Sound system challenge

I walked over to Sloper Road this lunchtime to visit a family whose 21 year old had taken his own life. It wasn't easy to engage with them, as they are still in a state of shock. I was asked if I would read a tribute which they would put together and send me. The music is going to be all digital pop tracks, so an organist isn't required, and the necessary MP3 files will be delivered beforehand.

Church sound systems are rarely up to date and able to do more than play CDs and handle wireless microphones, so I promised we'd find a way of playing music through the system from a digital device of their choice. Later in the day I checked the sound system at St Catherines, and found it had no spare jack or mini-jack plug sockets. The floor mounted spare cabled mic sockets are the old 3 pin DIN heavy duty standard. Father Mark said he'd be able to track down a cable adaptor which can be used to connect a phone to the system. I'll get that to test tomorrow.

I'm continuing to work my way through all thirteen episodes of 'Rough Justice', at two episodes a day, getting used to and enjoying listening to Flemish dialogue. It's akin to German and Dutch, with loan words from French and English. With subtitles this makes it more interesting to follow than the Scandinavian crimmies which I enjoy. There's roughly one murder an episode being solved with the thread of three story around the life of the main character, who's a senior female cop. It's not so complex and subtle as many series in this genre, but it provides insight into the life of Belgian society and its major port city.

Camera talk with Amanda

There were nine of us at St Catherine's this morning, when I celebrated the eight o'clock Eucharist. Clare went to the ten thirty service, so I had a quiet morning to myself at home. In the afternoon we drove to Bristol. It was Clare's anthroposophical study session, and after I dropped her off in Stoke Bishop I went to see Amanda. Clare got a lift and came and joined us an hours and a half later. In the meanwhile, Amanda and I talked photography. 

A couple of months ago she bought the same Sony H400 as Rhiannon got for her birthday, and since then, she's been out in her wheelchair with her carer, taking photos in the city museum, on College Green, around the Harbour and St Mary Redcliffe Church, and she's taken it to church with her. What a difference it's make to her, now that she was a care package geared around taking her out thrice weekly, for shopping, or just to visit places that take her fancy.

Handling the camera is quite a challenge given her physical limitations, but thankfully her working muscles are strong enough to hold a camera without shaking. I was able to show her how many of camera features work, that she hasn't yet got to grips with, and how to upload pictures, set up web albums using Google Photos, and make a start on learning to use web editing tools. She's got a good eye, and is quick to pick up things. This, I believe, will bring her much reward for the effort she makes in taking on this new challenge.

Over the weekend I've started working my way through a Belgian crimmie box set on the 'Walter Presents' channel called 'Rough Justice', focussing on the cases handled by a female commissario de police in Antwerp, so it's in Flemish for a change. Interesting due to her effective but questionable methods of bringing suspected perpetrators to account, and the whiff of corruption and blackmail that seems likely that its may all end in tears. Sure, it's all be done before, but we'll see if it all pans out any differently by the end of a thirteen part series.