Down memory lane

I celebrated the Eucharist at St Catherine's this morning, and then after an early lunch Clare, Rachel and I drove to Bristol to visit Amanda. She told us how the care agency which now looks after her is managed and staffed by Muslim care workers, who have been most attentive to her needs, so that now she gets taken in her wheelchair to the Parish Eucharist in St Stephen's Southmead on Sunday mornings. Her carer sits at the back or goes outside during the service, and pops in now and then to check she's OK. The congregation is friendly and welcoming towards them both, and having a burka wearing care worker in church regularly offers a low key opportunity for growing respect and trust in an area not exactly renowned for tolerance.

Amanda, always outgoing and curious, has been learning from her carers about muslim culture and faith practices, as well as explaining her own. She has given them permission, should they need to while they are with her, to take a few moments time out for prayer in another room. Through this kind of everyday inter-faith dialogue, grass roots progress can be made in learning how best to live together with our differences.

At Rachel's request on our return trip we drive across the old Severn Bridge and visited Chepstow, where we lived for seven years when she was in primary school. We walked down the Dell to the Castle, along the west bank of the river Wye and back up through the older streets of the town. It was no surprise that Rachel should find a chippie open and buy a bag of chips to share. Chips over in Chepstow (aka 'Chipstow') was a regular treat when we lived in St Paul's Bristol, and crossed the bridge to visit the Wye Valley for some respite from the concrete jungle. Happy days back then over, thirty years ago.

    

St James' Eve licensing

It was glad to attend the licensing of Emma Rees Kenny as Team Vicar in Canton Benefice tonight. At last a full time colleague for Fr Mark, and no more home locum duties for me, hopefully for a good while to come. There was a congregation at St John's of about a hundred from all three churches. Fr Mark invited me to robe and sit in choir, along with Fr Colin, another retired priest who helps in the Parish plus Rosie Dymond of St Padarn's institute, now assigned to the Parish as a NSM priest. Bishop June preached on the ambition of the mother of the sons Zebedee, arising from the Gospel for St James' Day which is tomorrow. She also took time to talk about her plan to hold the next Diocesan Clergy School as a pilgrimage event at Santiago de Compostela. Amazing!

Personally, I have misgivings about this particular Camino, whose popularity has revived in recent decades, resulting in a huge increase in the number of pilgrims walking at least the last 100km, but with many more completing the official 810km route from St Jean Pied de Port in France. While I understand and appreciate the desire to make such a journey at walking pace over several months as a long retreat and means of self exploration and spiritual development, and the fact that people have been doing this for the past twelve centuries, the connection of the place to James the Great, the first of the Apostles to be martyred, has no biblical basis.

Stories attached to the translation of relics which may or may not have been his, are all legendary if not magical. Yet this pilgrimage persisted, as a popular spiritual expedition for a host of complex social, cultural and economic reasons. It's a pilgrimage hallowed by a long tradition of prayer and hospitality, but is it pilgrimage for pilgrimage sake? I wonder, like being famous for being famous? I could understand better the reason if the place was actually linked with the life and witness of the saint, as is often the case. I've spent time in Jerusalem, Rome and Damascus in the footsteps of Christ and the Apostles, and believe I learned from this, even if I only walked at length in the heat around these ancient cities and not to them from a distance. It's also good to reflect on the differences between the world then and now. For me the story behind the pilgrimage, gives reason for the journey. It has to count.

As a retired priest, I no longer have an obligation to go the Diocesan clergy school. I'll be interested to learn, from those who attend, how this event is arranged and what learning plan will be followed. Bishop June is an original thinker and a good teacher, so I'm sure it won't be a dull or dutiful affair. 

Remembering Mike

Yesterday morning we drove to Worcester to spend the weekend with Gail, the wife of my friend Mike who died back in February. I was in Spain for his funeral, and was unable to visit her before the funeral, or since returning, so there was a lot of catching up to be done.

After lunch, she drove us out into deepest rural Worcestershire to visit the National Trust property Hanbury Hall. On the way there, we visited Hanbury Parish church which is where the BBC record St Stephen's Ambridge church sequences for our favourite soap opera 'The Archers'. It's half a mile walk from there to the Hall, but we drove back to the Hall to be sure to have enough time to visit.

The house is in the early 17th century style of William and Mary's reign, but has been modified on occasions since then. The impressive formal gardens are a modern recreation from the original 1701 plan of landscape artist George London. The house sits on a ridge and the land falls away from the terrace in a sweep of grassland dotted with trees plus a tree lined avenue for riding or walking. Due to lack of rain, the grass is golden yellow, and populated by a flock of sheep, not so visible at the moment. With hindsight, I regret not taking photographs of the landscape in this unusual condition. My pictures of the house and church are here.

This morning we went to the Eucharist at St Stephen's Barbourne Parish church together with Gail. This was the church where Mike's funeral was held, the Fr Andy the Vicar, I'd already corresponded with over the tribute I recorded for use in absentia at the funeral. It was good to meet him at last in person, and enjoy participating in a well thought out service with excellent preaching and a over a hundred communicants. Just how it should be. 

As we walked home, Gail pointed out the Post Office where Mike died, and told the story of how she went looking for him when he failed to arrive in time for a car journey up north. It seems she guessed what had happened when she saw the ambulance lights on approach, as he'd collapsed inexplicably out talking the previous day, and had been given the all clear by his GP afterwards. It was such a shock for us all. And we miss him.

After lunch we went for a walk along the east bank of the river Severn. It runs about half a mile away from where they live. The riverside meadows are a mix of grain fields, and grazing land for cattle and horses. There's no industrial traffic on the river, just leisure craft and narrowboats. A nice quiet way to see the landscape and observe the wildlife. Gail spotted a woodpecker taking off, and there was a egret up by the weir, but I missed both. Never mind, my bucolic landscapes are here. 

Before we set out for home, there was an evening service at St Stephen's with a group of French youngsters from a Parisian suburb attending, as part of an exchange holiday project. The service was bi-lingual, and Fr Andy asked if I could read a prayer in French, which I did, and wished that I'd asked Clare to do it instead, so that my Sunday could be a full Sunday on the receiving end for once. Serves me right not being reluctant to say 'no' to a colleague.

The run home was fairly traffic free, and we reached home just after nine, with much to think about after our catch-up time, and for me, more grieving to do, at the loss of those unique conversations that can only happen when you've been friends for three quarters of a lifetime.

Llys Esgob garden party

Midweek Eucharists again at St Catherine's and St John's again on Wednesday and Thursday. Apart from that, much quiet enjoyment of hot sunny days. I had another bereavement meeting today, at Pidgeon's funeral home, for a service a week today. The deceased had worked as a young mother as a domestic cleaner in Llandaff, for a Mr & Mrs Rees of the Old Registry, I learned from preparing her eulogy. The address seemed like a familiar echo from the past, and so it turned out to be when I rang her daughter daughter to check. 

She told me Mum had worked for the Reverend Geoffrey Rees and his wife Lil, who was Principal of St Michael's College when I was training for ministry there. As a toddler she'd accompanied her mother to work early in the morning, and been taken by Mr Rees across the road and into college for breakfast in the big Refectory with the students "Who spoiled me rotten!" she recalled. This was seven years before my time, but nevertheless a lovely connection with my youth, under the caring eye of a priest and pastor for whom I grew to have the highest regard.

In the afternoon, Clare and I walked to Llandaff for a retired clerics' tea party with Bishop June at Llys Esgob. It was lovely to meet a variety of former colleagues and chat with them in the garden, even if it was occasionally difficult to fit names to faces. Just as we were about to finish, the skies darkened, the temperature dropped and we were treated to a few drops of rain, so we caught the bus back home instead of walking. Well, Clare, with her folding brolly, carried on into town on the bus for a quick piece of shopping, and I returned and cooked supper in time for her return. 

