Sobering prospects

A day of changeable weather, sun and wind, clouds and rain. Clare went off on the train the Kenilworth to join Kath for a Carnival Choir concert rehearsal in Birmingham. There were two loads of washing to be finished off. The second one, I put out on the line to blow in the wind, but after a couple hours I had to bring it in and hang everything indoors when it began to rain. 

Details landed of another funeral for me to take in ten days time. Fr Dyfrig the Area Dean sent me the St German's December duty rota, confirming  my engagements there until the end of the year. If had an email too from Emma the diocese in Europe locum co-ordinator. It seems possible I'll be asked to do duties abroad next spring, once I get to the top of the Euro Safeguarding training queue. There are plenty of vacancies at the moment, that's for user.

I spent most of the morning editing the sound file and adding pictures to it for next Thursday's Morning Prayer video. After cooking and eating lunch, I walked in the park with intermittent gusts of wind and rain showers. The changing colours are lovely. I took one picture that to my mind summarises autumn.

               

With nothing also calling for my attention, I whiled away the entire evening relaxing in front of the telly, wondering what next year will bring my way, at home or abroad, maybe both. It will be two years since I last left the country next March, and covid has changed the world so much since then, even if efforts to return things to a semblance of normality abound everywhere in Europe. 

Effective treatments are being developed, and infection surges will happen, unless more effective means of controlling contagion are put into practice universally. At the moment the UK covid infection and death rate is falling back, but in some European countries it isn't. Each is different and the reasons are complex. The word 'pandemic' is used less frequently now, and replaced by the adjective 'endemic' meaning we're stuck with the risk of covid for the foreseeable future, just as we are with 'flu.

COP26 finishes today, with significant progress being made in commitments to glocal carbon reduction, though still not sufficient to reduce global heating to 1,5C, which was the key aim of the conference. All in all, it's a much greater threat to the health of planet, and our own future, than covid is.

Now we're covid passport holders

After downloading my digital covid passport last night, I heard the news that the Welsh Government has now made showing this pass a requirement of attending theatres and convert venues, as well as clubs. It came as a complete surprise, though it's understandable as the infection statistics in Wales aren't reducing as hoped for.  Clare set to work on registering to obtain hers after I returned from celebrating Mass at Saint German's this morning. Interestingly enough, confirmation of her verification by face recognition email  took six hours to arrive, whereas mine, yesterday evening took a matter of minutes.

I had a most disconcerting experience during Mass. When I began to read the collect and scriptures from the daily lectionary book, admittedly small print, my eyes wouldn't focus well enough to be able to read the text. It's the first time this has happened. I know I need bright light to read by, and generally speaking with the correct reading glassed can tackle small print. St German's is blessed with much natural light and with electric lights are more than enough for ordinary purposes. I haven't had this problem there before but this morning the sky was dark grey and the light levels low enough for my eyes not to work properly. 

It was a most distressing experience, which fortunately everyone took in their stride. It was something to do with the cataracts I am waiting to have dealt with I think. Anyway, Clare has come up with a small clip on LED light that can attach to the edge of a book cover and shine directly on the page. That should make a difference in future.

When I was trying to help Clare with her covid pass application, a realised there was a problem with her computer which she had noticed but put up with uncomplainingly hitherto. The window minimisation sequence seemed not to work. It seemed just to close a window instead. I searched the Linux Mint forum and discovered that the toolbar at the bottom of the page has lots more ways to configure than I have ever realised, and one of these is the facility to display minimised windows or not. It was switched off! As soon as a switched it on, a dozen minimised windows became visible and needed closing because redundant. It seems odd that something like that would be switched off by default.

We had a lovely salmon soup for lunch as Clare had bought a month's worth of fish at Ashton's to freeze. Then for supper we had some laver bread, with a slice of organic sourdough rye bread which I bought in Beanfreaks when I went to collect Clare's weekly order.

In the evening we watched 'The Repair Shop' and Scottish crimme 'Shetland' before bringing the day to an end. I'm wondering how it is going to be possible to curb the covid infection rate if vaccinations don't turn out to be the hoped for magic bullet. Social distancing is becoming a thing of the past and mask wearing even where obligatory seems more like optional. Breaking news tonight from COP26, where the USA and China, the world's top industrial polluters, have agreed to work in partnership on carbon reduction, though it is far to soon to understand how this will work out.