Given a voice by transforming tech

Up early today, although I had a late start time for the twenty five minute trip to St Edwards to celebrate the Eucharist. I had time in hand to do some writing and was disconcerted to find that my Huwaei Honor Magicbook laptop (stupid name) wasn't charging as it should. I tried both USB-C laptop chargers in my possession, but neither worked with the laptop, yet both worked delivering a charge to a phone. This led me to conclude that the fault lay in the laptop innards. I had two hours of charge left, and fearing the worst, set about decanting all the data stored on the laptop but not replicated in One Drive on the Cloud to a backup drive. 

It didn't take long, but robbed me of a tranquil start to the day, wondering about my next move, realising it would be expensive to repair, if at all possible, and maybe it was time to replace it. I bought the laptop in June '21 and it was probably around two years old then. The battery by the time I bought it lasted half the original length and the screen had a tiny scar, but it performed well. It's been my workhorse ever since.

There was a congregation of twenty six at St Edward's, including Jo a young man in an electric wheelchair who has been severely from childbirth. He suffers from part paralysis plus palsy, and cannot speak, but he is fully alert to his environment. He's in church every Sunday with a carer. I was completely surprised this morning when his carer re-positioned his wheelchair to face the congregation and held a tablet for him to use. He was able despite his constrained movement to work his tablet and deliver the epistle reading with a suitably reproduced man's voice. 

I learned after the service that Jo had started attending a few years back and asked for baptism eighteen months ago. I imagine advanced technology showcased by Stephen Hawking had given his intelligence a voice, and ability to participate in normal life un-dreamt of when he was a child decades ago. I hadn't been alerted that this would happen. Nobody saw fit to mention it, as it's part of the inclusive normality this congregation takes for granted. I was deeply moved by this, and had to overcome my inner amazement to continue the service as intended.

It was five to one by the time I got home to cook lunch for myself as Clare was at St John's attending the farewell lunch for Mother Frances. I took another look at my laptop, intending to see if there was any data I'd not retrieved before using the remaining battery life to wipe it clean. That was when I discovered the charger had been inadvertently switched off at the wall, by an extension switch I didn't see was facing a different direction to the other switches on the extension. I don't know how I missed that, but it's quite a relief that I don't have to worry about repairing or replacing it. It's charged normally and starts up the way it's meant to once more. What an idiot!

It was gone five by the time I went out for a walk, having sat down for a rest after lunch and eventually falling sound asleep for over an hour. I walked until seven, returning in time for supper and 'The Archers'. I was going to watch another episode of 'Lolita Lobosco' but found an error message and an apology on the Walter Presents landing page, saying their servers had been overwhelmed by viewing requests. Is this an indication of traffic generated by enthusiastic programme reviews, or a denial of service attack on this Channel 4 website, I wonder? 

Instead, I uploaded a batch of photos taken in recent days using my Alpha 68 with a 50mm prime lens in manual mode, something I've not done before. It reminded me of the years I used a Praktika SLR film camera, and got some decent results until the shutter started sticking during my visit to Jamaica in 1981. 

Then I watched the first episode of 'The Woman in the Wall' on BBC1, a crime thriller set in coastal Ireland at the time when terrible stories about the Magdalen laundries started to emerge. It brings to light the terrible trauma experienced, not only by unwed mothers robbed of the babies but other young women labelled as 'delinquent' by idle gossip in days when the church served as morality police in the community and some religious people with power and responsibility for the vulnerable behaved in ways that caused many people to reject Christian faith altogether. A harrowing story.

Picasa revisited

Having woken up and breakfasted at the usual time, I spent the morning receiving and sending messages, some of them to do with setting up communication channels for Sway information. Then I cooked a lunch of sardines and veg, rather hastily, as my concentration was elsewhere, but it turned out all right, if late. They were really tasty. It made me miss Spain.

During the morning, I printed off Sunday's sermon, and then decided to hunt for an an installation file for the desktop version of Picasa to run on my desktop. It's a digital antique but contains some useful features absent from the phased out web version and its successor Google Photos. It took me a while to find it on an archive hard drives. Installation didn't take long, but it took even longer, half a day in fact, for it to scan my OneDrive account to collect thousands of linked thumbnails of every graphic file it contained. A useful tool, worth having as a stand alone graphic editor and file manager.

I went for a walk after lunch. I took my Sony Alpha 68 and made some progress in understanding how to get good results from a 50mm prime lens. I took a decent photo of a butterfly I've not seen before and have yet to identify. Funny how I've come across several different butterflies this week alone, more than during the rest of the summer.

After supper, hunting for something new to watch I came across 'Lolita Lobosco', an Italian crimmie about a detective Superintendent who returns to her beautiful native port city of Bari in Puglia after working up north for decades. She had grown up in the heart of the urban village at the heart of the city, so there are flashbacks that help to explain her as a person. I enjoyed hearing the Italian spoke clear and found I could understand most of it, thanks to similarities with Spanish.

The crime story line is worthy of Montalbano, but it's set in what is in effect a family comedy with superb dialogue and a deep dive into social and domestic customs. I've not ever laughed as much at a crimmie. It rang true for a boy who grew up in a village. Delightful to watch. Refreshing. A great treat for the weekend.

