One more step on recovery road

Sunshine and showers today, and it's a bit warmer, more like May is expected to be. I uploaded today's reflection, audio and text to WhatsApp shortly after eight. After breakfast, Clare went off to Cowbridge with a friend for a study session in a group member's garden. A pleasant outing for her. I went to the GP surgery with my prescription request and collected Clare's eye medication from the Treganna Pharmacy before cooking lunch. 

I drove to Llandough Hospital for an ultrasound scan this afternoon. On my way back I went to PC World at Culverhouse Cross to buy a new cartridge for my lazer printer but found the store no longer stocks lazer ink cartridges, so I'll have to order one on-line instead. The Currys PC World in the city centre closed for good during the pandemic. Now they only have superstores on the eastern and western sides of Cardiff. So much of their business has moved on-line in the past couple of years. The superstores are in effect giant showrooms for all kinds of consumer goods, and are not well frequented by clients. I wonder how long they will last? Interestingly enough there are dozens of ink-jet cartridges available in store. These truly are money spinners, as they don't last long. In contrast, a lazer ink cartridge can deliver ten thousand copies and last several years. Anyway, there was an Aldi next door, so I bought a couple of bottles of wine to take home instead.

For the first time since last summer the Fountain Community Choir in which Clare sings met to practice at St Catherine's, following all the covid secure requirements which the Parish sticks to religiously. Also the Parish Brownie pack met again, in the church grounds rather than in the hall, but these small steps are welcome hopeful signs of return to normality. Once my last operation is done, I'll consider a return to singing again. I've not felt able to sing with others this past few years. It calls for a certain energy that I have lacked, whether its physical or emotional I don't know, but when the time is right and the Spirit moves, it'll be possible.

While Clare was out I watched the last episode of the second series of New Amsterdam, which finally showed up on the More Four home page, and then a long episode of 'Inspector Falke', dealing with a case that involved asylum seekers, covert gay relationships in a homophobic setting, drug dealing and police corruption, not to mention the murder of a woman during a police hunt - very complex and a last minute twist in the revelation of which copper was corrupt. 

Digital trust issues

Cold and cloudy again today, with snow in mountain areas, but not around here on the coastal plain. It's only a 'maybe' at the moment. Archbishop Rowan gave a reflection and Morning Prayer for the Parish's daily prayer download this morning, speaking about St Thomas a Becket on this the 850th anniversary of his martyrdom in Canterbury Cathedral. It seems he knew some knights were out to kill him and refused to have the Cathedral doors locked after he entered for Vespers reminding his colleagues that the church was meant to remain open to all, and not be a fortress. Well said, but I couldn't help but recall churches and cathedrals I know which have incorporated defensive fortifications, and even been built into city walls giving security and protection to the vulnerable. It's the other side of the coin from being open and hospitable. It's a constant balancing act between the two, which every church community has to exercise with wisdom and timing. God's truth and justice will always have its enemies, as well as champions who are willing to give their lives to uphold it.

Grim news about rising infection rates continues to overshadow the daily news, with hospitals nearing maximum capacity, and growing shortage of medical staff to cope with the numbers of covid patients. The Cardiff and Vale health board put out a Twitter appeal for trained medical staff to volunteer last night. Within a couple of hours it was taken down. When I chatted with Ashley this afternoon he said he'd heard from the Senior Nursing Officer running the city centre alcohol treatment centre that thirty five people had responded, within a short period of time covering all the rota gaps. 

As the days pass, the threat of total nation-wide lock-down is in the offing. Epidemiologists are expressing serious concern about the schools re-opening after the holidays, before teachers are vaccinated and each school has its own working 'test track and trace' system in place for children. Sensible. The country is still not adequately equipped for on-line home learning, even though teachers are striving to rise to this new challenge. The economic and digital divide is part of a reality the government says it's tackling, but cannot be achieved as quickly as wishful thinking expects.

After lunch, a walk in the park. The Taff water level is subsiding again now. Sophia Gardens coach station was deserted, likewise the usually busy car parks around the closed National Sports centre and Mochyn Du pub opposite. Work on new road surfaces, foot paths and separate cycle paths in this area is now complete. It looks fresh and new, but eerily devoid of users, like the shopping centre. Finally I plucked up my courage to order a new Samsung A20 smartphone from Currys for Clare, the Christmas present I had intended to but for her on my last shopping trip in town in the days beforehand. I left it too late, and now the only way you can buy non-essential items is by on-line mai order deliveries or 'Click and Collect'. I hate using the internet for shopping and avoid doing so as often as I can. I have trust issues - as the current psychobabble diagnosis would have it.

