Justin in Jerusalem

After nearly a week of clouds and rain, it was a pleasant surprise to wake up to blue skies and sunshine. No news of further aid convoys being allowed into Gaza after yesterday's opening of the Rafah crossing. Meanwhile Israeli bombardment of Gaza continues, in preparation for the ground assault. The compound of the Greek Orthodox church of St Porphyrus  in Gaza city was hit on Thursday last killing 18 people. It's said to be the oldest church in Gaza dating from as early as 425AD.

The Radio 4 Sunday programme, interviewed the Anglican Archbishop of Jerusalem and the Archbishop of Canterbury on a visit there. They made a plea to the Israeli military to consider urgently the plight of all those exposed to great danger, who have lost their homes and are running out of food and water. They also made an urgent plea for initiatives of reconciliation and peace making to begin. Recently a similar appeal was made by the heads of all Christian churches in Jerusalem, gathered together under the media spotlight. I've not seen this reported until now. It's violent men on both sides with the power of life and death over others who hog the attention of newsmakers and media influencers.

Clare and I attended the St Catherine's Parish Eucharist . There were three dozen adults and eight children in the congregation, and Fr Rhys presided. Before lunch, I worked on next week's Sway and the relevant liturgical reading files for distribution. I made an effort to get ahead as tomorrow when I normally do this, we plan to visit Owain and inspect the work he's done on his new apartment. Then I had a short siesta and went for a walk around Thompson's Park until tea time. 

At short notice this week, Christian Aid Wales organised a vigil service to pray for Israel and Palestine in Llandaff Cathedral at six this evening, so we walked there to join fifty others who responded to the call for prayer together. The bilingual service lasted just half an hour and involved eight people reading quotations from suffering people on both sides. There were several others there from St Catherine's and clergy friends as well, making the effort after a day's work. 

We got home in time for 'The Archers', and after supper watched 'Antiques Roadshow', and the first of a series of three episodes of a documentary about the trial of Adolf Eichmann, key Nazi organiser of the Holocaust in 1961. Eichmann was convicted on the basis of evidence from transcripts published in Life magazine of recorded conversations between himself and Nazi sympathisers. The tapes themselves were unavailable having been hidden after the event. 

It was some years before they found their way into German government archives, and for political reasons it was only in 2020 that the surviving 15 hours worth of 70 hours of taped conversations were released to an Israeli documentary team. I recall hearing of this trial when I was a sixth former, and reading about it. The Holocaust, I already knew about, as I'd been told about it by my mother, and seen footage of it in documentaries about the war on telly.

Then in the ten o'clock news, a report from the UN that a further 14 aid trucks have crossed into Gaza during the day. Sufficient diplomatic pressure on Israel seems to have secured the passage of more trucks in the aid convoy in the days to come. We'll see. 

Finally the Anglican identity of the bombed Al-Ahli hospital has been given fair coverage on prime time BBC news, thanks to the visit of Archbishop Justin Welby to his episcopal counterpart in Jerusalem. He gave a superb interview in St George's Cathedral about the need for reconciliation, including the following observation: "How you fight determines whether peace and reconciliation is possible in the long run" Let's hope that this wise counsel has its impact on leaders on both sides who have a choice to think about their plans of action before this conflcit spirals out of control into an widespread international war.

Bleak Sunday covid down-time

I slept OK but woke up bleeding from an operation scar. Eighteen hours a day flat on my back for three days with no exercise, and the sheer physical compression on the old wound is unavoidable. Something I won't find easy to get used to. Covid symptoms are diminished however. My body no longer feels like lead, muzzy head is clearing and fewer aches, pains and shivers. I didn't bother with a self-test as I doubt if I would test negative today. Tomorrow perhaps.

Another Sunday without being able to say Mass or attend church, having to settle for praying on my own. It reminds me of being back in Ibiza living with the limited horizon of estadio de alarma restrictions. Al least it's nothing now to get used to.

The BBC's tireless courageous reporter in Ukraine, Jeremy Bowen gave a disturbing eyewitness report of the trail of murder and destruction left by retreating Russian forces in the suburbs of Kyiv. Dead bodies left in the streets where they were killed weeks ago, Victims with hands tied together. Clear evidence of war crimes. Hundred are said to have been killed. According to Putin, all this is 'fake news'. I wonder if Trump will dare to dismiss revelations against him in future using that phrase. If we does will anyone trust him?

President Zelensky spoke of genocide. Ninety years ago under Stalin millions of Ukrainians, were starved to death during the forcible collectivisation of agriculture, the region punished further by being deprived of a fair share of its produce. If there was shortage, it was blamed on farmers, for whom managed, imposed collectivisation didn't work. Most of the produce was exported to feed the industrial workers of Russia. The Ukrainian's don't forget the Soviet attempt to keep their land subjected by deliberate policy. Using the word 'genocide' is no exaggeration. They've been here before. Expressions of outrage have been voiced around the world all day, even the Israeli government, which has tried to stay on the fence, because of its security interests in Syria relying on Russian complicity. Pope Francis is talking about a pastoral visit to Kyiv. 