First of the year

Thankfully, a day without rain, a little colder due to a wind from the west, but not as cold. From Poland to Spain average temperatures are being recorded ten degrees higher than we'd expect for early January. Very much a symptom of global warming. After breakfast I walked to St Catherine's to celebrate the Eucharist with five others, and then chat over a cuppa in the church hall afterwards. No veg bag to collect this week, so I went straight home and shared cooking lunch with Clare, as she'd bought me some pork loin steaks to prepare in whatever way I fancied. I stewed them slowly with tomatoes and onions and was pleased with the result.

She returned home with the first three kilos of organic bitter oranges from Seville for this year's first batch of marmalade. Later in the day she cooked and de-pipped them and cooked them until they were jam consistency, eight bitter-sweet jars worth! It'll be my turn next to make the second batch.

John at Pidgeons called about a funeral for the 27th of this month, which I won't be able to do as by then I will be in Fuengirola re-orienting myself for the weeks to come

I went out for a walk afterwards, retracting my steps from two days ago to check if any of the new growth of winter flowers had emerged any further. I found a few scattered snowdrops with buds on slender stems just about to open, also one narcissus in bud but not about to flower. 

Not quite as early as last year judging by a photo I took on the second of January last year, but still a couple of weeks earlier than expected. Lots of fresh grass growth is visible in places, pushing up through the brown layer of dead leaves, and there were a few hazel branches with tiny catkins on them as well.

On the way out of Llandaff Fields at the end of my walk, a man was standing outside Cafe Castan in its sheltered space juggling with coloured plastic balls which lit up - a striking sight. He said that he'd worked as a juggler over the years and now taught juggling and circus skills to children. I tried taking photos of him juggling but wasn't pleased with the result with my Sony Alpha DSLR on auto-setting in poor light, I didn't know how to adjust the shutter and ISO speed manually on the spot, and in the end attempted to take some video clips instead. With these I got this result after editing two clips together with MS Clipchamp. It's the first time I've used this camera's video capability since I bought it six years ago next week.

After supper and the Archers, I couldn't find anything of interest to watch on telly, and spent the rest of the evening just sitting quietly and pondering.

Day of Reckoning

After breakfast, I started work sorting documents and retrieving information for my tax return. That took me until lunchtime as it involved sorting through paper bank statements and my on-line bank account to look for information in the one that I couldn't identify in the other. The trouble with going cashless is that a bank statement expands from one to three pages due to the multiplicity of small entries. When checking donations on-line, it was difficult to spot the particular entries as my particular on-lone account doesn't have a search by name of recipient, or a payment history for each recipient. A whole morning to get it all straight, and then lunch to cook while Clare was out at her study group.

After lunch, I started work on my digital tax return, which then only took me an hour to complete and submit. Some of its internal procedures have been simplified a little, making it easier to complete without puzzlement. Even with my income from un-taxed fees declared, it turned out that HMRC owe me a small sum, which is better than it being the other way round. After all that concentrated effort I felt quite tired and slept in the chair for over an hour.

Then I went out of a walk taking my Song Alpha 68 DSLR with me for the first time in five months. It felt so much heavier to carry than the Olympus. My last two photos were of an egret on the Taff. One was near the shore and the other, slightly blurred, in flight. A couple of mallards noisily arriving nearby alarmed the egret and it took to the wing. I swung the camera up, pointed and shot in what I hoped was the right area. The Sony's slick shutter response did the rest. It's not great, but here it is anyway.

I walked for an hour an a half taking photos, so far autumn looks quite different from the vivid colours of last year due to the extreme heat and dryness of the summer. Dark green tree canopies have been touched with reds and yellows since the end of August. A few trees have lost most of their leaves already, trees that were golden yellow for a month last year. 

After supper we watched a Norwegian documentary in the BBC Four 'Storyville' series about systemic racism against the Norwegian Sami population, focussing on the lack of attention by public authorities of serious cases of incest and child abuse in one remote marginalised poor village. A disturbing account of victims' lives when safeguarding isn't taken seriously at all, due to cultural prejudice. Hard to watch. I think it should be required homework for church safeguarding training courses, not because there's any religion in it, but because of the witness of those who suffered across the generations,

Welsh art showcased

It's getting light earlier each day, but I'm still not taking advantage of this and getting up earlier, as I find it hard to get to bed before midnight. By the time I've finished my morning routines it's time for coffee and really I've not done anything extra. It's a pity that some of the more watchable TV shows, especially the news, are on quite late if you want to watch them live.

Anyway, before lunch I went for a walk in Thompson's park with my Sony Alpha DSLR. The buds on the magnolia tree by the pond are shedding their exterior cladding and revealing their light purple colour. The highest of the buds are already starting to open into full flower. That's happened just over the weekend.

I had a telephone conversation about my blood pressure medication top up prescription with a GP who is new, working part-time in our local practice. He gave me a good hearing and agreed to prescribe two lots of doxazosin of different daily dosages, so that I can vary the amount I take in an attempt to reduce the high systolic and minimise side effects. As it happens today has turned out to be a day with less intense side effects than usual, though I haven't bothered to check my blood pressure, just enjoyed feeling good.

Then, I went out for another walk down to the river and back, taking my Olympus with the telephoto lens, determined to make an effort to learn how to get the best results form it, as it's quite different from other long lenses I work with. Knowing one's equipment, taking the same subjects with different cameras is an experiential way of learning which works well for me, and gives me a basis for understanding the theory of lens optics better. But it's a slow job!

Before supper, Clare and I sat down with a computer, and filled in the digital census form together. We'd been in this house about a year at the time of the last census. It's strange that I can't remember anything about it. It must have been a slim paper form at that time, and maybe simpler. This time around it took somewhat longer to complete, half an hour altogether, despite saying "only ten minutes" at the outset. There are multiple choice questions about identity - marital status, ethnicity, gender identity - reflecting the preoccupations of the age, I guess. Glad that's out of the way now.

