More politicking

Another day of news watching today, with attention on the Labour party executive and the conduct of the leadership challenge against Jeremy Corbyn. Had he been excluded in any way from the process, the act would have done the Labour party to death. Interesting too, the speculation about who will be recruited by Teresa May to form a cabinet, an to discover both May and Germany's Angela Merkel are clergy daughters. It counts for more in Merkel's case, when you consider her father served the church in communist East Germany, an uncompromisingly costly and difficult place to maintain any kind of Christian witness. I wonder what sort of CofE parishes May's father served in? I imagine the Church Times will give us a profile before too long.

This afternoon, again being cooler and cloudy, gave me an opportunity to walk again along the Costa Norte path, and this time go all the way to the riu Senia, through the richly bio-diverse Sol de riu conservation area. That's the furthest I've walked since I've been here, 8-9km, and I was just starting to drag my feet with tiredness on the final stretch from the Spar mini-market, struggling to get back in time for the Archers on-line. However, the internet is so erratic here, that I had to resort to accessing the SkyTV box radio channel, which always works, thankfully, although you can't quite wander around, doing the washing and cooking the way you can if you're streaming from a broadcast on a mobile device.

Later I watched an interesting, as well as amusing early episode of 'New Tricks', on the Drama Channel, which I'd not seen before, all about the diamond trade and an unsolved crime. Well crafted with superb character acting. No wonder the series has been so popular for so long.

     

Settling in

First, time to get acquainted with the chaplain's office again. A new HP Windows 10 computer, set up with an old school user interface. Getting started with wi-fi on my various devices proved to be a nightmare case of deja-vu. The 20 digit password seemed familiar from last time. My Blackberry just remembered it, the Samsung phone I was using here last time had amnesia. The Nexus wasn't with me last time, so it had to be entered manually, but wouldn't take. Eventually I came across an information page about office passwords, which showed that the 'O' was really a zero. I had quite forgotten this annoying little tripwire. The lettering on the underside of the Thomson router is so small it's impossible to distinguish between an 'O' and a zero. Fancy me forgetting! Will I remember next time? 

Getting the Chromebook online, once I'd realised the problem, was quick and simple. I could then continue with the sermon preparation I began a couple of days ago. The completed file transferred to the Windows 10 machine for printing, but the Epson SX130 printer didn't work, complaining of both paper jam and ink cartridges either empty or not authenticated. Thankfully, Paul agreed to print the file for me for Vinaros, also Jenny for L'Ampolla, so I dind't need to go out in the extreme heat of day and hunt for a print shop, even before I'd done my weekend shopping.

Eventually, however, I did walk just up the road to the Spar convenience store, to get fruit and veg and a few other things, to allow me to make a meal that would do for Saturday and Sunday, thus avoiding the task of cooking Sunday lunch as soon as I returned from taking services. I really feel I have arrived when I sit down to a proper cooked meal that I've made in a new place.

Early evening I walked into the town along the coast path and the promenade, all the way down to the port before turning around. I was saddened to see the closed and still empty shop which had housed the chaplaincy's drop-in and worship centre. It had become no longer affordable, as custom for the shop dropped. Truth to tell, over the past few years, many first generation British settlers in this part of the world have slowly returned home, to be supplanted by French people, always high in the visitor demographic, but more now perhaps wanting to settle? Nothing stays the same for long. It's far too early to tell what impact the brexit result will have on UK expatriate communities. Tomorrow there's a Bishops' letter to be read out concerning the crisis.

After supper, it was time to get to grips with the telly, and the Skybox providing UK programmes. So many remote control devices to juggle with. There was another two hour Swedish crime drama on BBC Four, about a medical hypnotist working with the police on solving a crime. Interesting, if wee bit far fetched.

    

Saying nothing beautifully

After the move I enjoyed a good long sleep to recover, then headed back to Los Boliches to celebrate the Wednesday Eucharist and hang out with people at the coffee morning. Then, I returned to La Cala to take the dog for a walk through the pine woods below the house. As I arrived to park in the area outside the bottom of the garden, I saw my first Hoopoe in the grass ahead with its crest fully erect. It's a handsome bird, about the size of large pigeon, and took off very quickly when it saw me.

Eleanor isn't very big, so I had to bend over to attach her lead. It was quite a learning challenge to ascertain how best to make those moves without compromising my vulnerable still aching but improving back. We did a circuit of about a mile, and I started acquiring tiny insect bites. No wonder the birds love the woodland here so much.

The house has wifi, but its location in relation to the garden flat means that a signal can only be retained out in the garden. It was a pleasant evening, if a little cool, but I was able to Skype Clare and her friend Marion who was staying with her for half an hour nevertheless.

The garden flat has satellite TV, but no access to free BBC channels any longer. But I do have a range of news channels to follow current political developments in Ukraine. I while away time channel hopping to see what was available. Most of the free are re-runs of forty year old series of badly made films or soap operas, rubbish horror movies or sleazy showcases for chat-lines and porn channels. After a while I found the Travel channel and an old programme about French wines which was fairly interesting, but not well made by today's standards. 

It made me realise just how much the quality of TV presentation has improved over the past forty years. Nowadays the most banale content can be made to appear quite alluring.The art of televising nothing much beautifully is now the norm. You really have to hunt for decent content if you haven't got Radio 4 to listen to. I ended up going to bed early, silence being preferable.