New shoes, new brolly

I had a disturbed night's sleep due to aching injured thigh muscles. It didn't occur to me that I might take an analgesic, but after breakfast I took a 400mg ibuprofen and it calmed down. Clare went to her study group, and I started work on next week's reflection before cooking fresh sardines and veggies for lunch when she returned. Annoyingly the pair of cheap reading specs I bought yesterday have broken already.

I needed an hour's siesta in the chair afterwards, and then went into town to bank a cheque, and look for a new pair of shoes, always a daunting task to my mind. I ended up buying a pair in the Ecco shop, and was given a promotional Ecco pocket umbrella for free!

By the time I reached home it was approaching six o'clock and an early supper was waiting on the table for me as we had a Fountain Choir practice in St Catherine's at six thirty. Two hours hard work! Having attempted a repair on the specs I took them with me to the rehearsal unintentionally in place of a much better pair of prescription reading specs. Somehow they held together throughout the rehearsal.

As we left the church grounds afterwards, Mother Frances who now sings with us, was heading out on her bike. I offered to lock the gate for her, as I also had church keys with me. Unfortunately, they were my keys to St John's, and she'd disappeared into the dark by the time I realised this. I had to walk home and get the right keys, then return to lock the gate properly. What an idiot!

I walked further today than I did in the week before yesterday's injury, but my leg didn't hurt nearly as much as I feared it would. It still feels bruised, like a sprain, but is much less painful than expected. I'm thankful for small mercies.

I got back in time to watch the ten o'clock news, with worrying news of the US mid term elections threatening a shift in the balance of power away from the Democrats to the Republicans, and further threat of Trump running for a second term as President. God forbid, at this critical time in global politics with financial and ecological crisis plus the Ukraine-Russia conflict already promising to destabilise further international relations. Unhappy times.

Hope for America declared at last

The weather was bright to start with today, but deteriorated later, so I pottered around this morning, chatted with Ashley on the phone for an hour, then cooked lunch before going out to post a few more cards and then for a walk. It was almost dark by the time I got back. The tall tree at the entrance to our side street has been decorated for the festal season with huge pom-poms made by some of the kids from shredded plastic bags, strings of fake lanterns - I don't think they meant to glow, plus a string of white lights which do light up, spiralled around the tree. I saw them lit up for the first time this evening. 

Several houses in the street have decorated their front garden fences with lights, and curtains are being left open to reveal Christmas trees within. I think more people are making an effort this year, not just as a cheer-up measure, but because they may not be able to travel away to be with family at Christmas. Even though relaxed restrictions are meant to come into force in a week's time, concern is rising about the wisdom of this, given the rapid rise in cases in the South East, and in Wales, experiencing now what the North went through a couple of months back. Present restrictions may end up not being relaxed at all.

Last night Joe Biden was formally declared to be the next US President by state by state appointed members of an Electoral College. This will be confirmed by Congress in the run-up to the Inauguration in January. Trump has refused to concede that he has lost, many Republicans are silent or voice agreement with him, but some have acknowledged that his election was free, un-corrupt and fair. Trump's last ditch attempt to subvert the democratic process will be to produce his own alternative panel of state appointees, to declare him the winner, and insist that Congress examine his claim, although his lawyers have produced no concrete evident in support of his claims. 

In his last month as President he has approved the execution of several prisoners on death row for years, and plans to issue pardons for himself and some of his cronies. He has behaved consistently as a fantasizing megalomaniac ignoring deadly reality, fomenting racial and social divisions, denying climate change and America has suffered grievously as a result The fact that he now denies his decisive rejection by the majority of voters, poses serious questions about his mental health. Will he use an insanity plea in future to evade the long arm of the law when he's faced with a series of indictments, I wonder?  So glad he's going, even if the lame duck is acting strangely and savagely. The world will be a safer place with a practicing Catholic in the White House, with a record as a reconciler, and a declared re-unifying agenda.

After supper I continued preparing texts for Morning Prayer in the days before Christmas completing one started yesterday but interrupted by the Google server outage, then completing another, and saving a copy of the three done so far on the SD card attached to my Chromebook, so it can be taken away and edited in a standalone device if needs be. Better safe than sorry from now on. 

Tech reports today indicate the Google outage lasted only fifty minutes, although there have been knock-on effects in latency of function with some apps. My sister June was complaining about typing and words being slow to appear. Not an uncommon phenomenon in my experience, with Windows updates and scans usually seeming to hinder normal functioning, either because the background process hogs bandwidth, or processing power is consumed by security scans on the device. Grand scale server outages also part of the Google ecosystem too, if less frequently than Microsoft, and yesterday's outage was a prime example of this nerve wracking failure. 