We watched an excellent edition of 'Fake or Fortune' this evening, about authenticating two works thought to be by Paul Gauguin. Recently, there's been a series of three programmes about Welsh art and artists on BBC2 Wales on Tuesday nights and the final one followed on from this on BBC Two Wales. I started watching late and re-started on iPlayer once I tracked them down. The presenter Huw Stephens who works for Radio Cymru/Wales is the son of Meic Stevens, renowned Welsh language activist and author. At 17 Huw was the youngest ever Radio One Welsh language presenter. He's well known for his promotion and documentation of Welsh music, and clearly enjoys talking about Welsh art as well. I look forward to watching the other programmes later in the week.

Space issues

A cloudy start to the day with chill wind. I woke up in time to upload today's prayer video, but it took half an hour to clear my phone of redundant data to permit WhatsApp to upload it without error. It's such a rigmarole. My 2016 Samsung phone doesn't have enough memory for current usage.The Blackberry work phone contract and number will expire soon. When it does, I'll swap the SIM over and reconfigure the Blackberry anew, a task that will bring hassles of its own, no doubt.

Official statistics published today have shown a marked decline in the death rate nationally. This is due not only to a significantly drop in covid related deaths, thanks to vaccinations, but also a reduction due to lock-down generally. Less road traffic resulting in fewer road accident deaths. Hygiene precaution against covid are equally effective against 'flu, so deaths from winter 'flu have been drastically reduced, suggesting that these benefits, not only for individuals but the health care system and workforce may commend themselves for re-use annually in future.

On my pre-lunch walk around Thompson's Park with my Sony DSLR, the battery declared itself drained after just a few shots, and I finally ran out of storage space on its SD card fortunately I carry spares for both, battery in camera bag and SD card in my wallet, ever since running out of space on a photo visit to the Chateau de Chillon back in 2017, fifteen years after starting digital photography. The size of photo files has increased a hundredfold in that time and SD cards a thousandfold, so for the most part storage space is not a problem, but running out can happen very quickly if you have a day when you take thirty to a hundred, as opposed to a day when you only take three to ten. 

Professionals carry lots of spares, as their life depends upon it, even if they upload direct to the web on the move. Much of what anyone takes may be nothing really special, but the fear of losing the one that's really worthwhile stalks amateur and professional photographers alike. When SD card prices dropped, it became affordable to use them archive originals, just as we did in the days of photo negatives, whether or not you kept copies on a hard drive or on the web. Keeping copies in several places makes it easier to find them in a hurry when off-line. It's a curious form of digital hoarding. I wonder why I do it?

Another funeral has come my way, a second one for next week. It seems the family wanted a Welsh speaking minister, but couldn't find one, so I was asked if I could manage to do something bilingually. It's not something I've been asked to do before, although I have celebrated the Eucharist in Welsh a few times, and once preached a prepared homily in Welsh. After practice I can read prayers intelligibly, which is what matters. I've done bi-lingual funerals with French and Spanish as the second language, and I have copies of all the Church in Wales liturgical material, tradition and modern, English and Welsh, so I should be able to to justice to the occasion.

All of the evening I spent on tomorrow's video reflection. Rather than talk to camera, I recorded a sound track first and then put selected photos to it, and it took much longer than I expected, but the end result was satisfactory. With this format the file size is a fraction of that of a proper video, so uploading won't be a cause of distress first thing in the morning!

Bridge returns to life

I slept for nearly nine hours and woke up to bright sunshine. Lately I've not been waking early, or if I do, I go back to sleep while waiting for 'Thought for the Day' on Radio 4. I make a point of listening on BBC Sounds catch-up before I get up. It's useful to be able to roll back a live broadcast, and it works well.

I learned from a local news item today that Blackweir Bridge repairs are nearly complete and it will re-open next week. I also learned that the bridge isn't part of the City Council's estate, but the University which funded construction and maintains it. It wasn't closed due to the pandemic, as I presumed, but due to minor structural damage that made it unsafe. Repairs took couple of weeks, but the best part of a year to agree to get done, though there's been no hurry to complete. The public is much better informed and prepared to be cautious crossing the bridge now, socially distanced, in single file - hopefully!

I was pleased to see a photo of Fran's icon of St David appear in this week's Parish Sway newsletter. I've written Monday's reflection on the icon and a discursive prayer which I'd like to record in St Catherine's if I get an opportunity when we go to church tomorrow to join in the pre-reopening spring-clean.

For the second day running I've taken my Sony Alpha 68 DSLR camera out walking with me. It's such a lovely camera to use, I find that I take far more photos with it when I'm out in good shooting conditions. Its weight with a long lens is the only disadvantage, three times as heavy as the Olympus. If I had a long and a broad lens for the Olympus that were together as good as my versatile Alpha mount telephoto, the Olympus would be a match in terms of photo quality, and much lighter by design. The equivalent lenses, even second hand are pretty pricey on a low budget. Clare keeps asking what I am going to do with all the pictures I take. If I could decide on interesting themes to select, I could compose photo books to use as gifts or even for sale as coffee table items. Trouble is, I'm no better with the idea of seeking a market than I am seeking an audience for my writing. Fear of failure? Fear of not being noticed? I wonder why?