This evening I spent copying photo, audio, video and document files from by desktop PC to an old laptop hard drive with plenty of free space - just in case I decide to give the device entirely over to Linux. I have yet to reach a firm conclusion on this matter.

Chrome undersold?

Although it was another overcast day, it remained warm enough to be out doors with just a jacket, and later in the day, without a pullover. A good day for walking. I did the weekly shop before lunch and after lunch a walk through the park to town along the river. I was amazed to see large several family groups of ducks, broods of six to eight growing flight plumage now, Mallards, Mergansers, gulls as all out on the water foraging, establishing their territories. I must have counted altogether about fifty new birds in half a dozen families, and few good photos out of many taken. I took my HX300 with me as well as my HX90, needing its longer range. I'm more used to it and get better photos in the long zoom range. The HX90 is just a bit lighter and smaller than its predecessor and I haven't yet got the steadiness of hand with it as I had with the old HX50.

Being grounded by my aliment here in Cardiff over the past nine months has been very frustrating for someone with euro-wanderlust like me, but being out and about in the park with a camera most days has reaped a certain rewarding satisfaction. Looking back over three seasons photographs of familiar scenes is a pleasure in its own right. I'm not a great fan of any place where mountains are distant and hardly visible. It's been a matter of coming to terms with living in an ancient flood plain with just meadows and trees. 

I'll never love my nieghbourhood environment as much as the Valleys, the Beacons, Snowdonia or our Jurassic coastline, but with the passage of time, more beautiful aspects of low lying lands reveal themselves. I suppose that's what learning to contemplate is about, watching, waiting, being open, learning to receive, to notice and appreciate.

In town I popped into John Lewis', aware that the summer sale was starting from my Friday visit. This is the time, I find, to pick up overstocked tech clearance bargains. I was disappointed not to see any Chromebooks discounted before, but today, there was an array of bargains, from entry level up to high spec ones. The prices may still be a bit high and come down later towards the end of sale time.  

Looking at the labels on the boxes, often shows they've been 'returned unwanted' - meaning, I suspect that they have been bought by people who are attracted by their good looks, but can't understand it's not the Windows machine they're used to, and don't have the patience to learn how to benefit from it. 

In my opinion, Chromebook marketing and promotion across Europe generally is poor. No attempt is made to educate potential new users in the benefits of using Chrome OS, how fast, and simple it is, how easy it is to get used to it. When you visit Currys/PC World and examine product labels for their Chromebooks on offer, you find they speak about Chromebooks having 'built-in anti-virus'. This is misleading. Chrome OS is resistant to viruses designed to exploit Windows or Mac vulnerabilities. 

A malware laden file wouldn't trigger an attack, but, forwarded to a third party, it would still be toxic. It's possible the system's Chrome browser, although generally very secure, could be compromised to deliver spam in an uncontrolled way. This can either be remedied by restarting Chrome browser, or Chromebook, or in extremis, restoring to its pristine condition by a 'Powerwash' - the equivalent of a Windows system reset. The former takes minutes, the latter can take hours. 

All too often the way Windows works gets in the user's way, with too much distracting information imposing itself on work in progress. It's possible to switch off many of the notification routines, but it's unclear how once you get started and come across new ones. Users should be given a choice from the outset to reverse the always-on default. I still live in hope of converting my sister June to Chromebook use. It would take away so many of her annoyances and anxieties about computer use.

    

Post surgical briefing

We drove to UHW Heath hospital this morning to meet colorectal consultant surgeon Mrs Cornish during her day on Duthie Ward. We had a good question and answer session before she examined me, thoroughly and with surprising vigour, which left me feeling a little bruised. At least, she was satisfied with progress so far, and now I know much better where I stand. Although she's pleased, the process isn't going to be as straightforward as I originally thought. I may need several more minor ops over this year for complete success in healing, because of the complexity of the condition when finally treated properly. It depends on what hidden pockets of infection the next MRI scan reveals, following the op expected in 4 weeks time. This will modify if not remove the two Seton's sutures in place. For some poor folk such hidden sources of nastiness don't show, and they have to endure with further occasional outbreaks for life. 