Afterwards I watched another episode of Dicte - Crime Reporter, plus a couple of episodes of a new BBC Wales mystery drama 'Keeping Faith' on iPlayer. Excellent acting with an authentic portrayal of a South Wales family stricken by the husband's sudden disappearance. It's now being screened again on BBC One to critical acclaim. Quite something for two serial dramas made in Wales to be screened in the same season.
  

Llandough on time

This afternoon we took Rachel to the coach station to start her journey to Kenilworth, where she'll not only be staying with big sister Kath this week, but making some song recordings with brother in law Anto in the attic studio where he composes his own sound track music for AKM Music and has recorded their own Sonrisa band albums. Getting quality recordings done in the USA would be not only more costly but maybe also a more chancy process, where you can't be sure that the people you're dealing with want to help you or take advantage of the fact that you're a foreigner. Working on home ground has its advantages! Unfortunately, her coach suffered a door closure malfunction, leading to a departure delay of over two hours.

Clare and I went to Llandough Hospital after dropping Rachel at Sophia Gardens, as I had a first examination and briefing about having an endoscopy inspection. I'm impressed by the improved way the hospital appointment system now works, checking and rechecking by text message, that you still want and can keep the appointment. This strategy aim to cut down on time wasted by those who fail to notify of their need to cancel or postpone. 

For good or ill, there are always reasons why a scheduled booking has to be changed, or cannot be taken up. While there's little excuse for not letting the hospital know in good time, I guess with a range of older, less capable patients, some of whom may be supported by busy careers, additional effort to communicate and obtain a response is worthwhile. I was also impressed by how everything ran to time. We were on our way home again within three quarters of an hour of arrival.

I was interested to find the specialist I saw wasn't entitled Dr or Mr but Lt Col, a military surgeon, not in the reserves, but on active service. As a ranking officer, leading or managing a team he spends time in a civilian hospital alongside military duties to maintain his level of professional competence when not on operations. That's a comforting thought now.

Over the weekend, I started watching a series of French crimmies called 'Dead Beautiful' on More Four Walter Presents. They feature Thierry Godard, who plays the Parisien flic who co-stars in the brilliant long running 'Spiral' series. Instead of being a team member, he's Le Commissaire in this series with the usual complex personal and family life which seems to be built in feature of the narrative in so many police dramas, representing the exacting demands on the individuals who serve in law and order roles.

As the generic title suggests, this is a series of stories about women who are victims or perpetrators of violent crimes. Wealth and privilege also part of the scenario, and the power politics surrounding the judiciary aren't really a feature. Each is a two hour watch, quite tough going, and each has a few surprise twists in the past ten minutes. Best of all, my comprehension of movie mode French seems to have improved, perhaps because I have been using the Duo Lingo app to revise French this year, in addition to maintaining my Spanish. Half to three quarters of an hour's language drills daily is a quite a routine to maintain, but I'd rather that than doing Sudoku or crosswords. It seems a bit more useful, while I'm still able to travel and live abroad for decent periods.
       

Duty free time in view?

Yesterday morning, Clare and I drove up the A470 to Trelewis to visit Claus and Anna, the Fountain Choir director in their hillside Valleys home. Their back garden is on a steep terraced slope, which mounts as high as the roof of the house. The highest level contains his and her sheds. Claus's is an arts and crafts workshop and Anna's is her private practice counselling room. In between they have a table and some chairs, under a large umbrella, with space for a barbecue behind. This was where we had lunch al fresco, and then sat and chatted all afternoon.

Meanwhile back at home Owain arrived to see Rachel, and they went together to Penarth, as Owain was very keen to visit the sea. He stayed the night, so when we returned, we were able to spend the evening together.

This morning, I celebrated the eight o'clock at St John's and then the ten thirty Eucharist at St Catherines's. Emma Rees begins work as Team Vicar in the Benfice the week after next. I have two more rounds of midweek celebrations to perform, but these were my last Sunday interregnum duties in the Parish for now. Next Sunday, all three churches close and the congregations attend Cathedral worship, as Fr Mark is Canon in Residence. The Sunday after is a united Benefice service, and I'm not required for either of these. Two free Sundays in a row! I've had two other duty free Sundays this year so far, it's been that busy. 

I learned this morning that my former Team Vicar colleague Jenny Wigley retires today. I've done locum cover for her in Radyr on several occasions in times past, and preached Holy Week there. I wonder if I'll be recruited to help out for this interregnum? I've nothing lined up for when I return from Montreux, but I'd prefer to wait and see what comes to me. Much as I enjoy what I do, I think I may benefit from a change of pace, and maybe would benefit from a little more leisure time - if only I could think what I'd really like to be doing that I'm not doing now.  

Video labours

Slowly but steadily over the past few days, I've edited the footage from Rachel's gig last Friday into separate videos of all sixteen of the songs she performed. Technically speaking they're not perfect, but, the sound quality is excellent and the performances are remarkably good, well worth uploading to her YouTube site for a wider audience of fans family and friends. The first one to be published 'Bubble Trouble' is here. It's a song from ten years ago, and there an audio recording of it on her site, but the live video is value added in my opinion even if it's not as polished as a studio recording. She will release one song video a week on YouTube and publicise the series on her Facebook page. Good for getting her work a wider audience.

Yesterday morning I celebrated the Eucharist at St John's again. There were just seven of us as some of the regulars are away, which is only to be expected at this time of year. In the afternoon, I had an GP appointment to find out the result of last Friday's blood test and ECG. I was relieved and glad to hear there are no anomalies requiring further investigation, clearing the way for my next round of duty travel to Montreux, in three weeks time. Having said that, I have an endoscopy appointment next Monday to get through first, and optimistic about the outcome of that.

I was driven over to St German's church for today's funeral, and was pleased to be able to drop in and say hello to people in the old people's day centre in the hall beforehand. As expected there was a big attendance for the service, as the deceased was a well known member of Millennium Centre staff. The organist played us out to a largo version of 'There's No Business like Show Business', but I'm not sure if any of the congregation recognised this, as people were chatting on their way out. Ah well, it was still worth the effort.

Vale visiting

Yesterday, we took Rachel for a visit and lunch at Dyffryn Gardens via Tinkinswood and St Lythan's burial chambers, at her special request. Last time we visited, five years ago, Jasmine was with us and she was in a stroppy mood, refusing to return to the car with us from the Tinkinswood site, as she wanted to stay on top of the capstone and play, which rather spoiled it for Rachel. Here on her own, she was free to indulge in communing with her primaeval forebears, while I took photos.

I got some super bird feeding shots from my usual spot in the Dyffryn front cafe window, also some good dragonfly photos at the the ornamental pond in the grounds. It's looking great there at the moment. These photos are here.

This morning I celebrated the Eucharist with five others at St Catherine's, and then spent the rest of the day working on video song edits. I've done sixteen of Rachel's original songs which she sang last Friday.  That's an impressive achievement. There were a few 'cover' songs by other artists as well, but these are not for upload as there's always possible performing rights issues involved. Best avoided. Amazing to think that we have two song-writing performing daughters. Rhiannon seems to be following the same path, being interested in acting and making music. She passed her grade four flute exam this week, something we're delighted about. Jasmine is learning musical instruments in school too, saxophone and guitar.

Follow up and check up

I spent the morning completing work on the second half gig video. This plus the audio recording is for Rachel to keep and study her own performance in detail at leisure. The next task, which I then started on is making short self contained videos for each complete song she's written. These can be uploaded more easily to You Tube in a release sequence, separately publicised via Facebook, giving optimum exposure to her full range of live performance material. Useful as a musical CV for any booking agent interested in what she can do. It's a long and fiddly job however, and will take a few days of spare time, considering the mistakes I'll make, weeding out recording glitches which evade initial attention - a product of not being able to record continuously on the same memory card. 