Another interesting episode of 'New Amsterdam' to watch on catch-up tonight, with an interesting little vignette of what happens when a medic pursues a concern about the health of drug addicts and provision of safe managed injection places in a world where doing this is against the law. The forces of law and order are unable to punish adequately or eliminate the international chain of illegal drug suppliers. Drug addiction is a major global public health issue. Why drive users underground and into crime when with the right support they can be helped to get lives and health in order and weaned off drugs? 

This approach has been shown to work in places where licensed supervised clinics have been set up. It's hard to understand why advocates of law enforcement are reluctant to change strategy, unless they are addicted to playing 'cops and crooks' never really succeeding in winning. Addicts are in a way victims of the consumer culture the world has created, but treated as perpetrators. It doesn't have to be like this.  

Urban Centenary celebrated

How nice to be able to wake up without a video upload to do before breakfast, and being able to lie in bed and listen to the Radio Four Sunday service. This week it was from Welwyn Garden city, celebrating the centenary of its beginning as a new concept in town planning. It was led by Rob Marshall, Rector of Digswell a parish of that city and a regular Radio Four Thought for the Day speaker. 

Fortunately, it was again a sunny morning for our walk to St Catherine's for the Parish Eucharist. There were thirty of us there today. We added our dear friend Martin into the intercessions, as he's in hospital being treated for covid-19, as if he wasn't already vulnerable enough after his colostomy op. 

I took my Sony Alpha 68 out for an afternoon walk, to see if I could get even better photos of the sunset, as today's weather conditions were much like yesterday's. What you can do in post processing never quite improves enough what's seen, to my satisfaction. Before supper we watched the final episode of 'The Announcer', and then I uploaded my photos and edited them. It seems to me that whatever camera you use in a high contrast lighting environment it's always demanding on the camera and challenging for the user. The digital illusion never matches the face to face visible glory. 'NOw we see through a glass darkly ..."

Waiting and Watching

I went to the Riverside wound clinic this morning for a check-up and a discussion about managing the wound on days when it seems to get worse rather than better. It happens when infection starts to creep in again, and catches me by surprise. I'd rather be well prepared. Pain and discomfort in my perineum when it occurs is attention grabbing enough. I don't wan't it controlling my life. 

A week after the antibiotics finished, thankfully the wound has been less trouble, and I'm feeling better than I have for a couple of months, despite the chesty cough. Time will tell if my immune system begins to regain its strength to resist infection in the run-up to the operation. Monday next I'll have my chest checked to ensure that I can be included in the surgery list. How to be patient and not anxious as I wait is the challenge.

Using my new Olympus OMD E-M10 with its two lenses has made me think about working with the opportunities and limitations of different lens sizes with my Sony DSLR. Most of my photography has been done with zoom lenses of different capacities. I have an Alpha 50mm prime lens I've hardly used since I bought it at a bargain price. It has no zoom ability as it's a fixed lens, a different challenge So, for a change I took my Alpha 68 and the 50mm lens out with me for a walk this afternoon. 

In order to frame the picture you want to take it's necessary to move around a lot more to find the right position. It takes some thinking about as a zoom lens allows you to stay in one place and use the zoom to frame the photo. Going against one's habitual patterns of movement and usage is quite an exercise! Does it give any better results? Hard to say. But the choice of a lens can influence the choice of subject, if you're out as I often am, with no project to work on, just looking for things of interests to observe and record. That's most of my photography, other than landscapes, townscapes and buildings. 

It get me thinking about contemplative prayer, moving beyond pondering to being quietly attentive in God's presence, using words only if necessary, listening, looking, enjoying just dwelling at the threshold between time and eternity. To get there we have to learn, within the limitation of our abilities, to reason and reflect, to listen and look, open to discover afresh what is before us. Art, music, poetry, literature draw their creative impulse here. Likewise prayer, inspiring us to become a whole person fully reflecting the image of our Maker.

Not so smart web

After breakfast this morning I took my blood pressure and was relieved that the average of three best readings wasn't as worryingly high as it has been lately, even if it is still high by doctor's benchmarks. I thought I should report back to my GP, and attempted to do so as requested, using the Practice website. It's mostly a portal to information streams about health concerns, with an auto-triage system to enquire about a vast range of medical and administrative concerns. But it is far from user friendly. It seems to have been designed by a medical encyclopedia geek, who really has little idea of what the system is like for end users. I couldn't find a way to send a simple report directly. 

After half an hour of trying to fit my report into a small message window on one of the pages and pressing send, an automatic message appeared telling me to phone the surgery or 111 urgently. So I rang the surgery and got the automatic queuing system. I didn't have to wait long to reach the head of the queue, but was then disconnected! So, I spent another half an hour writing and printing off a letter and then took it around to the surgery, giving a little feedback about the system. 

I find it amazing that the system is built round a complex series of interrogatory menus - heaven  help you if you don't describe symptoms or  use language in a culturally different frame of reference to that of the program designer. All those wild eyed enthusiasts in government and medical bureaucracy tell us how it's going to be great when A.I. systems make light work of diagnosing the ailments of the masses. It's the ultimate extension to the industrialisation of medicine in the past half century. Advocates are deaf to challenges about A.I. inbuilt discriminatory tendencies leading to sick people not being taken seriously in time of need, because they are atypical. 

Real human diagnosticians pick things up which no digital device ever could. The pandemic has forced medics to do much of their work without seeing or examining patients directly. Having a personal relationship with a GP over years is being replaced by being acquainted with a practice medical team which may or may not have enough useful specific knowledge to make an accurate diagnosis. Loads of unread notes in a file system, digital or paper, aren't information giving a whole picture. Someone suffering may tell their story differently to different medics. Sure diagnostic tools are most valuable but not as valuable as personal knowledge of someone, mutual regard and trust.

