Interrogating financial demand

I was late to bed last night but awake for 'Thought for the Day' and up for breakfast in time to leave to go to St Peter's on the 61 bus in good time for the 10.15 Eucharist. I didn't stay for coffee after the service but took the bus back to Canton with Kate one of the two Ministry Area Wardens for a meeting to which I had been invited about an unexpected increase in financial demand from the Diocese, considered unsustainable by Ministry Area churches. 

The impression all have received is that there's no fact based understanding of the economic capacity for generosity on the part of church members and the wider community in which the six churches of the Ministry Area are set. The question is how best to respond to this? We mulled this over for an hours and a half before having lunch together, and agreeing a tentative next step. What really needed is a way to raise questions about the assumptions made by those who manage diocesan finances. Are their decisions correctly informed? 

As ever, the real issue is a gulf between institutional church bureaucracy and grass roots communities of worshippers which seem unbridgeable unless such difficult questions are faced. Reforms in the way churches in the same geographical area work with each other, introduced by Bishop June, the previous diocesan bishop haven't yet succeeded in their intention, as they were dictated to parishes with no meaningful dialogue about the prospects of getting them to work. 

Admittedly covid damaged regular support for the churches. Recovery is still a work in progress and decline continues unremittingly. Judgement about how to cope with the situation, viewed from the top down or the bottom up, isn't going to be objective. We're far from having objectively informed dialogue between diocesan authorities and church congregations about how it's  possible to navigate through the present economic crisis. 

These thoughts plagued me after the meeting. I went straight into town to bank a cheque in the newly refurbished central HSBC branch, which has finally replaced all its automatic banking tills. It's now possible to pay in cash or cheques and withdraw money from the same machine. Clever little thing.

I had an idea of a Christmas present to buy for Clare, but I had to hunt for stores that would provide for me what I wanted.  I was delighted to have succeeded after trekking all over the city centre.

St Catherine's Nine Lessons and Carols took place this evening, and I joined a congregation of about a hundred and twenty for the hour and a quarter service, rather over-long to my mind, as there was a mini nativity scene and crib blessing in the middle, plus a liturgical 'dance of the angels', which was lovely and an uplifting contrast to all those words and music. I have to plan a carol service for St Peter's on New Year's Eve. Tonight's service has informed my thinking about how much time is 'enough' for an evening service with hospitality to follow. 

If I remember aright, this year's carol service congregation was bigger by two or three dozen compared to last year, suggesting to me that covide fears may be lifting and influencing casual, as opposed to regular church attendances. To my mind, this is significant, in an era where people aren't driven by obligation, as they were in times past, but by interest or curiosity. But, we'll see, long term.

During the service, still chewing over the problems presented by today's meeting, it occurred to me that what was needed was an independent fact checking process to examine the reality of the demand being made by the diocese that people in the Ministry Area contribute 25% more than they expected to, and at short notice. I have an idea about how fact checking may be possible, but that's for tomorrow.

Home care tasks

I woke up at five and couldn't remember putting out the food waste bin with the other bin and re-cycling sack yesterday evening. I got up, and found that I had remembered correctly, then completed the job, went back to bed. The street was drying, but it was only when I went out later that I realised how heavily it had rained in the night, as there were still pools of water due to blocked drains along the roads. I went back to slept again, but dozed through 'Thought for the Day', after recognizing the voice of Nick Baines, Bishop of Leeds, before my attention faded away. He's usually incisive and worth hearing. Not his fault that my sleep was interrupted, and I went to bed late! 

I made breakfast for Clare then myself, remembered something I needed to check for editing Sway before getting around to saying Morning Prayer. It was good that Fr Dyfrig was able to cover my duty at Saint Catherine's this morning. There were a few recent photos to transfer from camera to web for editing before retrieving a prescription for Clare from the surgery and getting it made up. Her throat is very sore, and she's been given an antibiotic. Kath told her later that when she last had covid with a terrible sore throat, her GP didn't prescribe anything for her. I guess because Clare is that twenty five years older than Kath it's presumed her immune system won't be as strong, so antibiotics are prescribed to reduce the risk of viral inflammation leading to an infection.

While I was out, her Abba souvenir birthday tee-shirt arrived through the post. I knew because I had both a text message and an email from the Amazon delivery service used by Abba Voyage merchandising. The package was small enough to slip through the letter box, which is just as well as I had to leave Clare to open the door for the delivery while I was out retrieving her medication. I've booked a 'flu jab with the Pharmacy for a week Friday, hoping that I won't be infected by then if I get infected.