I've discovered today that a relatively slower card has latency glitches. When the maximum video file size is reached, a new file is started automatically but the swapover takes marginally longer and can leave a gap in the data stream which shows up in playback. That few seconds gap can be edited out easily if you've not missed it, but it's annoying to find it post production. It makes sense of needing a larger faster card, matched to the speed at which the camera's video processor works. For the first time the technical details printed on SD cards make practical sense to me.

This afternoon, I walked to UHW Heath hospital for an appointment with an ENT specialist to look into my occasional nosebleed problem. It's a matter of eliminating the possibility of anything out of the ordinary going on in my nostrils. Nosebleeds a common place enough, and I told him that understand mine are usually a result of sleeping awkwardly and constructing blood vessels in my neck. Then when I turn over, pressure buildup leads to a surge that ruptures a minor blood vessel. I've had less bleeds since I started using a shaped neck pillow. They're not so frequent or copious as in year past, but it's been a continuing problem for about fifteen years, so inevitably my GP thought it best to get it checked out. I've been on the waiting list since last December, so it's a relief to get this out of the way. I must return for another specialist check-up in October.

Next week, another appointment I've waited for since last December, this time for an endoscopy, occasioned by chronic haemorrhoid condition. I know I need this hi-tech inspection. I've coped with discomfort and occasional pain for a long time without improvement, but can't say I'm looking forward to this - no least because I dread the follow up interfering with my locum visit to Montreux next month. Well, we'll find out soon enough, I guess.

I got the bus back to Western Avenue from the hospital and walked home through the Fields, which look parched and golden at the moment after weeks of sunshine and little rain. I then had to drive out to St Mellons to meet a bereaved family to plan a funeral in St German's I'm taking this Friday. The traffic across town was very slow moving due to an M4 carriageway closure beyond the A48, and I had trouble finding my way to the street due to a wrong turning shortly after leaving the A48, which meant that I went all my way around the poorly signposted housing estate ring road, before identifying the correct turning. It's not a part of the city I'm at all familiar with.

The deceased in his last job and afterwards as a retirement volunteer had been on the staff of the Millennium Centre, and loved being involved in the hospitality side of productions. He was a fan of musical theatre, and his son showed me me the garage cum storeroom, whose walls are decorated with posters for all the shows presented there since it opened. He'd wanted the exterior of his coffin to be lined with playbills, and arranged for copies so this could be achieved. The family was none too keen about this, so the playbills will go into the coffin with him, all rolled up, as a compromise. Rod, a former member of St John's City Parish, now a St German's regular is a good friend of the family, and was there to greet me. From the way he spoke, I could tell that he'd been there for his terminally ill friend, accompanying him, ready to listen and discuss with him about the impending end of his life. Lovely to know such lay ministry goes on quietly when us clergy are so thin on the ground these days.

Follow-up

Despite the extra stimulus of yesterday evening, I was awake at six, and walking to St Catherine's early to celebrate the eight o'clock, and later the ten thirty. This past week I've been enjoying the exceptional warm weather and bright sunlight, but strangely it had its impact on my this morning, as I started to develop a migraine aura once I switched on the pulpit reading light to preach. My eyes deal reasonably well with sunlight and high contrast, but certain kinds of artificial light and natural light mixed seem to trigger a reaction. I've noticed it happens when I go into shops during bright sunny weather. It doesn't last long, about the length of a sermon in this case, even though I switched off the reading light immediately and carried on. It was a somewhat unnerving experience.

It was lovely to have a family lunch with Rachel afterwards, even though Owain was unable to join us, and Rhiannon wasn't with us, staying home for a teen sleepover with friends. Kath and Anto left fairly soon afterwards, and I devoted the rest of the day to audio editing and learning Movie Maker. The audio only recording was OK, but colourless in comparison to the stereo video sound recording, as it was mono only. I've got the first half gig video stitched together with minimal audio. Without editing redundant material out, it's fifty minutes long, as is the second half. That's quite long for a solo performer. And Rachel next stops smiling or looking happy while she makes music. Bless her.

Gig night

A visit to the GP surgery yesterday morning for a routine set of blood tests and an ECG. Apart from that, and sermon preparation, the day was taken over by Rachel getting ready for her gig practicing and organising her set playlist. Because of the unique way in which she uses different tuning settings for her various songs she needs to have at least two guitars set up ready to use. The one she brought with her we felt didn't really fit the bill, so we tried without success to hire one, but to no avail. Clare and I separately had the same idea, and an instrument fit for purpose was borrowed from Diana's husband Pete and fitted with a brand new set of strings. Rachel has bought lots of packets as she found a special offer in town. In any case, it seems they are less expensive here than in the USA.

Kath and Anto arrived with a car load of equipment for the gig, including a PA system leads, to add to the guitar brought last weekend, and a few essentials Rachel brought with her from AZ. At six we accompanied Rachel to the Apothecary Tea Room on Llandaff Road, and got the place ready for the gig. My role was to make a sound and a video recording. The sound job was entrusted to Clare's iPad voice recorder plus a substantial mono microphone of Rachel's, positioned on a boom stand at the back of a room about 6 metres square, with my Sony HX300 next to it mounted on a tripod on a table. This gave me opportunity to alter position and focus if required.

Disappointingly, given the effort we made in advance publicity, only a dozen friends turned up, but they were a warm and supportive audience, nevertheless, and Rachel shone, performing tirelessly, answering questions from the audience, at one point coping with the invasion of a small escaped puppy dog and a noisy avalanche of empty bottles being added to the recycling bin by the bar next door. Kath added backing vocals on a few Rachel songs she remembered from ten years ago. It was good to see them reunited in music again. The last time was when they sang the specially composed duet celebrating our Golden Wedding anniversary celebration two years ago. We are so blessed!

The recordings turned out quite well, despite the need to swap out memory cards, and the camera running out of battery near the end of the second half. Thankfully I'd been taking still photos with my Song HX50, which has an identical battery, so I was able to swap them around, without losing too much of one song. The challenge now will be to edit sound and video into a useable form which Rachel can publish on several different web platforms. But first, there's the small matter of having to re-learn how to use Windows Movie Maker. So forgettable, unfortunately. 

  

Ministry duties and time out

Rachel's was eventually re-united with her luggage, yesterday evening after anxious web checking and a transatlantic help desk call. A relief it's not lost, as it contained a few vital pieces of equipment and a folder with print outs of all her song lyrics she uses as an aide-memoire during performances.

I celebrated the midweek Eucharist at St Catherine's, and at St John's this morning. I was collected from the church after the latter service and driven to Thornhill for a funeral straight after. There were thirty people in the Briwnant chapel to say farewell to a nonogenarian. Often for someone that age it can be half a dozen. It makes a difference if there's an extended family, which isn't always the case these days, and if the person who's died has been active and living at home until recently. If a person is hospitalised or in a care home for years with Alzheimer's and single, they can easily slip from common memory, except for the closest of friends and carers. Sad indeed.

The chapel manager greeted me with 'Long time no see', which made me realise that although I have been in Thornhill recently for a burial, I haven't officiated at a cremation service here since last August. How time flies without me noticing it!

I got back in time for lunch, and spent the afternoon catching up on various crime movie series I like to watch, while Mother and Daughter went shopping for a new dress to wear for Saturday's gig. I completed watching 'Nit y Dia', on More 4's Walter Presents showcase, great for international drama series. It presented interesting insights into the dark side of the characters of responsible professional public servants.

It was filmed and produced in Barcelona, and is mostly in Catalan with a few characters speaking in Castilian Spanish. With the subtitles, and improved knowledge of Spanish, I found I was able to make sense of much more of the Catalan spoken that I'd imagined. It maybe due to the pace. Following movies in Castilian or Andalusian Spanish is harder because the dialogue is faster and speech seems more blurred. It'll take years to get used to.