Completely successful treatment without recurrence it seems is a challenge, and that's where FIAT 500 comes in. Not the car, but a collaborative international surgical research programme on fistula treatment. If I got the story right, I think it stands for Fistula Intervention Alternative Treatments. 500 is the number of patients being followed, with four strategies for dealing surgically with fistula damage assessed to ascertain which treatment path offers the best outcome. This shows the determination and effort going into dealing with what seems to have become a common chronic ailment soaking up medical resources. Finding the most effective approach will benefit patients and the economics of medical care. 

Although I am stuck with the sutures for the time being, the next op will make them more easy to manage and liveable with. So, travel afar may be possible and even insurable later on this year. if it's a 'managed condition'. Apparently, that's an acceptable risk to insurers, something I never needed to know before! I was reassured that the next op wouldn't call for any change in scheduled duties. Just like last time in fact. It's good to know. I'd be very sad not to able to play an active part in Parish observances of Passiontide and Easter, a favourite time of year for me. 

This was a good meeting. I feel that for the first time I have gained an understanding of the process of this treatment. I can accept the uncertainties, possible reasons for things not going according to plan, and what I need to continue doing to optimise the path to healing. This makes me cheerful, in spite of the fact that it may take much longer than I hoped.

After lunch, it was Clare's turn to be driven by me back to UHW for an eye appointment, fitted in to a schedule already overcrowded by the cancellation of a previous clinic. I drove  from the hospital down to Newport Road retail park to visit the big Currys PC World superstore there to see what's new and what's on offer. I was interested to see some HP Chromebooks on sale there, as well as Acer and Asus offerings, though no sign of Lenovo or Dell Chromebook models. I've only seen the stylish Acer and Asus models in the city centre store. Sadly consumer demand for Chromebooks seems to be poor in this country, despite them being far more hassle free than Windows devices.

Talking of poor demand, the company which acquired Staples business supplies stores and rebranded them 'Office Outlet' stores has gone into liquidation. I thought their prices too were high and range of product choices too low to be worth the effort when on-line bulk buying is so convenient, as long as you have someone available to await delivery. So I'm not surprised this business failed.

This consumer digital superstore was almost empty. Maybe it's busier at weekends or evenings. As is being said often these day, retail businesses have becoming like real world showrooms as more trade is done on-line. I wonder if Currys-PC World digital sales cover the cost of maintaining such huge retail outlets? Will this be a next casualty of the digital shopping revolution? After an hour or so of mooching around a store with lots of bright snazzy new products, none of which I was tempted to buy, Clare called me to return and collect her from UHW, after her long wait to be seen. We got back in time for her to sort herself out and leave for choir rehearsal.

Ystrad Mynach chapelry

Confirmation has arrived of the acquisition of all our new Welsh domain names for CBS and the Crime Reduction Partnership. Heaven knows when I'll have time to work out how to get them redirecting to the actual websites. The past couple of days have been busy at work, preparing new publications and dealing with difficulties that arise - and there's always something, whether new or recurring to deal with that knocks the routine sideways.

A visit to Currys PC World on the way to work today led to the purchase of a couple of re-chargeable PNY power supplies small enough to be used for topping up a mobile phone on the move. Ashley relies heavily on his mobile phone, fielding many service calls during the day and may not have time to re-charge before the evening. Keeping a device in another pocket which delivers three full phone charges before it needs charging itself is well worth having, in fact he needs several - one for home, and one each for day and night work stations.

An email from sister June asking me about chapels in our home town of Ystrad Mynach set me thinking, and then searching on the web. She remembered the names of three, and I recalled another four, plus an historic Baptist church in Cefn Hengoed, on the ridge above and outside the village. I missed one entirely, the Gospel Hall, as it wasn't marked on Google maps. I remember there being one, but not where it was, and assumed it had disappeared. Remarkably, all of these buildings, which were active in our youth sixty-seventy years ago, along with Holy Trinity Parish Church, are still open for worship.

