Parks and parking

A cloudy day without rain with a mild wind to dry out the sodden soil. We need more days like this given the broadening mud slicks alongside all the park footpaths. With so many people out and about every day, socialising without socialising strolling along and hogging the path, overtaking walkers and cyclists drives more and more people on to the grass. Heaven knows how the park management teams are going to repair and restore the greensward to its usual healthy condition. 

The task of keeping the park rubbish free has become a seven day week job, as rubbish bins fill very quickly to overflowing with takeaway cups, pizza boxes, sandwich wrappers and plastic bottles. If a day is missed, the place looks terrible, and more rubbish gets dropped than when it looks clean and tidy. No doubt we'll pay for this with Council Tax rate increases eventually, but such excellent civic amenities as we enjoy are worth paying for.

Talking about the Council - a consultation document dropped through our letterbox this afternoon relating to traffic management and parking locally. A bus lane is proposed for Penhill Road, robbing one side of the road of car parking bays, displacing vehicles into overnight parking down by Cafe Castan. It looks as if we won't be able to avoid a residents' car parking permit scheme for the whole of neighbourhood. There are already too many cars competing for too little space on the street, too many two car households. Will each household be restricted to one permit only? I love our little car, but have thought a lot recently about giving it up, as we used it so little, regardless of lock-downs, we'd be better off hiring for occasional travel needs that can't be met by public transport.

At lunchtime I had a call postponing the telephone consultation I was due to have with a pharmacology expert at Llandough who is said to be off sick. Well I've waited four months for this, and am not dead while waiting. Meanwhile, I'll just keep experimenting with the doxazosin dosage to see if I can minimise the side effects and get my blood pressure nearer to normal.

Now that schools are open again to the youngest children, Clare has decided to resume her regular Thursday visit to the Steiner kindergarten to do eurythmy with the little ones, so she's spent quite a lot of time on the phone discussing and planning this today. It means a lot to her, but she's confident that staff are going to be working with high safety standards, and infection risk is far lower with the under sevens in any case. 

An article I read this morning about kids returning to school stated that 12-14 year olds are the most likely to catch covid and transmit it. It also stated that a much under estimated preventative measure is classroom ventilation, leaving windows open and wrapping up warm. Or, classes outdoors. It's something new to get used to, and not easy for generations raised in centrally heated houses and schools whose standard of clothing is geared to 22-24 degrees indoors, rather than 18. 

Train outing for a kids' show

After breakfast we walked to Cardiff Central Statio to take a train to Birmingham New Street, then a connecting train to Leamington Spa, a journey of almost three hours, to watch a performance of Kath, Lucy and Anto's Wriggledance Theatre company, as part of a children's arts festival set in the lovely parkland of the town's Jephson's Gardens. Their current touring show 'Out of this World' is a 45 minute fantasy trip into space for under fives. Thus far, it's been done successfully in libraries or community arts venues. 

Tomorrow, the three final shows will take place in the foyer of Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Today's was a unique challenge, taking place in a large marquee in daylight, where none of the usual lighting effects would work, and noises off from other events in the vicinity could have been a distraction. In any case, it went very well indeed with about thirty children and a dozen or so adults taking part. I'm so glad we got to see it at last, having learned about the show's development at each stage since its conception as, as a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first man to set foot on the moon.

It was well worth the travelling, although I found this a bit stressful, as the train seats were narrow and uncomfortable, largely due to wear and tear. It proved very difficult to settle and the effort was a drain on my physical energy. British trains are no match for their European counterparts. As we travelled out of Cardiff to Severn Tunnel Junction, it was interesting to see the extent of progress made on installing the equipment for electrifying the line from Paddington to Cardiff. 

It was gone half past eight when we arrived back in Cardiff. Rather than wait for a bus, we walked home via the 'Rock & Malt' the local chip shop, where we bought what we thought was a small bag of chips for supper, which turned out to be big enough for three of us! It was just the right remedy for tiredness after six hours of train travel.

I often complain about the terrible litter problem we have in our streets, Council workers can never keep up with the task of clearing the mess, except in the city centre, for appearances sake. Little is done to expand the number of strategically placed litter bins either, but extra bins would require more workers to empty, and public spending cut-backs rule this out. I noticed that on Birmingham New Street station, there were no litter bins to be seen anywhere. Plenty of shops selling take away food, however. 

The station is kept clean by a patrolling squad of workers, so passengers discard the cup or sandwich box they have just finished with anywhere they fancy, including perching them on seats which other might want to use. They stay there until collected by the patrolling cleaners, but how long is that in practice? At peak travel times, or shift changeover times? Far more seriously it takes away from travellers a sense of obligation to clear up after themselves. It promotes a culture of dependency on 'the travel system' created by smart modern management. I don't imagine that urban architects conceived of their shiny new icons of progress, with rubbish strewn around their elegant spaces as an adornment. The gulf between the ideal and the reality is immense. No wonder urban society is in such a mess.

Toxic consumerism

I celebrated the Eucharist with a dozen people at St John's this morning, then went to the clinic for a dressing. My clinic visits are reducing to three a week now, and if I'm running out of supplies, I can call in during working hours. Healing continues slowly, but it's still quite uncomfortable to sit for any length of time. Even so, already it's better than it was a couple of weeks ago. I look forward to a time when I can get by with just a minimal dressing, as I did for several months at the outset, as that would allow me to look after myself and not need to rely on Clare or a nurse to keep clean and safe. I'd then be able to go to London and see my sister June. It's more than a year since I last visited her.

Following my afternoon siesta I walked over to Victoria Park and back, for a change. Along Romilly Road I picked up a dozen discarded cans and bottles over a half mile distance with three litter bins. It's almost automatic for me to pick up something rolling around on the pavement which others might trip over if they don't notice it. It's the only way I can stop myself being resentful toward those who have no sense of public pride or self control to carry a container as far as a bin. These can be discarded often within yards of a litter bin. It's as if bins are invisible to the guzzling classes. 

What also disturbs me is the number of drink containers, both alcoholic and soft, from which only a few mouthfuls have been taken before abandonment. Was the person thirsty or not? Did the drink's taste not meet expectation? Is this a kind of consumer sickness, with an impact beyond the individual? 

Cutbacks in municipal budgets have led to reduction to the services delivered by the Council's Waste Management department when it comes to street cleaning. One day, on my walk back from the clinic I chatted with a couple of crew members emptying litter bins and tidying King's Road. Two workers are now doing what used to be done by three, and crews are expected to cover more ground as well. They may have to go without a lunch break to complete their target schedule. The city centre is well looked after from day to day, but less so the outlying residential areas.

One thing I find comforting is learning that some other older people also pick up litter in the street on their daily walkabouts. Neighbourhood groups and friends of public green spaces also organise weekend litter picks too. If politics and the economy fail to provide services which help to maintain civic pride, community voluntary action is necessary to fend off demoralisation and indifference to the environment. But the heart of the matter is the pernicious change in personal behaviour wrought by modern consumerism, and it's poisoning individuals (due to the impact on health of over eating and drinking), as well as the public domain and the common good.