Staycation round two, day twelve

My worries about getting the vital covid test were dispelled when had a 'phone call from the mobile test team member after breakfast (Saturday pancakes as usual), to brief me and give an approximate ETA. Two young women arrived at half past twelve, one in nursing and the other in paramedic uniform, both masked and gloved, with the one administering the test wearing a visor as well, and the other holding the necessary disposal bags. Taking the throat swab only took a few seconds, a couple of light touches with the probe either side of the epiglottis, then the disposable PPE kit bundled up into a doubled up bin bag for disposal with our household waste on Monday. Five minutes, all done, such a relief!

I then walked indoors for an hour, and another hour outdoors after lunch. Cold with a thin layer of cloud today with the sun struggling to shine through occasionally, and the sky clearing after dark. People are still letting off fireworks in our neighbourhood. As we are within earshot of the city's rugby, cricket and soccer stadiums (or is it stadia?) it's not so unusual for there to be fireworks after a game. I'm not sure why, three days after bonfire night, when there's nothing much to celebrate about being in lock-down.

When I was doing my daily Spanish language drill on Duo Lingo, one of the ads it served up was a short video about lock-down rules in Wales. I haven't seen it before. It's not unusual to have location specific ads pitched up in between lessons, but this is a very good public health notice - clear, simple, to the point with good graphics. Somebody in the Senedd government is earning their keep!

After completing the second walk of my day's walk, I spent the afternoon watching CNN news on-line, for signs of an end to the agonising wait to know the outcome of the US presidential election. The media don't wait to witness the final formal declaration of an outcome in any state or county, as this can take days if not weeks. There is a complex art to predicting a winner, and if the votes on both sides are evenly matched and it's not evidently a landslide victory, care is taken not to rely on the projection from observed trends until the conclusion is irresistible. 

This moment arrived at about half past four our time, with the results of one Philadelphia County among several replicated a sustained growth pattern which increased Joe Biden's lead, to the point where it could be relied on to say that the lead was irreversible. Then CNN, NBC and Fox News channels 'called' the election in Biden's favour. Trump had already stated that he would be making challenges against the conduct of the election in the most inflammatory way, denying the evidence, refusing to acknowledge the result. Instead he went out for a round of golf. Unprecedented behaviour for a head of state in a democratic country.

It wasn't long before crowds of people of all ages were dancing with joy in the streets in many parts of America, speaking of the end of a nightmare for their country and the revival of common decency in public discourse. Clare received an email from our friend Saralee, a Jewish Democrat activist  in Seattle headed 'Hallelujah! Thank the Buddha!' For her even more hard work lies ahead to repair the damage done to the country, and not only be the impacts of coronavirus and climate change. 

On CNN, one of a panel of four commenting on the results throughout the day, Van Jones an African American spoke spontaneously and movingly with tears in his eyes about what the result meant to him. To have a president determined to treat everyone as equals and reunite the nation, enabling him, his children and his community to walk tall and no longer feel that they are under threat, but respected as people with dignity. He gave voice to the feeling of oppression which many non-white citizens have experienced under Trump. It was painful to hear, and powerful, something I'll not forget in a hurry. 

As soon as Biden is inaugurated he intends to reverse Trump's decision to take America our of the Paris accord on climate change. Clearing climate change deniers appointed by Trump from the corridors of power will take him longer and be fraught with difficulty, but it will make a difference to countries all around the world for America to become part of the solution again, not part of the problem.

In the evening, I watched this evening's double episode of the Danish crimmie 'DNA'. Not exactly light relief, however, as it's all about stolen babies and child trafficking. More emotive stuff, and with a strong tinge of religion about it, partly set in a convent baby home. I good watch however, with subtitles, and dialogue switching between Danish, English, Polish and this week French. Interesting again to see how English is a second language many EC members have in common. 

Staycation round two, day ten

I rose early again before dawn, to a clear bright sky, with just Venus brightly visible in the east before the sun appeared over the rooftops, about half an hour after peeping over the horizon. Mercury should also be there, although I suspect losr from sight unaided in the growing strength of sunlight. A lovely crisp chilly day. I really enjoyed doing part of my daily walk in the garden once it warmed  up a little.