After supper and rehearsal time, Rachel and I took a sunset walk, down to Blackweir bridge and enjoyed the cool of the evening, catching sight of the resident heron. The photos weren't very satisfactory as light levels dropped, however, not good for long zoom shots across the river.

Rachel's Homecoming

Much of our Monday was spent getting ready for Rachel's arrival tomorrow, although I met with a bereaved family at Pidgeons funeral home in the afternoon, to prepare a funeral service with them for a 94 year old, who'd served on HMS Renown as a teenage carpenter during the World War Two, and met Sir Winston Churchill, who travelled on the battleship to secret meetings with Allied leaders. Like many others, after demobilisation, he was happy to settle down back home, raise a family and stay in the same job for forty years. Many youngsters are far better travelled by the time they are twenty these days, but is their life experience of consumer holidays and educational visits as rich and powerful, leaving them as content with stable ordinary life?

Rachel's flight arrived slightly ahead of schedule enabling her to get the coach she'd booked on with ease, so she got home, joyful but tired in time for lunch. Afterwards she insisted that the first thing she wanted to do was to walk along the Taff and through Bute Park. She much prefers the cooler British climate, compared to an Arizona summer, and misses the extensive summer greenery which we take for granted. It was lovely to see her so happy to be home, even if we are going through what passes for a heat wave (28-30C) here at the moment. I've got used to hot weather this past few years so this level of heat is just about right for me, while others complain about getting in a sweat.

Annoyingly, Rachel's hold luggage didn't arrive with her after a change of flights in Houston, so she needed to borrow from Mum and buy some underwear, but it wasn't too long before she took out her guitar, checked the spare one Anto had brought for her to use last weekend, and was re-tuning them to the special settings she uses for accompanying her songs. Then, out came her Grandpa's beloved 'cello for some improvised duetting with Mum on the piano. Such a domestic delight!

The party continues

Up early this morning to walk to St John's to celebrate the Eucharist with four others. I breakfasted before others started getting up, then walked to St Luke's for the second service of the day. It must a a year since I was last here on a Sunday, although I was here last on Friday evening to join in the Mass for St Peter and St Paul's day, to remember Bishop June and the candidates to be ordained in the Cathedral tomorrow.

When I returned home, we had a lovely summer salad lunch followed by the birthday cake, Clare had made for the occasion, adorned with a chocolate record disc with INNATE on it. Owain wore his custom made tee shirt with the logo on for party dress. It was a lovely occasion, but over far too soon, as they all had to start for home by tea time, to be ready for work on Monday. 

Such is life nowadays. Never mind, they'll be back next week for Rachel's gig.

Birthday family reunion

Yesterday morning we had a new Mira electric shower installed. The old one still works but has become a over sensitive to water pressure of late and shutting down while in use. With a house full of visitors this weekend we didn't want to risk a cold damp bathroom experience for all. It's nineteen years old, and we've been fortunate that only once in that time have we needed to call out a technician to fix it.

It was another hot and sunny day, giving me plenty of time to make an early start and apply a fresh coat of paint to the coping stones on top of the front garden wall to go with the recently repainted railings. While I was at it, with paint to spare, I also did the stones on top of Liz's front wall next door, so the entire frontage now looks bright, clean and welcoming.

I then completed tomorrow's two sermons, a shorter one for eight at St John's, and a longer one for ten thirty at St Luke's. It's good to make the extra mental effort to write a shorter simpler address which has something in it worth considering. It's harder than a longer 'Parish Communion' sermon in which I try to have something to say, however brief, on all three readings and the link between them. When I look back at sermon's I've preached previously I am often disappointed by them. Sure, they were prepared and delivered in a different setting and in different circumstances, but often major on one text at the expense of others.

Late afternoon, Kath, Anto and Rhiannon arrived followed by Owain, to celebrate Owain's fortieth birthday weekend with an excellent meal at 'La Cuina' the marvellous local Catalan restaurant in King's Road. Owain's fortunes have recently taken a turn for the better, having finally been offered a permanent contract for the web content management job he does with the DVSA, after more than two years on a temporary contract. His first original techno music compilation record published under his own 'Innate' label went live a few weeks ago and has been selling well in a international niche music market, and nominated as top distribution of the month by a leading techno magazine. A substantial reward for the patient hard work of preparation he's put into this over several years, even if it's unlikely to earn him any money.

It was an enjoyable evening, although we missed having Rachel with us. She arrives on Tuesday from Phoenix to stay for a month. Next Saturday, she sings the full gig, arranged by Clare at 'The Apothecary' tea room which we've been preparing for over the past month. I'm hoping she won't be too jet-lagged after four days back home.

I was surprised at how tired I was at supper, perhaps due to all the extra physical exercise wielding a large paintbrush and bending down a lot earlier in the day. Although I walk a lot, it's not the kind of activity I'm used to, and for that, I pay the price.

Musicians to be proud of

Yesterday morning I celebrated the Eucharist with half a dozen others at St Catherines. Afterwards, Clare and I went into town to visit the John Lewis bedding department for me to select a new single mattress to replace the less than satisfactory one on which I currently sleep when I'm in a single bed. Eventually we'll get one to suit Clare, and pair them up on the double bed, which is due to be replaced in the next year or so. These things have a shorter comfort life than we realise. 

Certainly as we get older sleeping comfort seems more essential, because poor mattress support can have a bad impact on body posture in waking life. It's something I've experienced in the course of my locum tours of duty, as I get to sleep in several different beds for extended period through the year. We get less flexible and adaptable, muscles stiffen and take longer to warm up as we age, no matter how much regular exercise we take. Good quality relaxed comfortable sleep, benefits soul and body, regardless of how many times you need to get up in the night and go to the loo.

This morning I celebrated the Eucharist at St John's and bought some home made marmalade and apple chutney to add to our stock. I had a call from Fr Phelim about covering a funeral in two weeks time at St German's, when he has duties which take him away from the Parish. He's also booked me for the first Sunday in October to cover his half term break. So far no autumn european locum duty requests have come up, so there's no reason not to be available for local duties if needed. Variety in ministry is still one of the pleasures of retirement.

If nothing comes up, a trip to Sta Pola to stay in Anto's apartment will be in possible. Missing life in Spain is already a feature of my life, despite summer temperatures here equal to those on the Costas. It's not so much about the weather as the environmental mix of sea, sierras and urban life which I enjoy.

This afternoon we went to a concert given by nine final year piano students at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. They played a wide variety of music from Scarlatti to Schoenberg plus improvisations based on pieces by Hector Villa-Lobos and Chet Baker. What gifted group of musicians, not just in terms of technical prowess but also emotional maturity in their performances. We came away moved and inspired. This truly is a world class conservatoire. So proud that this is a major cultural institution in Cardiff and for Wales. Plus, it's only half an hour's walk from home on the other side of the Taff.
  

Evening Taffside walk home

I walked to St Luke's to celebrate Mass with four people this morning. Fr Jesse Smith attended, on his way to meet the Archdeacon. It's ages since we last met. It's great to see him looking fit and well after a challenging bout of serious illness several years ago. At that time I did some locum duties in his Parish, though we got to know each other when he was Team Vicar in Central Cardiff Parish 16 years ago. He left us for a Tyneside parish. I remember going up there for his induction, a six hour journey. I was delighted that after a spell over the border he returned to the Parish where he's been incumbent now for ten years.

I had an email request to take a funeral a week Thursday. I won't be able to meet with the family members until next Monday to discuss the service, but that gives me plenty of time to prepare. 

