positive male leadership can look like today.