I spent the morning completing the reflections I've written for the Parish web offerings with suitable pictures representing the content. It took a lot longer than expected as finding suitable resources proved difficult. There wasn't much to my taste on-line unfortunately, but they're all done and dispatched to Emma now. I wanted to get it done before going in for my op, just in case recovery turns out to be too much of a distraction. It's so nice to be asked and I don't want to let anybody down.

This afternoon I had a phone call from an administrator at The Spire hospital asking if I had filled in a pre-op questionnaire. Twice I said, when I went for assessment at the Heath hospital. Then she asked if I had filled in their form. I went through the information pack I'd been sent and said I'd not received one from them, whereupon she proceeded to question me briefly over the 'phone. Five minutes later called again with more questions. I think she'd missed the questions on the back of the form. 

Had the surgical team at the Heath not sent the dossier, digitally or otherwise? I wondered, but dared not ask. With such increasing pressure on hospital resources I imagine the admin staff are having a hard job keeping up with immediate demands, let alone work required to out-source a day's surgical patients to another hospital. Still, it wasn't another postponement call.

All eyes are on the U.S.A. as postal ballots continue to be counted in four key states remaining. Trump is whingeing loudly as his presumed early lead is slowly eroded, alleging without evidence that there has been foul play and electoral fraud, causing serious embarrassment to traditional Republicans, outrage in sections of the media and among state civil servants, whose pride in their even handed fairness is being wildly slandered. It comes to something when three main news networks, some of them formerly Trump enthusiasts, cut across live broadcasts of his allegations saying his statements are unfounded or false. 

This has no precedent in American electoral history it seems. Joe Biden has edged closer to electoral victory during the day, but not declared prematurely, speaking with the dignified caution of one who has already served as Vice President. He may be old to take office, but for all that, he's far wiser than the old fool who blustered and lied his way through the past four years as head of state. No electoral threshold was crossed during the day, however. Tomorrow maybe?

It's Guy Fawkes/Bonfire night with the sound of fireworks and the smell of burning in the air, though no big display at the SWALEC stadium this year. I didn't bother to go out into the cold and take a look, idle telly watching in the warm won the evening.

Staycation round two, day nine

I woke up half an hour before sunrise to a bright blue cloudless sky. It lifted my spirit, and moved me to take my Sony Alpha 68 to the loft and shoot a series of photos as the sun emerged from behind the roof line of the terraced houses beyond the garden. For a fleeting moment I glimpsed a flock of starlings as the made their way from the night time urban shelter towards the countryside to the west. I often hear them in the late afternoon, but seldom see dozens in the sky together. Inevitably, after an early breakfast I fell asleep again during morning prayer. Thank heavens I don't have a schedule to keep these days.

Early results in the U.S. election indicate that Joe Biden didn't get an overwhelming number of votes. It's too close to anticipate a result while votes are still being counted. How long will it take I wonder before enough are counted and legitimized to be sure who won? Again the opinion polls have been wrong, Not enough people are yet sick of political populism and a bullying head of state to declare against him. 

The country seems evenly divided, on the basis of voting turnout said to be the largest in a century. No good can come from all Trump's lies and deceits, until enough people give up on  all illusory promises that end up dividing in order to rule. The world needs consensus and united action in order to survive pandemic and climate change, and at the moment we have neither.

I had to forego exercising in the garden today despite the sunshine. Clare took advantage of the weather to fill the washing line which runs along the path, so all my walking was indoors, listening to Radio 3. When I did pop outdoors, I noticed that the hawthorn tree in next door's garden, now stripped of leaves was hosting a large family of sparrows, nearly a dozen I think, and another family visited but seemed unable to find enough room to cohabit. 

Last week, and on other occasions this autumn, a solitary sparrow perched in that tree, cheeped loudly for ages then flew off. I wonder if it was advertising the space available? Before this tree was drastically pruned about five years ago, it was often hosted a large group of sparrows. Then there were none. This year they've nested in the hedge next door on the other side, and are hanging around much more.

Having taken such a lot of photos of four different cameras since the end of summer, I thought I'd add them to my PC's hard drive archive. It took me longer than expected to file them away in the correct folders this afternoon. Then, for amusement I processed ten sunrise photos into a video clip to send to the family. It's something I rarely do, so it took a while to figure it out first.

The surgeon's administrator at the hospital rang at tea time to check me out, wanting to confirm that my covid-19 test had been booked, and asking if I was well, really wanting to check I wasn't poorly and going down with some sort of sickness - possible even in quarantine I guess, if you ate something that gave you a tummy bug. So far so good, anyway.