Having spent a week taking my Olympus OM-D with me on my daily walk, I took the Sony Alpha 68 out with me today for a change. With my long telephoto lens, over twice the weight of the Olympus, it's noticeably more demanding to carry. I took a lot more photos in one day than I've been taking with the Olympus, it's a lot more flexible in the range of photos you can take with it, maybe too because I'm used to it, I take more advantage of it. The Olympus telephoto lens is not nearly as flexible, even though it's very light in comparison. I'm lucky to have interesting kit to play with, to see how I can get the best photos of subjects that please me eye, mostly landscapes, building and trees in different light.

This evening I finally watched the NCIS episode in which Pauley Perret aka forensic genius Abbi Sciuto leaves the series. It was controversial when it was first aired a couple of years ago and I had already read a summary of the story. Interesting to see how it was presented, however, discreetly sidestepping the brrakdown in relationship between Perrette and Mark Harmon the show's lead actor and co-director.

New normality or old?

Another overcast rainy day, but as it's Saturday, Clare cooked perfect pancakes for breakfast. A small domestic ritual we enjoy together. My back is less painful today, but it still takes a while to recover a measure of flexibility that makes walking relaxed and easy. Today we both went out in the drizzle. I took my Song Alpha 68 DSLR out with me, the first time in use it since before I went to Ibiza. It's heavy but a joy to use, like driving a Jag after driving a Ford Fiesta. 

I got it out as I wanted to see if I could take a photo of some pots of geraniums Clare has flowering outside the kitchen window, not through the glass but standing with my back to the wall a metre from them, too close for an ordinary lens to fit them all in, so I used the wide angle lens I bought last year, and was please with the result. I took it with my to the park without its case, and regretted this when it drizzled as I had to cover the camera with my coat. As it's the weekend, Cafe Castan was open for takeaway orders, as it has been since mid-May, so I took a few photos of it being open for business. 

There's a large mobile electronic sign now, at the top of Cathedral Road, warning drivers that they can no longer drive past the Castle due to road closures, but must divert around the station instead. There's a lot more traffic on roads now, more so than when I arrived home two and half weeks ago, and you can hear background traffic noise again. Pollution levels will rise again, but will they return to previous level? Will changes in work and consumer habits lead to overall reduction in car use, in favour of bikes? As is hoped by the city's traffic planners, keenly introducing new bike lanes in town.

Kath, Anto and Rhiannon met wth Owain in Bristol today to celebrate his birthday and their wedding anniversary. Kath sent a photo of them down at the harbour, with SS Great Britain in the background, and several of the amazing cake which Rhiannon had baked and decorated. Wales lowers its five mile travel boundary this coming Monday just too late for us to benefit from. Whether my back could cope with the car journey at the moment is doubtful, however. I'm just grateful it's improving.

In the evening Clare and I watched the third of Alan Bennett's 'Talking Heads' monologue series on BBC iPlayer. The character speaking was a bereaved middle class lady, talking to camera about her life from the funeral tea onward into genteel poverty due to her son's irresponsible stewardship of her financial legacy. It was amazingly well written, true to life observation. Bennett is a writer with a pastoral ear and eye for detail  It was an intense half hour of watching, as much as I could cope with, though I would like to see the others some time. This isn't binge watching material. Each is a work of art to be savoured.

   

Back to the garden

I went for my weekly visit to the wound clinic, mainly to collect supplies, and update the duty nurse on recent events. A man, and an elderly lady were waiting for treatment. She stood uncomfortably, leaning on her walking stick. Either the physical act of sitting down on the queuing bench was too painful for her, or as I've been so often, sitting down was painful enough to want to avoid unless necessary. There'd been some appointment mix-up. She'd arrived an hour early, when I was due, and the nurse was in any case running late, as often happens, given the demand. The supplies I wanted weren't available as none had been delivered (again), so after a brief word with the nurse I skipped my appointment and returned home.

As the weather was fine, I took out my Sony Alpha 68 and several lenses we drove out to Dyffryn Gardens for lunch and a wander around the grounds, which are looking wonderful. Recently, some of the enclosed gardens have been revised according to the original 19th century master gardener's plan. Best of all, the water garden which runs the length of the main lawn in front of the house has now been completely restored, and filled with a variety of different coloured water lilies. The fountain in the pond at the far end of the lawn is working again, and beyond it, the sunken garden which for years was like a wilderness, is re-ordered and populated with plants. What a lot has been achieved by the team of fourteen gardeners and scores of volunteers over the past year. And more is to come.

Attempts to trim and restore the hedges around gardens on the west side came too late to bear fruit. Some of the bushes will never grow back as desired and others have died after pruning, or maybe due to old age. These will be uprooted and replaced in coming months, and large sections of hedge will then be grown from saplings and re-trained to reflect the originals. It'll take some years to complete, but will be worthwhile. 

There's also renovation work to be done on the south facade this autumn. So good to see a distinctive and beautiful building and its setting restored to former glory. Originally it was the home of an elite landowning family which could afford the artists and staff. Under the ownership of the National Trust it belongs to everybody in different ways - workers, volunteers and tens of thousands of visitors. It was indeed a busy place today at the height of the summer holidays. The rest of my photos are here

  

Not funny

Well, April Fool's day passed, and the only pranks I noticed were a photo on Twitter of euro bishop Robert posing by a small private jet, with a caption suggesting that it's his new diocesan re-about, plus a Media Wales news story about a zip wire to be erected above the old Severn Bridge offering a new tourist adventure thrill ride. Both implausible and lame. If there were others in the daily news I missed them.