This evening we went to choir practice, and numbers attending were thin enough to conclude that it's now time to stop rehearsals for the summer. Instead of learning new pieces we did some voice exercise work, which to my mind is a good thing. Mine gets well worked in the course of leading services but doesn't really get stretched by new demands. I have a little idea now of what I need to be doing to remedy this. I've lost a few bottom notes, but it seems that it's never too late to recover them, if I make the effort.

We went to choir by bus, but there were no buses timetabled for eight thirty when we were ready to set off for home, and nobody going in our direction to give us a lift, so we walked back 5.3km along the Taff trail, after buying a picnic supper in the swish new Llandaff North Lidl store. It was a very pleasant summer evening walk, marred only by discarded cans and bottles. I couple of items I could not pass by, I carried 400m to the nearest bin. Sometimes the distance between bins is greater. More are needed to cope with the problem caused by the couldn't care less members of our throwaway society. More bins require more maintenance staff, and city budgets have experienced terrible cut backs. 

Last week I completed a local council on-line survey to give feedback on its public cleansing services, as I expressed an interest in the issue many moons ago. In this era of enforced austerity in public spending, I believe it's necessary to make it easier for volunteers to work on keeping litter under control, by making collection resources available to them - temporary bins, bags, gloves, tongs etc. Is this too hard to consider, I wonder?

  

Early bird

I was up early this morning as I had a check up with the doctor at nine. As the weather was beautiful I took my time walking to the surgery through the park with my Sony HX50 in my pocket, going as far as Blackweir bridge. I spotted a heron on watch on the opposite side of the river to its afternoon fishing spot. I was pleased with the picture I took.

The light in similar afternoon photos reflects the brownish colour of the river bed, but at this early hour the colour of the sky is reflected. I should get out early with the camera more often.

Celebrating St John the Baptist's Day

This morning I drove out to Dinas Powys to take two services, a nine o'clock said BCP Communion at the 11th century country church of St Andrew's Major, attended by eighteen people, and a sung Parish Communion modern rite with about forty people at St Peter's in the suburban village which grew up here as Cardiff expanded outwards in the twentieth century. 

This church dates from the 1930s and the building was influenced by the 'Arts and Crafts' movement, making use of Pennant sandstone acquired from the site of Cyfarthfa Castle ironworks above Merthyr Tydful. The stone is somewhat darker than the natural Pennant grey, and this is said to be due to ingrained soot absorbed from the air, laden with industrial pollution. The branch line from Cardiff to Barry runs through Dinas Powys so rail transport from the old industrial site to the village would be easy to organise, and cost effective in those days.

After the St Peter's service I met Andrew, the solicitor who helped Clare and I prepare our wills and then witness them. He and his wife Emma and children are regulars there. Emma has started on some theological education courses, with a view to testing her vocation to ministry. It's great to see a young mum get excited about a possibly different kind of future from that of her contemporaries.

We drove to Newport at lunchtime to visit Martin and Chris, who were throwing a party for family and friends to celebrate Martin's 65th birthday. Their capacious house has a secluded garden which overlooks the city with the Severn Estuary in the distance. Several tables were laid out for dining in quiet fragrant corners, the weather was hot and sunny, perfect for an outdoor party with a swimming pool and a hot tub for people to enjoy. It was a delightful way to celebrate the MIdsummer fiesta, if you're not in Spain!

Change in musical taste

According to my pedometer app, I walked 8.6km on Thursday, going to the office, around the city and back up the Taff Trail as far as the big Tesco in search of clip on sunglasses. As my diary was empty Friday I thought I'd do another walk. I followed the Taff Trail in the opposite direction down to the Bay Wetland nature reserve and took photos of the resident grebes and coots with their fast growing chicks. I clocked over 10km by the time I reached home, and wasn't too stiff, although I slept even better as a result of the additional exercise. my photos are here

This morning I went into town to  met Rufus for a coffee and a catch up chat in Cafe Zest upstairs in the House of Frazer store. Strange to think that it's been earmarked for closure as a department store because of the group's profit warnings. The increase in commercial market rents is being blamed for this. Will it be redeveloped, as was the David Morgan store, as a mix of retail and private apartments? Or will it perhaps be taken over by another big market name. As a property it's something of a nightmare to envision of future for. It was built in several phases, and enclosed Bethany Baptist chapel, which was converted into a retail space still known as 'The Chapel'. It would be possible to demolish the interior and keep the facade, but as the complex of buildings on the site tells such a fascinating tale of the work of Victorian retail entrepreneur James Howell, there might be conservation orders in place that would hinder this.

The streets were busy with extra people arriving for the third of Ed Sheeran's four in a row stadium concerts tonight. Such is his popularity it was clear from the accents audible on the streets that many visitors had come from all over England, as well as Wales and further afield. I lost interest in popular music decades ago, so I'm unsure if I've heard or could recognise any of his work. Music is deeply important to me, almost all kinds, but truth to tell, I've not been good at decoding pop lyrics post Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel, and the classic American popular Jazz and romantic song genre. As I get older, I find I can listen to 20th century and modern 'classical' music with pleasure, whereas I could make no sense of it when I was young and dismissed what I couldn't make sense of. That's an unexpected aspect of ageing I can't say I expected.

I returned home to rendezvous with Clare and take the bus to the Steiner school for the summer fair, at which the Fountain Community Choir was due to sing, but we missed each other. I caught up with her at the school after taking the next bus to Llandaff North, and we joined in the rehearsal and then an outdoor performance of half a dozen songs, most of which I am still unfamiliar with and don't know all the words. It all felt a little precarious to me, but it was fun. I walked home afterwards to relax, and the pedometer told me that I'd done another 8km, which was pleasing, as my legs weren't complaining too much. No telly tonight. There's so much football on right now, which holds little interest for me, and we watched the dark Welsh crimmie 'Hidden' on Wednesday, since BBC Wales TV previews it, ahead of the Saturday prime time slot.

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.

  

Window on the world out there

With little else scheduled to do, I worked on editing and correcting the music slide shows for Anna all day Monday, and when we were both satisfied with the results, she uploaded them to You Tube for viewing. At choir practice on Tuesday evening, she made sure we took note of how to find them. It's not easy to find them at first, when there are almost no views, and before Google's bots have checked the content and flagged them for basic search. By trial and error we found that Googling 'Fountain Choir Cardiff' helped locate them reasonably quickly. I can't imagine having a business and a career that involves the constant promotion of video content in a market lace which is by nature global.

Lat week there was an interesting item on Radio 4 about a curious feature of YouTube, I hadn't heard of before. Apparently millions of videos have been uploaded of the years since digital video recording became a feature of every camera and phone, which get almost no views. Some people use it to document their lives or their creative output, with no concern to promote it to others. If they do get views it may be because there's another legion of YouTube users who want to be entertained by randomly selected videos, material curated by chance, you might say.

In addition, there's a variety of sites where interesting collections of randomly selected videos can be viewed. Featured in this programme was a website called Astronaut.io, brought to life by two San Francisco based techies. It features random clips of a few seconds length, and weaves a unique tapestry of images and sound. Here's an American feature article about it. I guess it's the equivalent of what we used to do as kids, turning the tuning dial on the Long Wave radio to catch the sounds of broadcasts from Europe and the rest of the world through the hiss and crackle.

It's said the internet abolishes distance, in the sense that you can communicate with people anywhere, and be informed or entertained by material without knowing where it's been produced. We home in on themes and places that catch our attention and interest, and in narrowing our attention may miss out on much more. Astronaut.io allows the flow can be halted on any video that captures attention, and let it play play to conclusion which invites viewers to be more than passive. There's something quite contemplative about just looking and listening openly, letting yourself be surprised by what's out there.

Unexpected new mini-project

I walked to St John's and celebrated the eight o'clock this morning for four people. Fr Mark arrived at the end with Rose Dymond, one of the staff of the St Padarn's Institute, to introduce her to the church set up. I was delighted to discover that she was an ordinand of the Diocese in Europe whose journey into ministry started in Leipzig, followed by Den Haag, then a spell as Rector of Bedwellty before recently joining the Institute staff. I then celebrated and preached at the St Catherine's Parish Eucharist.

