Vaccine and virus news - reassurance and uncertainty

Another mild damp day with splashes of sunshine through the cloud. I walked for two hours before lunch, up to Western Avenue over the Taff, down through Bute Park, over the Millennium Bridge and back in time to share in cooking lunch. On the Bute Park side of Blackweir Bridge, I noticed that since yesterday there's been a incident of breaking and entering. Both ends of the bridge are boarded with ugly scaffolding and long planks. It's been out of use for a whole year now. Being narrow, it's a H&S risk. A low door built into both ends allows access for inspection. The Bute Park side is padlocked but the padlock mounting has been prised off with lock attached to open the door and the panel at the far end, kicked in. 

I photographed the scene and tweeted it to Cardiff Council straightaway, and had an acknowledgement within a hour. I do hope it's fixed quickly before other mischief can be indulged in. My walk around Bute Park from home was just under 10km, but when the bridge is open it's 6km. Cyclists and pedestrians coming from Gabalfa to Pontcanna, on the most direct route, many of them students, or hospital workers have to make a detour of up to three kilometres due to the bridge closure. It's surprising this hasn't been broken into before. Or if it has, it was fixed before making the local news.

Two Wales and West Utilities engineers' workshop vans were parked in the street when I left for my walk. They're preparing to replace the street's entire gas main system, right up to the gas meter in each property. Last week the project manager visited each house to brief us on how the job will be done. It'll mean that cars parked in the street will have to be parked elsewhere in phases, while the pavement under which the trunk main runs is dug up. 

A large coil of yellow heavy duty plastic tubing has appeared in their work enclosure, to replace the old one underground. From what the manager said I think, in part at least new narrower piping will fed in stages through the old wider bore main piping but that remains to be seen. It takes me back to the time when new gas mains were installed during the city centre redevelopment, and this necessitated replacing sections of older mains pipes right down Westgate Street. It was well managed, but traffic congestion was inevitable for months on end.

The death of Captain Sir Tom Moore was announced today from covid19, though it seems he was being treated for pneumonia prior to entering hospital, and for that reason had been unable to be vaccinated. His example of positivity and persistence in turning his daily hundred paces garden walk into a modest fundraising effort for NHS charities caught the world's imagination and ended raising over thirty million pounds instead of his thousand pound target. For people of all ages he became an inspirational figure in a time of great trial since World War Two. 

I was surprised to learn that he was a Burma veteran, one of worst theatres of war in terms of lives lost and long term damage to health of combatants. To survive at all was an achievement, and to live to be a hundred even more remarkable. In his quiet good humoured stoical way he gave an example of what's needed to get through this crisis and not lose ourselves. In his last year of life he achieved so much and showed the light of  encouragement and hope to the world. Dying at Candlemass give special meaning to Simeon's Song, at the heart of this day's liturgy 'Lord now lettest thou they servant depart in peace ...'

There's been news of more developments on the vaccine front today, with statistics on the Oxford/AZ vaccine showing that it's just as effective after twelve weeks as hoped for and gambled upon in delaying application of the second dose in an effort to reach as many people as soon as possible. Some experts weren't happy about the risk without the proper evidence, but now it's there. 

The Russian Sputnik V (for victory, we were told) is now demonstrating 92% effectiveness, and shown to work with surprising effectiveness as a booster second jab. Being able to mix different vaccines without losing efficacy or putting the patient at risk is quite an advantage in the chain of demand and supply. There's also the first reports of evidence showing that two thirds of vaccinated people, if reinfected, don't transmit the virus they are immune to. This really can have an impact on infection rates as numbers vaccinated spread.

That's a lot of good news for one day, much needed, given that more cases of spontaneous virus mutations similar to South African and Brazilian strains have been detected (13 in Wales), in people not in contact with anyone from abroad. A variant of the Kent strain which has been largely responsible for the massive surge of deadly infection experienced in the past two months has just been identified, and the rush is on to do mass testing and map the spread in order to impose localised containment measures to curb contagion while the vaccination roll-out is going on. It seems vaccine immunity does give a high degree of protection against the new strains, albeit slightly reduced. 

There's talk about schools resuming after Easter if not before, depending on regular testing being in place, and staff vaccinated as much as anything else. We've now booked a four day family holiday break at the Oxwich Bay Hotel static van site, like last summer, it'll be possible to repeat. Foreign holidays are being booked in hope by many, but we've no idea how control of new variants or overall suppression of the virus will happen once the mass movement of people starts again. I'd be surprised if things return to any approximation of normality until next year, seeing how viciously innovative coronavirus is turning out to be. And there's no magic bullet solution.

Eucharist in time of pestilence

For my first trip to take a service at Sta Eulalia del Rio Anthony, who lives nearby in Cala de Bou, came and joined me and briefed me as we drove on the route, and where to find supermarkets and worthwhile restaurants to visit. The Catholic chapel of Our Lady of Lourdes is in the main street of the town, so it was necessary to find a parking space a few blocks away in the pakringlot near the town's medical centre, and walk there.

We were greeted by Rosi, with a smile and a dob of hand sanitizer. They may be no more than three Covid-19 cases reported on the island, but it's a good idea to change habits early, as long as we are not advised against meeting publicly for worship. The church must care for its own heal and that of people who reach out to it at any time. At the start of the service, Rosi introduced me and informed everyone about withholding the chalice, which I think everyone accepted with understanding.