Listening to the news coming from Parliament in Westminster, one could be excused for thinking this too was some kind of April Fool gag, but it's all become deadly serious as national anxiety levels escalate. There's no room for pranks as each party contends for its own position by rubbishing the suggestions of others. It's all become a matter of bitter confrontation not dialogue. If I say it's diabolical, that sums it up "An enemy hath done this", as the parable of the wheat and tares observes, talking about the father of lies about its business.

This morning, Clare went to the gym and I did the bulk of the week's grocery shopping, then cooked lunch. After a siesta, I walked to Blackweir and re-took some of the photos I didn't get yesterday. The bonus picture was of one of the Taff's resident herons keeping riverbank vigil on the other side about 60 meters away. My 15x DSLR zoom lens doesn't give such sharp results with a small subject compared with the 50x zoom of the HX300 at that range, even though the image sensor of the latter is nine times smaller. I simply didn't have the right camera with me. Never mind, there'll be another time, hopefully.

In the evening I completed watching the remaining episodes of 'Baptiste' in bed again, for comfort. Despite recent wound improvement, sitting upright for any length of time isn't comfortable, and not much on telly is worth the effort of so much fidgeting while persisting in viewing.

  

Sleepy Sunday amnesia

Having put the clocks forward early, we got to bed with midnight showing on the clocks, if not our array of digital devices. I woke up having slept only six instead of eight hours, which rather defeated the object of getting an early night, to be sure to be ready for church in good time. It wasn't anxiety as much as never being able to predict how my bowels will function, and consequently when I'll be ready for a wound dressing.

It's horrible for one's life to focus around bodily functions in this way, but it's not nearly as troublesome as it was in the last two months of last year. Anyway, we got to St Catherine's on time, and a congregation of about sixty adults and a dozen children assembled for this quarter's United Benefice Eucharist. 

Immediately afterwards I walked to St David's hospital, pleased to have the duty nurse confirm that the wound is continuing to dry out, albeit slowly. I have to be careful with it, but can move towards a lighter looser dressing in the next few days before surgery next Thursday.

After lunch I was inevitably tired and had a long siesta before taking my Sony Alpha 68 out for a walk in the afternoon sunshine. I didn't take a lot of photos, but on return was most annoyed to find that I'd forgotten to replace the SD card after yesterday's outing to Dyffryn Gardens. The downside with cameras of this type is that the hardware doesn't have an on-board photo file storage, as is the case with fixed lens digital cameras. Even if a memory chip can only store half a dozen photos, it does rescue the user from complete futility on a SD cardless expedition.

Thinking back, this has only happened to me without my noticing a couple of times over the past year. I usually carry a spare card in my wallet for an emergency, but it occurs when I don't feel the need to review a photo I've taken, and don't register the error message generated.

Along with millions of others, I watched the much anticipated first episode of 'Line of Duty', series five. It certainly fulfilled expectations. Then, although it was late, I watched an episode of 'Baptiste' on iPlayer, since my sister June enthused about it while it was broadcast live. Now I can watch all six episodes without having to wait a week between each.

This story has people trafficking and international organised crime as core themes. It's set in Amsterdam's sleazy quarter, with subtitled dialogue in French and Dutch, as well as English. It's the kind of movie I enjoy, to keep me thinking about contemporary concerns and social trends, for good and for ill.
 
TV on demand, to fit with one's cycle of busyness and boredom I find a great asset. It also means you can find out about any series before watching. There's nothing worse than wasting time on something whose promise fails to deliver. To my mind, a great deal of scheduled TV falls into this category nowadays. Even so, I'm binge watching, simply because my active options ae limited at the moment. I so look forward to being able to travel and explore different places once again, one of these days.

Another match day in town

Friday was routine and uneventful, a clinic visit, a walk, more whiling away hours streaming 'Walter Presents' crimmies. I've had a couple of photos from Martin, from his hospital bed, before and after the removal of life support tubes, smiling in both, but a bigger grin in the latter. Out of bed walking a little, and if progress is sustained, home after the weekend.

Saturday afternoon Clare was working away at German translation, so I walked out with my Sony Alpha 68 to Blackweir, for more early spring photos through Bute Park and home again. Wales were playing England in the Principality Stadium, and as I was making my way back from Blackweir at a quarter to five, I could her the sound of massed voices a mile away singing the two national anthems before the game.

I don't normally watch sport, but on this occasion, after arriving home and having a cup of tea, I did switch on the telly, and watched three quarters of what turned out to be a marvellous exciting game, which Wales won. Cardiff city centre will be a very happy place, full of inebriated souls tonight!

BBC Four showed the second double episode of 'Trapped' at nine and I watched with interest, as the slow moving plot line unfolds with ominous twists and turns. Again, as was first said about the Welsh crimmie 'Y Gwyllt' the landscape (in this case Icelandic) is as much a star as the actors.

Dozy days

Clare went off to the University School of Optometry yesterday morning for another session where her eye condition will be examined by students under supervision. I had enough energy to get outdoors in the cold to take advantage of a bright day with my Alpha 68 camera, for a walk around Thompson's Park, across Llandaff Fields, and the down to the river Taff. It was a delightful hour and a half's trek in the snow - there was just enough covering the grass to walk in comfortably, and feel it crunch underfoot. I got back in time to cook a meal, but had a snack lunch, as Clare wasn't back yet, so we didn't eat what I'd cooked until the evening. My photos are here.