On my way back I collected this week's veggie bag from Chapter, and then made a lentil and veggie dish for lunch which was bland and soft enough for her to consume with a horridly sore throat. Afterwards, I fell asleep for an hour in the chair, yet again. Then out again to do the week's Co-op grocery shopping, using the largest of by three backpacks, now that the broken shopping trolley has gone to re-cycling. It was quite heavy on the return trip, good exercise for the legs. When I got home, I realised that I'd forgotten to call in the Post Office and acquaint myself with the procedure of banking cheques there, as I've resisted doing it before. I had to make another trip there to do what I intended.

The closure of bank branches plus the demise of cheques has made life more difficult for many people who rely on those services. My experience of a futile visit to town yesterday to bank a cheque pushes me reluctantly into this. I'd like to shift my expenses account from HSBC to a building society, but fear the chaos of transferring direct debits and credits that's supposed to happen automatically if you switch. I think I know how many of each I have, but one can never be sure with an account you've had for forty years that you've covered them all.

I cooked carrot and fennel soup for supper, hopefully bland enough for Clare to swallow without too much pain. Then I relaxed in front of the telly with 'The Repair Shop' and then the first episode of a new Scottish crimmie on ITV called 'Payback', all about an accountant who gets murdered after his work involves him with an organised crime gang's money laundering, all of which his wife and family know nothing until the police investigation starts. A promising start. Then early to bed.

Automatic renewal: opt-in or opt-out?

When I switched my phone on before breakfast this morning, I was shocked to receive an email from the Staysure travel insurance company with my new policy document and confirmation of payment on this the date of renewal. A payment had been taken from my account without authorisation, and this immediately aroused a sense of alarm in me. It didn't seem to be a scam. I've had a set of documents by email like this every year since I started insuring with them, which must be ten years or more now. 

My first thought was to go to the only HSBC bank branch in the city centre and block the payment if it wasn't too late already. Then I found a phone number for Staysure and explained what he happened. The call hander was very helpful, and a brief discussion revealed that policy renewal was automatic and had to be opted out of, not op-in. I hadn't notice this when buying a policy this time last year. I expressed concern at this, as their protocol includes medical screening in establishing the correct price quotation. 

In every other year pre-covid, renewal hadn't been automatic. My euro-locum duties and our river holiday cruises had been on different dates, and insurance booked to start before the first outing of the year. I always took an annual policy expecting to go abroad more than once a year, one way or another, making it slightly cheaper than shorter duration policies. How this happened I have no idea. I can't have noticed it on the Staysure website when I paid last year. Anyway the call handler said that a case worker would call me back some time soon. 

I walked down to Cowbridge Road, and caught the 62 bus the rest of the way to go to HSBC bank, and a call came through from Staysure's case worker just as I was getting off the bus outside the HMRC building. I explained that I cannot use an insurance police abroad for the time being due to commitments keeping me in Britain. I hadn't responded to the usual renewal reminder emails as I wasn't ready to renew, and would need to update my medical screening details at the time the policy was due to start. I was asked if I wanted to cancel the policy, which obviously I did, and that concluded the conversation.

I visited HSBC bank and asked if it was possible to stop money being taken without my authorisation and was told it wasn't, and given a printout stating that the payment is 'pending' - issued at 07.30 today - although banking transactions for the day aren't concluded until late afternoon. I was told nothing could be done, but I could track payment using on-line apps. Which I don't and won't with HSBC anyway. What if it had been a scam? A fraudulent transaction of which I was unaware? I found this extremely unhelpful. 

Fortunately by the time I left the bank, Staysure emailed me confirmation of cancellation of the policy and reversal of the direct debit, though how long it will take is anybody's guess. At least it's a standard feature of such insurance policies to give the purchaser time to change their mind and cancel or modify the policy taken out. This opt-out of automatic renewal issue is cause for disquiet. It's one which is used by Amazon Prime to retain subscribers, by making it hard to find the opt-out option. I'll need to be much more careful in future when closing the deal on any policy of this kind.

I went straight home on the bus and did my share of the housework as Clare was cooking lunch. Later, I went for a walk in the park, chatted at length on the phone with Owain and Rufus. Then I started watching the last of the four newest episodes of 'Beck' on iPlayer, before they are screened live, before and after supper. 

Again, very good drama. Peter Haber who plays Beck is a fine actor. He's getting on in years himself now, but plays the part of the elder statesman among detectives superbly, portraying a wise intelligent sensitive team leader, but exposing the vulnerability that's part of growing old, wanting to do things which physically he can't sustain any longer because the stress is debilitating, and there's not enough energy sustaining adrenaline flowing through the body. It's something I can identify with.