The chapel's sound system is good but the building resonates with echoes so I had to make an effort  to speak slowly, and much closer to the microphone than I am used to at home. Well, practice makes Perfect, I hope! Unusually, there's a time of reflection and sharing by congregation members after the service. I couldn't hear very well from the sanctuary, so next time we're here in two weeks time I will have to sit with the congregation for this. It influences the timing of the service too, so I will have to be much stricter about the length of my homily in future, as we over-ran by fifteen minutes, much to the annoyance of a congregation which was following us, with another of the succession of Sunday services being held there. I spoke with the priest, who sounded more Italian than Spanish. He said he was Catholic, but the use of icons suggested an Eastern rite service. I will be interest to learn more about this.

There were about twenty worshipping together, perhaps half the usual number. It seems the local Latin rite Catholic service before us was seriously down on numbers as well. Afterwards many of the congregation went for a fellowship drink together in a main street bar. Then a smaller group of us drove out of town to the finca in the countryside a few kilometres away, where Sarah lives and was laying on a super Sunday roast lunch for us. A most enjoyable experience accompanied by some lively conversation.

The renovated old farmhouse where she lives is surrounded by vineyards. The soil is a pinkish brown colour, and vine stocks hug the ground. I'd be fascinated to learn what grapes are grown here. Ibiza has grown vines and made wine since the time of the Phoenicians. The vines belong to her nearest neighbour. Sarah has her own fruit trees, a tank holding ornamental carp, some hens and ducks supplying eggs, with flowers everywhere. It's a lovely place to live.

We drove back to Can Bagot late afternoon, and after uploading my photos of the day, it went for a walk as the sun was setting, with the nearly full moon rising above the horizon. A couple of quite different bird calls issued from across the fields and woodland flanking the un-metalled road road on which I walked. No idea what they were. I guess I'll find out eventually. Clare and I chatted for an hour on WhatsApp after I returned to the house. It seems that congregational numbers were down back home at St Catherine's and Sunday School didn't happen. They observed the same precautions as we did. Everyone is keeping an eye on the increasing number of cases across the world, and the word 'pandemic' is now being used in some quarters.

A good day, but it's left me tired enough for an early bed time.
 

Strict measures

This morning I drove out the San Rafel to attend the nine o'clock prayer prayer meeting, led by Sarah. It was my first time to navigate my way to the church since Sarah took me there to show me on Wednesday before going to the house, and I was only a few minutes late finding my way there. It was nicely structured around the Common Worship Office of Morning Prayer with almost an hour's detailed intercession list for the chaplaincy's people and ministry, the diocese and the wider world. Time well spent in my opinion.

The village church, dedicated to the healing angel at the crossroads (as in the deutero-canonical book of Tobias) holds about a hundred and fifty people, and has a fair sized porch area outside where open air activities can be held in a sheltered open air space. Simple but effective social design. Afterwards the six of us went to the bar/restaurant in the main street for coffee and bread covered with tomato pulp and olive oil, the standard Spanish breakfast snack. We chatted for an hour then went our separate ways.

I'm getting into the habit now of cooking for lunch every other day, enough for two, as I would at home. I don't mind the repetition, and sometimes add extras second time around. Then I went for a walk along the Cala Bassa road, just to look at the landscape, although I didn't go all the way there as I didn't want to over reach myself. On the way back I stopped as Es Cuco, to buy some chicken, breast which I fancied for a change, and cooked it when I got back. That will do me several meals I suspect.

Clare called me while I was at the shop, and we talked while I was walking and then at home for over an hour on WhatsApp. Before early bed, I have to prepare for tomorrow. Instructions about communion and the coronavirus have just been issued by the diocese in Europe, banning intinction so what we thought we'd do tomorrow must now change. The Church in Wales instructions are just as strict. The CofE instruction allow a little discretion for people in unaffected areas, I suppose. European chaplaincies are on the front line. Genoa chaplaincy, I understand, has stopped meeting  and is video streaming worship to member's digital devices instead. I hope it doesn't come to that everywhere. I quite like the idea of using the international deaf sign language greeting of peace as social physical contact is now discouraged if not banned. How many outgoing people will forget, I wonder?
 

Precautions

What a windy day today was!

Even so, I walked up to Es Cuco, and then downhill from there to Cala des Torrentes, another built up resort with an even better beach and La Cala de Bou, half an hour's walk from the house instead of three quarters of an hour.

After lunch I took the car out for an hour and a half's drive, visiting St Antoni and St Josep. Over the past eighteen months since I was last out of the UK I have driven very little, and was pleased to find that I had no difficulty in adjusting to driving on the opposite side of the road. It's a boost to confidence, that's for sure.

English and Welsh Bishops have issued a directive to with-hold offering the chalice to the laity as a precaution against the Coronavirus epidemic. Communion by intinction has also been discouraged I've been discussing with Churchwarden Rosi what this means for services in Ibiza, which thus far is infection free. Some recognition of the need to take precautions is highly desirable. Recouncing  the physical sharing of the peace is one step. Rigorous and visible hand-washing is another. With-holding the chalice is yet another gesture, but what is under discussion is adopting intinction as a universal practice, for the time being. The choreography isn't easy, but we can learn by doing.

As the sun was setting, I went out for another walk along a neighbouring unmetalled road through the urbanizacion, just to stretch my legs, now that Wednesdays' fall injury is improving, exercise seems to be beneficial, more than rest as there's nothing torn. Another large area of land adjacent to agricultural land rich with wild flowers a this time of year is taken up with very suburban looking  properties, whether holiday homes or dwellings for local people it's hard to tell.