Yesterday, I had a call from Andrew James the Vicar of St Andrews Major and Dinas Powys to ask if I could cover his Sunday duties next week, as he is about to start a period of sabbatic leave. As I've committed my time to help out in Canton while I'm here, I referred him to Fr Mark, who said he could manage without me next week. In all my years of ministry, I've never visited either church, although I've driven past both many times, taking a short-cut back home from Barry via Leckwith. St Andrews Major is a 12th century country church, St Peter's is in the suburban Victorian village expansion of the Parish. I must be sure to take my camera with me.

Last Tuesday at choir practice, Anna gave the gathering some musical feedback with a couple of recordings made of them at their last concert, which was, coincidentally at St Catherine's. She asked if anyone could make a YouTube video slideshow using these 'best of the bunch' tracks with some photos of the choir performing. Nobody present seemed able or willing to take this on, so I said I would give it a try.

This evening the respective image and audio files arrived. First, attempted to use the rather long in the tooth version of Picasa, still in use on my computers, but wasn't satisfied with the result. Then I hunted for Windows Movie Maker, unsure whether it had been swept aside in favour of other Apps by updating the operating system, but I found it was still there and working, so I started again. This wasn't easy, as it's several years since I last used it to edit video clips, and had forgotten how. Even so, by the end of the evening I emailed Anna with a couple of rough cuts of the tracks to see if this project was going in the right direction, pleased to have recovered a modicum of mastery over this piece of digital kit. Not something I could have anticipated doing a week ago.

Linux to the rescue

It's been an uneventful and quiet few days, cool and overcast weather giving no incentive to venture far, except for re-painting the front railings and taking exercise. I walked to St Luke's to celebrate the Friday evening Mass, and was surprised that nobody arrived. What I hadn't realised was that I'd put the incorrect time in my diary, arriving half an hour after disappointed worshippers had went away. As I was painting the fence, Fr Mark arrived with the keys, but neither of us thought to check the time of the service with each other. I was quite upset with myself, as I'd finished painting, cleaned up in good time and could easily have left and arrived in good time.

I was doubly careful to arrive in good time to celebrate the Saturday morning Mass, for which four people turned up. Mary, our neighbour from opposite asked if I could take a look at her desktop PC, which was malfunctioning. It's an ancient Windows XP box, at least ten years old. An inspection revealed that the hardware is malfunctioning. It boots, and then reboots before reaching a full desktop making a tiny click sound which indicates a motherboard trip switch being triggered, probably due to the thermal sensor malfunctioning, or doing its proper job, or reacting to a motherboard voltage irregularity.

On odd occasions in the past, I've recovered a computer from this kind of failure by taking the back off and sucking out the accumulated dust, especially from the CPU and PSU fans. As the machine is so old, and given that Windows XP is no longer supported with security patches, it hardly seemed worth the effort. Reliability and stability is a crucial issue for older users. I hear enough complaints about Windows 10, because of the way frequent updates make for variability in time elapsed from stitch on to, say for example, starting work on an actual document in a word processor. Then there are all those notifications, nags and warnings which worry people who are unsure what the can and cannot ignore. It's daunting when you just want to do familiar things, and find all those so called 'helpful' digital admonitions are distracting enough to make you forget what you intended to do.

Mary is a light computer user, doing a little surfing, on-line flight booking and emailing, nothing more. A couple of years ago I gave her Kath's old Acer laptop, of a similar age to her desktop Dell. I set it up to run a lightweight version of Linux Mint as a backup device. It hasn't seen much use until now as it involved her getting used to a different kind of keyboard. No fun for a touch typist I guess. We set it up on her workstation, attached the Epson Stylus printer and powered it all up. It booted to the desktop and started Libre Office in less time that a Windows 10 machine with ten times the amount processing power. Moreover, the operating system made light work of finding the relevant printer driver and completing a test print successfully. About five minutes from switch on altogether. 

On a Windows 10 machine this initial process might take half an hour, but not just due to boot time. The rapid expansion of the market for high street digital print-shops in recent years is an indication that occasional printing need is a deterrent to owning and managing a printer for many consumers of digital media. If you have a printer less than two or three years old, Windows 10 will find and download and install drivers automatically. For older devices, the process breaks down, search for the right download site has to be made by the user. The involves identifying the precise version and region of the world the hardware is destined to operate in. There can be thousands of options, so there's no simple straightforward solution to getting 'legacy' devices to work. 

Some older devices never get driver upgrades and have to be scrapped. The cost of all this wastage, not to mention the toxic waste generated by computer redundancy, both to the economy and the environment, is unimaginable. New improved feature sets are always touted as beneficial, but for the majority of basic users, reliability and usability are what's most needed. These essentials have certainly improved over the past thirty years, but so has their complexity, making users ever more dependent on after-sales services provided by manufacturers.

Anyway, Mary is now set up properly with a computer and printer that's quite quick and reliable, doesn't suffer from viruses, or need unending updates to sabotage her workflow. Best of all, it cost both of us nothing to acquire, and me just a few hours of set up time, some years ago. I'm starting to think my remaining laptop running Windows 10 could benefit from the same treatment. The trouble is migrating data from two separate user areas, and learning how to do a clean install from a UEFI motherboard 64 bit device. I don't spend as much time as I used, to messing about with computers these days, let alone using them. For most purposes these days I use a tablet or a Chromebook, and just need transfer files to one Windows 10 device to print with my trusty HP  lazer printer, which I know works with Linux as well. Is it worth the effort?

The best made plans ....

Normally I offer a few improvised reflections on scripture at a funeral, but I woke up this morning thinking that I should prepare carefully something to say, aware that the death of a young person is going to bring into church a whole generation of contemporaries, family, friends and acquaintances. So, I spent a couple of hours writing a brief address to fit the occasion. While I was doing this, I received an email with a revised text of the eulogy, which I also needed to print off before leaving for church.

I tested my home Audio/CD player with music from my phone before the church started to fill in, and was pleased that the sound channelled through the radio hand microphone was good quality  and wouldn't let me down. Nobody arrived as promised before the service with a phone containing the required downloads, however. The cortege arrived late, and I had to hunt around among the chief mourners to find out who had the device. 

Eventually, someone handed this over to me, and when I asked who was going to take charge of operating it received no response, as if it was so self evident that there was no need to consider my question. The fact that it was an unfamiliar iPhone, a smaller one, difficult to read, even with reading glasses on, was disconcerting. I plugged it in, prodded what might have been the play button - I had no way  of knowing - and nothing happened. Then I noticed that the phone had been set in flight mode, and clearly my injunction about the necessity of having proper downloaded tracks either not understood, not passed on, or ignored. 

Just at the point of discovering this, the congregation stood up. I looked around to find that the procession of the coffin into church was already inside and ready to proceed. Rather than make a fuss about the lack of music, I led the procession in, and began the service. There was a congregation of four hundred, and half of them were under thirty. In welcoming people, I explained the unfortunate glitch and said that perhaps it was just as well, since a sudden tragic death stuns us all into silence.

The family had invited a gospel singer to give her rendering of 'Amazing Grace' unaccompanied. Familiar, and effective.  I was able to work with the theme of saving grace in relation to both the readings and my prepared homily. Then, I asked the gospel singer for a repeat performance, before beginning the prayers and final farewell. As we got ready for the exit procession, someone stepped up and managed the phone, and started the music stream, a little too late for good effect, however. Despite careful planning, there was an element of mild chaos, as the family's good intentions were overwhelmed by the immediacy of their grief. Funeral directors are much more used to this than I am. Making things right despite everything tending to fall apart is their strong point. Without their calm support I'm not sure how I'd cope.