Although today was cold and bright the snow didn't last long. Clare went early to the gym and I had a long lie-in. We talked about going out somewhere all day but couldn't summon the enthusiasm to do so. My wound condition has improved in the past few days, with less inflammation and discomfort most of the time. I still need to sleep an extra couple of hours a day, sometimes with a siesta as well as a lie-in, and hope this contributes to an eventual full recovery.

In the evening, Clare continued translating updated sections of the 'babies' book she's working on, while I watched a missed double episode of 'Silent Witness' on iPlayer, and read a few pages of the Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel Kath sent me at bed-time. I get the story outline, but Latin American literary Spanish style makes fuller comprehension hard work. Making use of Google Translate and a modest dictionary isn't really adequate, but persistence reveals the colour and style of the narrative, slowly. It isn't long before I drop off to sleep, however!
   

Midsummer tech sales

Wednesday, I celebrated the St Catherine's midweek Eucharist, did some domestic errands, and not much else. We have warmer weather now, making life more comfortable and relaxing. I didn't get out and walk, as I should have done as curiosity led me to explore how best to take a good crisp close up photo of a piece of silver jewellery created by Clare from pieces of scrap silver fused together. She'd posted a rather blurry picture of her latest oeuvre on Instagram, using her phone, and I wondered if I could do better. It was less than easy, whatever camera or lens I used as I don't have a macro lens for this purpose. Although the closeup range of the cameras I have is fairly good, the ability to focus on a small object below 10cm reduces with a conventional lens. 

I settled for using my prime lens on the Alpha 68. I need to make more of an effort to use it and learn more about what it does best. Without any zooming capacity I find it rather narrow and restrictive for anything except portraiture, but then the majority of my photo interest is landscapes, urban and rural. Adjusting lighting helped to bring up the detail, but pinpoint accuracy while focusing hand-held with manual or auto focus, was elusive. Another time I must try mounting the camera on a tripod, and use a timer setting to hold on to the optimum sharp focus and distance.

Thursday, the longest day, no locum duty, so I took a walk with my Lumix LX5 camera to capture progress on the Central Square development. The pavements immediately surrounding the the BBC HQ are still being laid. There's been some activity on the bus station site next door, although I am not sure that and ground breaking work is yet under way, presuming that foundations will need to be dug to support the frame of the apartment building above. The steel skeleton of the HMRC building is nearing completion. It's an impressive sight.

I then visited the CBS office to catch up on the current difficult situation confronting the business, and on my way out og town, called into John Lewis store, whose electronic clearance sale has started. Not that there's anything I really need, or could make a case for buying, but just for interest. I met another old geezer just like me, ogling the hardware on offer and contemplating a purchase he knew he didn't really need. An extravert Chinese lady accosted me with questions about some of the low cost bargains, as she and her husband needed a device to Skype her son in Hong Kong. She know nothing about why there was such a range of bargain prices or the reason for it. I wondered how she'd get on with a Windows 10 machine once she got it home and working. But, I helped her to make a decision on a bargain 15" HP device, before she started chatted up the sales assistant and obtaining a further mark down on the already discounted kit.

There was one very recent and expensive Chromebook on display which I fancied, but now that I've discovered I can get a replacement battery for my immaculate Toshiba Chromebook CR104, whose battery life now is a third of what it was when I bought it two years ago, it's hardly worth considering a replacement for my everyday workhorse. It's far superior to any Windows 10 machine. There were several really cheap Windows 10 netbooks on offer, which could be run more efficiently with Linux instead. Indeed I have a laptop which I consider converting every time it annoys me by taking an age to open and update. But again, it is worth the effort?

Thanks to a cloudless sky it's been light this evening almost until bedtime. Summer delight.

  

Gŵyl y Llais - an audio feast

Last night we went into town to a concert at Capel Tabernacl given by a Corsican pulifoni singing group called 'A Filetta'. It was part of the current Festival of Voice / Gŵyl y Llais, running for the next ten days at venues around the city.

We heard a pulifoni a capella vocal group singing spontaneously in an Ajaccio bar the night before we set off for home, on our second visit to Corsica in 2007. It a unique genre of folk music, using close three part harmony, full of striking dissonances, complex ornamentation and grace notes. The lyrics in Corsican and Latin express sacred and secular themes. One of its main traditional liturgical forms is the funeral lament, but there are 'pulifoni' Masses, Christmas and Easter carols as well, as well as songs based on romantic and nature poetry.

Pulifoni is a musical form unique to Corsica and its popular revival, linked to Corsican nationalism, has brought the art new vigour, with an international following for its singing groups. 'A Filetta' travel the world to perform. This week, Poland and Germany, as well as Wales. I think we acquired our first CD of theirs at the airport shop as we left, and we left the concert with two more.

When you hear pulifoni singing at first it leaves you wondering where you've heard anything like it before, as it bears a resemblance to Bulgarian, Georgian and Romanian a capella singing, but it has harmonic surprises of its own and embellishments to the melodies resembling what can be heard in North African, Middle Eastern and Caucasian vocal tradition, not to mention synagogue chants and Qu'ranic recitation.

