Such a simple solution

More rain overnight, and an unseasonal thirteen degrees for most of the day, although it rained very little. It took a while to get going this morning, and by the time we'd had breakfast done the weekly housework chores, prepared the service for tomorrow morning's funeral, and paid the water rates bill on-line, it was time to cook lunch.

I called my sister June to check out how she's coping, as her heating system shut down on Friday and she's spent the last two days in her flat at seventeen degrees when she's used to twenty five plus. British Gas did not consider her to be a priority, and I'm troubled about that, but this is a time of year when central heating systems get more than usual usage and tend to break down. She's had so much trouble since a new Vaillant boiler with a Hive thermostat was installed, with an assortment of faults and complete failure on the part of gas engineers visiting to make sure she understood their user explanations before leaving. I thought the hive might be faulty, but it seems not, on the surface. 

Then it occurred to me this morning that the fault may lie with the digital mechanism controlling the boiler itself. As it communicates via a wi-fi link, I thought the fault might be as simple as a network systems crash. I said the one thing to her than nobody on any help line had thought of saying at any time "Have you tried switching the power off and on again." No she hadn't, and promised to do so. Later I received a delighted email to say the boiler was working again and the radiators were heating up as they should. Such a simple thing. A hard reboot of the boiler operating system was all it took. Why did nobody think of that before? 

After lunch a walk in the park for an hour and a half, and after supper, more Rocco Schiavone episodes to while away a dark evening before bed.

Technological presumption

After breakfast, Clare went off to her study group. I walked around the park for an hour and then made lunch for when she returned. Admittedly we've listened to a lot of news lately. The new DAB radio bought for the kitchen last week has gone through a set of batteries already, so I've re-introduced the mains lead adaptor. I've had my appointment letter for cataract surgery at St Joseph's hospital on 7th April. I have to self isolate for three days beforehand and test negative for covid, but what a lovely birthday present!

The most remarkable news from Ukraine today is of a visit to President Zelensky by the Prime Ministers of Poland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic. They travelled by rail to avoid the risks of air travel. It was a gesture of solidarity from former Communist bloc countries witnessing to their concern about the threat which Putin's Russia poses to Europe. With bombardment of Kyiv suburbs becoming more brutal in targeting civilians day by day, this is remarkably bold. The journalist who protested on live Russian TV news yesterday has just been fined £220, and not, as was feared, imprisoned for 15 years. The number of refugees is up to three million. Peace negotiations continue and are said to have made a little progress but without significant breakthrough. 

My sister June is still having troubles with heating in her apartment after having a new gas boiler installed with a Hive thermostat. It's all bee tested but so far nobody has been able to work out what the problem is. It's been worrying me, trying to figure out remotely what could be going wrong. Today I found a YouTube installation guide which told me the Hive has four AA batteries - nobody had told my sister this, so she could check and replace them if needs be. It also told me that the device relies not on a direct wireless signal to the boiler but on one which is relayed via the router. Then I remembered that she switches off the router along with the computer at night. 

It's presumed everyone leaves their router permanently on, but what if they don't? We switch off ours at night. Could this be source of June's heating problem? Tonight she's leaving the router on, so tomorrow we'll see if this is the issue. But nobody ever told her not to switch off the router. Nobody ever took time to explain in words she understood how the system works. The complexity of modern technologies are hard to grasp at the best of times, and people who are not familiar with the terminology as disadvantaged as a result. "It's like saying that can't make use of something you've bought unless you speak Welsh." She said.

I made a bereavement visit to man and his wife in Cathays this afternoon, whose father I'd done the funeral of when I was Rector of Central Cardiff Team Ministry eighteen and a half years ago. His mother has now died. I caught the bus into town, and walked out from there, and on the return trip walked due west to reach Bute Park, and crossed Blackweir Bridge to reach home just before sunset. A second day in a row when my daily walk is more than forty percent over target.

The one thing a weatched on telly tonight apart from the news was about the restoration of the great East window of York Minster, explaining the artistic techniques involved and telling about the designer and maker or the window itself. Most of the master craftsmen who made stained glass windows are unknown, but there's enough documentation to name John Thornton, who worked not only in York, but in Coventry. It was a remarkable insight into processes devised six or seven centuries ago, and still used today.