This is in stark contrast to many other Valleys towns of similar size, with many more chapels built in the era when coal was king. Where there might once have been a dozen, there's now but a half or a third still in use. I don't think Ystrad Mynach has any history of being extra devout. Perhaps it didn't have as many people with spare wealth to invest in religious status symbols that reinforced divisions and disputes in the local company - part of the sad history of Christianity in modern Wales.

I was delighted this evening to have a catch up Skype conversation with Claudine in Yangon, and hear about the scratch choir singing Welsh songs at the Myanmar British Embassy last Sunday. Such a small world.

Touching adjustment

Thankfully the rain stopped by the time I headed out to Thornhill Crematorium for an early afternoon funeral. Because of the holiday season the bereaved family had to wait seventeen days before they could lay their loved one to rest. Notification of another funeral for next week came in this morning. The death occurred on the same day, but this family will have had to wait twenty six days. How hard it is for anyone, except perhaps the smaller children, to take the usual pleasure in Christmas and New Year while waiting for a final farewell and closure.

Later in the afternoon I went out on another office tech' acquisition trip to Staples and PC World for a smaller more travel portable sized laptop than the one purchased a few days ago for a workstation. Nowhere to be found were any Windows 7 machines, so I had to settle for ordering a Windows 8.1 HP Pavilion with 14" screen which will be home delivered, so that I can set it up without the distractions of work going on around me. It won't be quite the nightmare the last one was, if I've learned from that awful experience, but it will take time to re-trace steps that will give me a setup I can live with. 

This computer will have a touchscreen. Since I started using the Android toting Asus Transformer Infinity with its slick touch interface and keyboard, I've become sufficiently habituated to the basic moves to find myself unwittingly stroking the non-touch screen of my little HP Win 7 laptop. It's going to be interesting to see if I'll get on better with Windows 8.1, designed with touch in mind, than I did on a Windows 8.1 machine that didn't have the touch option. Am I becoming a slower learner, reluctant to change my habits, I wonder?

 

TV Shopping in Wandsworth

Up at the crack of dawn for breakfast and a walk to the bus station for the seven thirty coach to London. Another beautiful clear day, making the view of the passing countryside vibrant with colour and contrast. In a field outside Bristol I caught sight of a lone deer grazing in a field.

While I travelled, I received an email on my Blackberry from David McKenna, a dancer colleague of Kath's whom we've known for many years. He's a brilliant creative artistic entrepreneur who's done some ground breaking performance work with adolescent boys, and with male prisoners. The videos of his work I find inspirational. I wish I could get to see live performances of his more often. 

Anyway, since Monday, he and I have been discussing a project proposal of his by email. He's fascinated with the potential of digital media to extend into a performance environment what dancers communicate through their physical actions, expressing in fresh ways their visions, ideas, feelings, experiences. He's intrigued with abandoned and ruined church buildings, and what remains of that sense of sacred space and presence once believers have forsaken them. A small group of dancers want to work investigating a place to discover how their use of technology can help them articulate any remaining sense of the sacred, and what this means for them as secular artists with little religious background.

It's a privilege to be asked to be a sounding board as well as provide information and ideas for further investigation. Finding a suitable useable place in the Midlands and getting permission to take it over for a month or so won't be an easy task, but here's an opportunity for those who can facilitate, and/or do the theological reflection to engage in some real creative dialogue with modern experimental performing artists. This project really has me buzzing.

June met me at Victoria Station and we took a train to Clapham Junction to get a bus to Hammersmith to visit Currys PC World to buy her a new television, and a new digital camera into the bargain. It looked identical to the Cardiff store, so navigating to the right place in the vast cavern of a store presented no hassles. She settled for the smallest Samsung in the shop 22" screen, and the cheapest Sony Cybershot to replace her existing one whose on/off button has become unpredictable after four years of use. We returned to her flat for lunch, then I set up the camera and the telly, and moved her old telly into a back room and set that up. It all worked, so I left her, to go and catch the seven o'clock Cardiff bus, delighted by her new acquisitions.

The journey home under clear skies into the setting sun was also tranquil and beautiful, with the colours in the landscape slowly changing. The sun had just left the horizon by the time we reached the Severn Bridge and the twilight brought touches of purple and silver to the greens and grey of the estuary. Back in the house be quarter to eleven, mission accomplished.