The congregation was quiet throughout and after we left the church, all seemed absorbed in grief and mutual comfort. Very few people spoke to me outside church, or at the graveside and then only a few words. I'll never know if any of them understood what I was saying to them. There was a huge crowd at Western Cemetery and the leading men took part in 'back-filling' the grave, as it's referred to in funeral jargon. Thank heavens the weather was warm and sunny with little wind. I meant that people could stand around, take their time, come out of their shells a little, before driving off to the wake. I was grateful to return home and fall asleep on the sofa after a late cooked lunch gone cold.

I'd intended to go to a Tai Chi class tonight, but the events of the day robbed me of any energy to do more than watch the final episodes of 'Rough Justice'. It concludes with closure on all the story lines, just leaving one loose end to retain the possibility of a second series, eventually or not, as the case may be.

  

Technical trials

Yesterday evening I went with Clare to the Fountain School Community Choir practice. Despite my often lengthy absences, she's keen to get me singing whenever I can. I'm not sure if my voice or my sight-singing is up to it. My lower register has certainly diminished in recent years, and my upper register improved somewhat, so I'm more of a light baritone than a bass in old age. I wasn't quite as rusty as I feared I would be, perhaps singing a few times with the St George's choir in Malaga did me more good than I realised. But now, I have to work on rescuing my lower range notes, with a few daily exercises.

Father Mark dropped off the audio adaptor cable last night for my to test this morning. I went to St Catherine's to celebrate the midweek Eucharist, and after the service the girl-friend of the deceased young man called in for a trial run of the music for tomorrow's funeral. The adaptor fitted into one of the floor sockets for microphone cables, with a phone mini-jack at the other end of a light 30m cable. I plugged it into my phone, and selected Catrin Ffinch playing the Goldberg Variations. It worked perfectly for all of ten seconds, then gave up altogether with a loud crackle. Somewhere in that 30m line there's a short circuit. Impossible to commit to working with unreliable kit in the day. 

Before leaving home I tested my phone with another cable attached to a portable radio/CD player, and knew this would work in church, with one of the substantial radio hand mics to distribute the sound through the church sound system, so I was able to reassure the girl that we had a solution. But things are never so simple. She showed me her phone and started to play me one of the tracks they wanted to use at the service. In fact she had a phone in each hand, one piggybacking on the wi-fi of the other to stream music from an internet site. Streamed from one device with its own internet connection would carry a degree of unwelcome risk going live at a funeral, to my mind. 

The phone signal in church is quite strong, though not uniformly so, and if there's any sudden local demand, the signal can drop and sabotage the streaming process. Therefore, tracks downloaded and then played on a single device attached to the sound system is the least risky thing to do, I explained and begged her to go and get help to organise this side of things properly, and get the device to me well before the service, to test and adjust sound levels. Printer's proofs for the service leaflet arrived by email from the funeral directors approval, then later in the evening, the family eulogy arrived by email, and all I needed for tomorrow was ready to go. It's going to be a very well attended service, so naturally we do our best to ensure everything works as intended on the day,

Sound system challenge

I walked over to Sloper Road this lunchtime to visit a family whose 21 year old had taken his own life. It wasn't easy to engage with them, as they are still in a state of shock. I was asked if I would read a tribute which they would put together and send me. The music is going to be all digital pop tracks, so an organist isn't required, and the necessary MP3 files will be delivered beforehand.

Church sound systems are rarely up to date and able to do more than play CDs and handle wireless microphones, so I promised we'd find a way of playing music through the system from a digital device of their choice. Later in the day I checked the sound system at St Catherines, and found it had no spare jack or mini-jack plug sockets. The floor mounted spare cabled mic sockets are the old 3 pin DIN heavy duty standard. Father Mark said he'd be able to track down a cable adaptor which can be used to connect a phone to the system. I'll get that to test tomorrow.

I'm continuing to work my way through all thirteen episodes of 'Rough Justice', at two episodes a day, getting used to and enjoying listening to Flemish dialogue. It's akin to German and Dutch, with loan words from French and English. With subtitles this makes it more interesting to follow than the Scandinavian crimmies which I enjoy. There's roughly one murder an episode being solved with the thread of three story around the life of the main character, who's a senior female cop. It's not so complex and subtle as many series in this genre, but it provides insight into the life of Belgian society and its major port city.

Camera talk with Amanda

There were nine of us at St Catherine's this morning, when I celebrated the eight o'clock Eucharist. Clare went to the ten thirty service, so I had a quiet morning to myself at home. In the afternoon we drove to Bristol. It was Clare's anthroposophical study session, and after I dropped her off in Stoke Bishop I went to see Amanda. Clare got a lift and came and joined us an hours and a half later. In the meanwhile, Amanda and I talked photography. 

A couple of months ago she bought the same Sony H400 as Rhiannon got for her birthday, and since then, she's been out in her wheelchair with her carer, taking photos in the city museum, on College Green, around the Harbour and St Mary Redcliffe Church, and she's taken it to church with her. What a difference it's make to her, now that she was a care package geared around taking her out thrice weekly, for shopping, or just to visit places that take her fancy.

Handling the camera is quite a challenge given her physical limitations, but thankfully her working muscles are strong enough to hold a camera without shaking. I was able to show her how many of camera features work, that she hasn't yet got to grips with, and how to upload pictures, set up web albums using Google Photos, and make a start on learning to use web editing tools. She's got a good eye, and is quick to pick up things. This, I believe, will bring her much reward for the effort she makes in taking on this new challenge.

Over the weekend I've started working my way through a Belgian crimmie box set on the 'Walter Presents' channel called 'Rough Justice', focussing on the cases handled by a female commissario de police in Antwerp, so it's in Flemish for a change. Interesting due to her effective but questionable methods of bringing suspected perpetrators to account, and the whiff of corruption and blackmail that seems likely that its may all end in tears. Sure, it's all be done before, but we'll see if it all pans out any differently by the end of a thirteen part series.

  

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.

Check up and catch up

I had my six monthly dental check-up this morning. No repair work was needed. I was home in time for Clare to have the car to drive to her dental check-up at the same surgery. We agreed to ask them to re-schedule our appointments ensuite next time, so we can arrive and depart together with just one journey. Unfortunately Clare scratched another parked car while leaving her parking place on the way home. Making contact with the owner isn't going to be easy, but a passing neighbour helped her to make the first move, as the car owner is away at the moment. What a bother! And all due to me arriving home early enough for her to take the car just as she was about to leave to catch the bus! There can be unforeseen consequences behind every action we take.

I was collected and taken to Pidgeon's chapel to officiate at the funeral, and then we went up to Thornhill cemetery for the interment. With nothing else planned for the rest of the day, I decided to do some catch-up watching. I discovered that I could access a series of episodes of NCIS season 14 which I haven't seen on MY5. Being away for three months without being able to watch UK telly means there's a much greater variety of catch-up programmes to choose from. Funnily enough, living without telly, I find other things to occupy myself, and grow less inclined to to spend quite as much time being entertained as I used to.

   

A world tour starting in Cardiff

I celebrated the Eucharist at St Catherine's this morning. I drafted a sermon for Sunday, and then in the afternoon went into town to look for a new camera bag. I found just what I needed in the shop where I habitually go to buy cameras and accessories kit, Cardiff Camera Centre, a family firm with two shops and an internet store as well.

Road closures were already under way when I arrived, as there was a concert in the stadium, the start of Rhianna and Jayzee's world tour. An armed response police team was located prominently at the entrance, for public reassurance after last year's Manchester stadium bombing.

