Self emptying time

Another Saturday lie-in and pancakes for breakfast. Again, overcast with intermittent rain. Clare's new phone has started giving her trouble, with the SIM and SD occasionally not being recognised and then registering but leaving error messages. Is there something wrong with the way the cards are seated on the tiny flimsy tray on which they sit inside the phone, or is the contact fault something to do with phone itself? We can fiddle about with it - and it is fiddly because it's so small, and neither Clare's eyes nor mine are really good enough. 

Perhaps the cards themselves are worn at the edges and now a poor fit? It needs to be examined, which means taking it to a Currys store near us, to start with to get help. Phone shops are allowed to open, but the hours and procedures for engaging with them aren't normal. I had to dredge up the half a dozen emails sent to me from the time I ordered on-line until it was delivered on 5th January in order to find a helpline number, and the place to take the phone to get it looked at. It's the worst possible time, just when we're both so very reliant on using our phones to maintain all our regular contacts. Clare can re-instate her old phone, but that's a big hassle. It's taking her long enough to get used to a new one. 

We both found this mini crisis a distressing experience, exposing our digital dependency and helplessness when it comes to fixing anything that goes wrong. In years past, when all electronic systems were simpler, I learned how to fix lots of things. Now complexity and vendor lock-in makes it much harder, even down to finding the right path to obtaining a fix that won't violate the phone warranty.

I went out for a walk after lunch when the rain stopped for a while. The river Taff at Blackweir was almost up to path level again by the bridge, and huge volumes of spuming water tumbled loudly over the weir at great speed. It's been far wetter up in the Beacons than down on the coast, and there's more rain to come, so will the water rise another 15-30cm and flood the footpath and adjacent field overnight?

I met Jan and Peter watching the water while walking their dogs. Twice in one week? I asked Jan if she'd had any funerals delayed due to the Coroner's office not releasing the body in time, as I have this week with Wednesday's funeral postponed a second time. It seems from what she'd heard that there's a change in protocol involving coronavirus testing of all deaths referred to the Coroner, and this is bound to put extra pressure on the labs, already burdened with dealing with 'surge testing' in areas where new virus variants are detected. 

It's just as well the excess death rate is still dropping, or it would be impossible for the system to deal with the demand for funerals. Inevitably, families are having to wait longer to make arrangements because of the pandemic. Many local authorities have set up temporary mortuary facilities in industrial storage units to deal with the backlog. Public emergency management planning requires this, and municipal land earmarked for mass graves. At least we haven't got to the stage of needing to bury people in in this way, as happened in centuries past, and in some poor countries in our time, overwhelmed and unable to manage in any other way.  What we're going through is terrible, but it could be so much worse.

In one of my old notebooks, I started transcribing the travel journal I wrote when Clare and I visited Jordan in 1998. It's fascinating to make the trip again through my own words at the time. I digitized the photos I took a decade ago. Words fill in detain the photos missed.

This evening I came across a podcast on an American Jesuit website, geared to a young Catholic audience. Franciscan spiritual guide and teacher Fr Richard Rohr gave an hour long interview, in which he spoke of the different characteristics of Jesuit and Franciscan spiritualities, and about the observance of Lent. He makes the challenging observation that our Lenten efforts at self-mastery run the risk of nurturing the ego, rather than emulating Christ's own self-emptying. 

Letting go of everything, recognising and understanding our weaknesses and failures, transcending them rather than thinking we can master or suppress them is better for our spiritual health, he reckons. This stands the traditional 'spirit of discipline' on its head. It isn't by our own efforts that we can 'triumph over evil and grow in grace', but by saving grace alone. I loved it. Listening to this was just what I needed tonight, as I'm tired with watching telly programmes that are only mildly interesting or entertaining. 

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.