Archbishop Rowan was on the Radio adding his voice to the call to suspend the Russian Orthodox state church from membership of the WCC for speaking of the country's mission as holy war. The question is, will Orthodox Bishops around the world make the case for regarding such talk as heresy? Sadly, in both scripture and Christian poetry there is widespread used of bloodthirsty martial imagery. Its impact is deflected into religious rhetoric about spiritual warfare, but there are no concrete safeguards to protect the unspiritual and the gullible from taking this all literally. Back in the Vietnam war, US marines with evangelical religion behind them talked about 'killing a gook for God'. It's blasphemy, just as is any talk of holy war. Time for all Christians to take stock about this kind of abuse of scripture

Both before and after lunch I went out and walked for forty minutes each with a mask on and aimed for parts of the park where there was little human traffic. I wanted to test my strength and stamina carefully. All is well, thank God. Clare, on the other hand is still suffering from the trapped nerve in her back. Her Wednesday appointment has been moved to Tuesday, thanks to a cancellation.

This evening there were two great programmes on BBC Four, one about the food history of Florence, the other, the latest Royal Shakespeare Company's Stratford production of Much Ado about Nothing. It had a majority cast of brilliant mostly young black actors and was vibrant with colour, energetic music and movement; very hip and funky, but it didn't seem contrived, as a modern setting might do. It worked as a showcase for the immortal comedic dialogue of the Bard, funny as any classic farce of intrigue and confused identities. A breath of fresh air. One up for multi-cultural diversity. It's what we need in a world where aggressive nationalism has been made into a demonic idol that consumes its own kind.

Skylarks on the Garth

Both Clare and I woke up earlier than usual for a Saturday morning, and decided to go out for a walk soon after breakfast. We drove up to Pentyrch and thence to the Garth, where it was less overcast than in town, just misty, and pretty cold out on the exposed hillside in the wind, but dry under foot. Later in the day when browsing to find out the age of the burial mound on top (4,000 years), I learned that that the Garth inspired the novel made into a film called 'The Englishman who went up a hill and came down a mountain', by local writer Christopher Monger, where it's called 'Ffynnon Garw'.

We heard our first skylarks of the year, a mating pair too. I got lucky with a photograph of one on the ground, and one in the air too, although this was not as detailed as I hoped for.

It was too chilly to stay out for long, so after a brisk walk we drove down to Llanerch Vineyard to have a very pleasant lunch. It was an occasion when several families were out together enjoying a 'Mother's Day' (as media and marketing now calls it) meal together. There were few voices to be heard without that distinctive mid-Glamorganshire accent of local ordinary people of the southern Valleys and Vale of Glamorgan. What I was brought up with. For me it added a little extra flavour to the occasion, as accents to be heard in Cardiff, not to mention languages (mainly Spanish and Welsh) apart from English, are quite different, whether demotic or educated in manner.

We went straight home after and slept away the afternoon to compensate for early rising. Then Owain arrived, fresh from the Wales-Ireland rugby game - he'd acquired a ticket at the eleventh hour, and was glad to have witnessed a splendid victory. He now wants to be coached in singing 'Mae hen wlad fy nhadau.' for the next time he goes. Kath texted me yesterday asking if I'd buy some flowers for Clare on her behalf, as we won't be seeing her tomorrow. Owain kindly did the errand for me when he went out to get her some flowers and a few goodies for supper. He cooked for us before going out to 'Ten Feet Tall / Undertone, the club in Church Street where he's dee-jaying tonight in support of someone called Mr Beatnick from London. He starts his new job on Monday, and wonders how long it will take him to get back into the routine of early starts, after a pleasant layoff of six weeks.

The BBC reported the unveiling of Ghandi's statue in a ceremony at Parliament Square this morning.

 

That's ol' Abe Lincoln in the background. I look forward to take a few photos of my own in due course, if sister June doesn't beat me to it.

 

Paving pursuit

We loaded the dismantled bike shed into the car and took it to the Steiner school after breakfast. Then I went on an expedition to both B&Q stores on the West side of town, in search of some paving slabs to lay as a base on which to construct the garden shed I have yet to order. At the Culverhouse Cross store I found a stone slab called Derbyshire terracotta - except that it was pink, but I thought it would go nicely with the existing tiles in the garden, and thankfully, Clare approved. Despite my correct calculations, on the area needed to house a shed, the location suggested a larger base would be desirable, so I had to make a return trip for another three. 

With each slab weighing five kilos, requiring four separate lifts and a carry of twenty yards, getting the job done was a bit like a weight training session in the gym. As I don't go to the gym any longer, I had to be extra careful to lift correctly, but my back ached and I was pretty tired by the time I'd finished. I then had to go into the CBS office to load ten crime reports into the database, as I didn't get around to doing it after the RadioNet users group meeting last week.

On the BBC ten o'clock, news correspondent Frank Gardiner gave a presentation on the background to the terrorist outrage at the Nairobi Westgate shopping centre. He was paralysed as a result of an attack when he was working as a reporter in Riyadh several years ago. This time, he stood in front of a large screen while talking, supported by a frame around his legs. It was an amazing display of his courage and confidence in continuing to be a major interpreter of and contributor to world news. I don't know how long he's been broadcasting on his feet like this. It's so good to see the Beeb making such a positive affirmation without feeling the need to draw attention to it. He recently give an interesting interview on Radio 4 about how he came to terms with disability. Now his triumph over adversity is visible to the world, and those who sought to take his life are shown not to have won.