Corsica, being a Mediterranean island could have been visited by musicians and traders from all those regions over millennia, passing on their influence. On the other hand, it could by that music evolves spontaneously but separately in different cultures, where landscape and social setting are the primary creative stimulant. We noticed that on one of the new album purchased is a Georgian song the group has learned, perhaps because, due to their travels, the groups has recognised and now wants to celebrate common and very ancient musical roots.

Oh yes, 'A Filetta' performed immaculately and a good variety of songs both secular and sacred were sung. They were supported by a man who read translations of some of the lyrics, to evoke the ethos of this art form. An audience of about a hundred, was captivated by the atmosphere generated by the six male singers. The acoustics of a sizeable Welsh chapel meant that no amplification system was needed, even though they often sang quietly and tenderly. You could hear every breath and each distinct voice clearly. An audio feast in its own right.

With Sunday sermon ready to preach this afternoon, I took my Sony Alpha 68 for a walk in the park and caught sight of a couple of Mallard families with eight ducklings thriving, no longer with their downy coating, but brown feathers with white markings, quite charming. Clare's garden roses are looking wonderful at the moment, very photogenic. The pictures are here. And after a week of cool greyness, it's getting summery warm with cloudy blue skies, so I won't miss Spain quite as much, for a while, at least.

Photo catchup

Clare heard that the Council's Bute Park plant nursery was having a sale, so we walked over there at the end of the morning and purchased a few more additions to her delightfully colourful flower beds and then had lunch in the small courtyard cafe which is at the public entrance to the interpretation centre and greenhouses. I was glad to have taken along my Sony Alpha 68, as the wealth of colour displayed in the array of bedding plant trays was spectacular. My photos can be seen here.

Later in the afternoon I took the bus to town, to buy a lens filter, with some birthday present money, having discovered that I have three 55mm lenses but only two filters. I also took with me my Lumix LX5, little used these days, except that for the past three years I have kept it in service to record the Central Square building redevelopment, taking advantage of its fairly wide angle lens. Last used back in February, and probably charged in January before that, I was surprised to discover that the battery still had enough power to shoot twenty odd pictures, and still only display as half full. Perhaps this is because it doesn't have GPS, NFC, Bluetooth or Wi-fi built in for sending photos to another device. It's a plain digital compact camera, robust with a touch of sophistication about it. 

The only tower crane now in the Central Square construction sites serves the HMRC building, whose steel structure has grown very rapidly during the three months I've been away. When I left, only the cores of the two lift shafts were nearing completion. The exterior structure of the new buildings on the south side of Wood Street is now finished, but the entire site is still cordoned off, as paving has to be laid and entrances completed. All that remains now if for a start to be made on the bus station, intended to occupy the remaining empty site in front of the station. These photos can be seen here

Chateau de Chillon - an unsatisfactory photo-opportunity

A glorious sunny day, and a morning walk to the Chateau de Chillon for a look around the interior, just CHF10.50 for oldies and a ticket that allows you to come can go as often as you like during the day. It's a marvellous building, set on a rock outcrop protruding into Lac Leman. Traces of Bronze age settlements have been found among the foundations of the 12th century castle keep. It was an outpost of the Dukedom of Savoy at the outset, taken over by the warlords of the Canton de Berne at time of the reformation,  and taken over by the Canton de Vaud in 1798. In each period it was added to or adapted, and its component buildings have had many uses apart from military, as residences or government offices, storehouses, even the Vaudois Cantonal prison. 

Since the 13th century its vaulted vaulted cellar has been used to store barrels of wine harvested from the nearby Clos de Chillon vineyards which belong to the Chateau. You can buy bottles of both red and white at high prices. It's a rarity, and all profits made on the wine go to the restoration and maintenance of the Chateau undertaken by the Fondacion du Chateau de Chillon.  

It's twenty five years since we last visited. At that time, not all the rooms were open due to ongoing restoration work. Now, nearly all the rooms are open to the public, many are arrayed with period style furniture, walls and ceilings authentically decorated. Each room has interpretation panels and educative models to give an impression of people's way of life many centuries ago. It's one of the most visited castles in Switzerland, and I guess we were fortunate not to be herded around the place along with busloads of global tourists on a sunny winter low season day. A delightful experience.

The one setback was turning up with a camera lacking its SD memory card. Only yesterday had I finally filled a 16GB card, in use since 9th September 2016, over 2350 photos, and not all of them worth keeping, but such a hassle to separate the dross from the keepers. I had planned to go into town and buy a new card before going to the Chateau de Chillon, but as the weather was so good we seized the opportunity. 

Having removed the full card from the camera, I then forgot about buying a replacement. Just last week, the spare SD card I carry in my wallet for emergencies since running out on the Rhine Cruise last May, was pressed into use with my new Alpha 68 DSLR camera, and I'd not yet got around to replacing it. I had to use the BlackBerry's phone camera instead, once the HX50's internal flash memory had run out - just six photos. The results were adequate, just. It's not as good as the Samsung Galaxy S3 phone camera, I left re-charging in Church House along with the Alpha 68. You don't always live and learn in my experience. Serves me right. The Chateau is well worth a visit, and I may find time to return, better provisioned.

We returned for lunch and then walked into town to buy train tickets for tomorrow's airport journey, for Clare, who has to return to teach on Thursday , all too soon for the both of us. I needed to buy another SD card as well. I should have bought two, but didn't as I thought they were rather expensive. They are much cheaper on-line, naturally, and when I checked, Curry's are retailing them at roughly the same price in Sterling, so later, I regretted not buying a second. Ah well another day, maybe.