The streets were unusually busy for a Wednesday, and lots of people were relaxing out doors, chatting drinking, either at tables or standing in the street. The only jarring note was the sound of breaking glass, as a few people accidentally dropped or toppled a drink. For some strange reason, the public safety injunction applying on match days, that drinks be served only in disposable plastic wasn't in force, and it meant that broken glass was being trodden under foot. Not very desirable in the sandal wearing season. 

Whenever there's a large crowd in town, discarded rubbish accumulates, especially after normal Council working hours, so the quality of the environment soon deteriorates. I makes me wish our city was more like Malaga where street sweepers are numerous and work in shifts from early morning until late at night, and take a pride in keeping the streets clean. The sight of broken glass is rare. How anybody with safety oversight as part of their job, whether Council, Licensee or Police didn't expect a seventy thousand pre-concert drinking crowd in summer to be outdoors is a mystery to me. 

More episodes of NCIS watched on catch-up this evening. Interesting to see how a change of actors to reflect greater inclusivity is reflected in squad room personnel. A Latino, a black Brit, an Afghan and added prominence to female leads among them.

  

Sobering thoughts

Thinking about Rhiannon flying to Holland this morning, and Rachel travelling to Penslyvania from Arizona to visit an internet friend. She'll be in a time zone two hours nearer us during her week of holiday, which means having to figure out different possible phone calling times. The environment in Pensylvania will be more like Wales, which will suit her better than the climate in Phoenix.

I had a bereavement visit to make in Rhiwbina this morning, to complete preparations mostly made by email for a funeral tomorrow. Fr Mark has asked me to do another funeral next week, this time of someone who committed suicide under the influence of alcohol, not due to mental health issues. This isn't going to be easy. I'm racking my brains to remember if I've done the funeral of a young suicide before. In my twenties, I worked regularly with Samaritans on suicide prevention watch, but never had to deal with families of those we were unable to help.

It's hard to understand how survival instinct fails to override that fatal impulse, even though alcohol can reduce self control and inhibition. London and other big UK cities have seen a worrying increase in knife and gun crime in relation to street gangs in recent years, also deadly domestic violence, murderous revenge attacks with child victims. It's as if a sense of the value of human life as well as self control is withering away in some parts of society.

The injustice of growing social inequality with the detachment of wealthy elites from the need and suffering of the poor creates a moral climate that starves them of self esteem and hope for change in the future. Without a spiritual basis in life, despair is hard to resist, and vulnerability to destructive impulses increases. It happens when people think they can dispense with institutional religion and relegate ethics and spirituality to the privacy of each individual. This is the dark side of modernity and secularity with which we now have live. Finding the way to a new place is going to be painfully tough.

   

Early service at Kenilworth

I was awake at seven, and out of the house to attend the BCP celebration of Holy Communion with two dozen others at St Nicholas' Parish Church, before everyone else got up. A retired cleric, rather than the Vicar took the service, and told us that he was volunteering to cover the eight o'clock first Sundays of the month from now on. I don't think there's a Curate at the moment. 

There's nothing quite like a BCP early service in a 15th century church with sunlight streaming in, birdsong in the background in Shakespeare's County, heart of Established Protestant England. Despite changes in appearance of the building and congregation, I get that special feeling, of time standing still. Maybe that's why it's relatively well attended. Eight o'clocks are not as well attended in Wales, apart from Cathedrals and Minster churches. In Canton Benefice the early congregation is usually half the size.

After breakfast, a walk into town for some shopping at Waitrose then lunch, before setting off back to Cardiff late afternoon. We got back just as The Archers was finishing on the radio. An enjoyable few days away, and a pleasure to be on the receiving end again, in the congregation on a Sunday.

New railway excursion and an outdoor gig

Today a shopping expedition was required to buy some last  minute items for Rhiannon, who is off to Arnheim in Holland on Monday for a school exchange visit. We took the train there, rather than use the car or the bus, in order to use the restored rail passenger service on the branch line running from Coventry to Leamington, which was discontinued over fifty years ago. Over the past couple of years a completely new station has been constructed in Kenilworth. There's one train an hour, and so far just, one diesel railcar plying to and fro. It's ten minutes from Kenilworth to either Coventry or Leamington. It makes for a much quicker and more predictable access to mainline train services for commuters, so demand is expected to grow, and house prices set to rise, reflecting the convenience of the location.

Most of the route to Leamington passes through rolling green landscape. So nice to be able to gaze out of the window, and not having to concentrate on the road ahead. While the others went hunting for swimming costumes, I tracked down a nearby specialist camera shop in search of a protective bag for Rhiannon's camera, but there was nothing the right size, so I have ended up giving her my camera bag, in the hope that I can find something suitable as a replacement in Cardiff. Actually, her Song H400 is slightly bigger than my HX300 though much the same shape, and my donated bag fits her camera better than mine.

Before the return journey, we had a picnic lunch in a park over the road from the Leamington Spa Pump Room buildings. The elegantly decorated main hall has been restored and is used for a variety of cultural and social functions. Other large rooms within the building have been transformed into a small museum and art gallery, and a modern library extension has been added, a neat combination of repurposed historic Georgian with modern buildings, ensuring continued public use.

In the evening we accompanied Kath and Anto to a gig at Leamington's rugby club, which is located a mile or so across the A46 from Kenilworth. The 'Just Imagine Music Festival' was an all day music festival arranged by a supporters association for people with learning difficulties, with a stage and sound system set up on the patio outside the club-house. Grateful for the benefit of good weather, they performed for about an hour, so we were back in the house just after nine. Often they have more than a hour's journey to get to the gig venue, so this was an easy assignment for them. It wasn't easy either, working as a duo instead of the full Sonrisa band, as most of the audience were seated on the field below the patio, ten metres away from the stage. Here are some photos I took.

Discovering Upton House in Warwickshire

After a slow start we were on our way down the M42 to visit Upton House, a country mansion in deep rural South Warwickshire. It was built in 1695 and served as a grand hunting lodge from the mid eighteenth century until 1929 when it was acquired by the heir of the Samuel family whose members founded Royal Dutch Shell. It underwent a period of expansion and remodelling in order to house a large display of paintings spanning a period of five centuries, belonging to Lord Bersted, an enthusiastic collector of fine art and porcelain. 

The house is set in a rolling wooded landscape of tall mature trees above a valley which is part of the estate. On the valley floor is a series of 'stew ponds', lakes in which fish used to be cultivated for food. Nowadays, a couple of them are for ornamental purposes, and one has been transformed into a 'bog garden' featuring a wide variety of exotic wetland plants. The main slope down to the largest of the ponds is south facing, and was originally developed as a giant vegetable garden, but since Lady Samuel took charge a substantial section is devoted to a series of floral gardens enclosed by hedges, reached by a flight of steps from the huge apron of lawn in front of the house. 

The valley cannot be seen from the house, only the steep side of the hill opposite, so it's a surprise when you walk to the end of the lawn and discover the spectacular view below. On the east corner of the lawn is a 25m swimming pool, which has the reputation of being the first heated outdoor pool in Britain. The house and pool enjoy the benefits of an early oil fired central heating system, which is what a wealthy oil magnate could easily afford to maintain.

The introductory guided tour of the house told a fascinating story about family members and the role they played in the making of 20th century Britain and not only in the energy industry. As their forebears had taken refuge in the East End of London from 19th century anti-Jewish pogroms, they foresaw the need to help finance the Kindertransport rescuing thousands of Jewish children from the Nazi genocide in the late thirties, and  they were involved in counter-espionage as well as fuel supplies as part of the war effort. Successful trading relies on information, so business experience is a good preparation for intelligence gathering, whether military or economic.

Rhiannon took even more photos than I did, and after supper we each uploaded ours and compared notes. It was interesting to observe what young eyes pay attention to in photography. She took more closeup pictures than I did, perhaps partly because I'd discussed with her earlier how get the best results on auto-focus with a telephoto lens. She's a quick learner. My photos are here