WNO's 'Il Trittico' impresses and delights

Clouds and sunshine today, and cold. The usual Saturday pancake breakfast with mushroom added. I made an effort to go for a walk before lunch as I was feeling unusually stiff despite a good night's sleep. We heard from Kath that she's been awarded an Arts Council grant to produce her next show. She wasn't sure she'd be successful in the present economic climate, and can now look forward to realising her plans to bring her creative ideas to life on stage. Naturally we're thrilled for her.

Clare cooked us a prawn stir fry with rice earlier than usual as we had a matinee performance of Puccini's opera 'Il Trittico' starting at three. We walked to the bus stop by Canton Library and caught a number 2 bus that took us all the way to Mermaid Quay in the Bay, a short walk from the Millennium Centre. A convenient route, which we took only because it was the first to arrive at the bus stop. It seemed like a roundabout route, but in reality no more travel time than taking any bus into the city centre and waiting for a number 6 from the centre to the Bay. The down side was a dreadful noisy vibration the vehicle made any time it stopped in traffic queues, at lights or bus stops. It sounded like a pneumatic drill. I had to block my ears, as it was becoming painful. Anyway, we survived in time to have a glass of wine in the patrons' area before curtain up.

'Il Trittico' is three one act operas. It was a new operatic format with which Puccini wanted to experiment. Each one is different. Two tragic, one black comedy. The cast of singers and chorus had roles in all three. The sets were brilliantly conceived and constructed, requiring a half hour interval between each, making it a four hour long show, The singers were superb as was the attention to detail, with movement and visual symbolism reflecting the libretto. The first was about a love triangle leading to a crime of passion on a barge in Paris, a scenario in which the workers have a hard insecure life in grinding poverty. 

The second is set in an enclosed convent with a severe penitential rule of life dedicated to devotion to the blessed Virgin Mary. A young noblewoman is one of the nuns, dispatched there after she gives birth of a child. Others in the convent, are not nuns but servants. There are suggestions of this being like a Magdalene Laundry. It ends in the noblewoman's suicide, out of grief when she learns her child died two years earlier. In effect it denounces the shame and emotional cruelty which may run through life in a community whose piety is detached from its spiritual roots in the Gospel.

The third is about a bourgeois family squabbling over the legacy of a rich dying relative, talked into concealing his death and re-writing the will, so that his wealth doesn't go to a monastery. They are tricked by the street-wise father of a girl who is being wooed by a younger son of the family, and end up losing the prized assets they were fighting over, and the young couple inherit instead. It's hilariously funny and the behaviour of the greedy family members is played for laughs. The movement and interaction between them is superbly choreographed. I don't think I've ever heard so much laughing out loud throughout the hour long performance. It's a satire on human avarice, observed with great insight. What a performance, by everyone involved! At the curtain call, cast members donned their protest campaign tee shirts for their bows. The applause reassures them their audience doesn't approve of the threatened cut back in orchestra and chorus, forced by government reductions in arts subsidy.

We didn't have long to wait for a number six bus back to the city centre, nor for a 61 bus for the new bus station, so we were home just after eight for a light supper of pasta and pesto with salad.

Baking day

Spells of bright weather don't last long. The sky was clouding over again by the time I got up for breakfast this morning. Clare went off to town to buy some new leather boots. I spent time writing, then started to make a load of bread and cook lunch at the same time. Somehow I managed to multi-task without having a disaster. After we'd eaten, the bread went into the oven and came out again perfectly baked at three. On this occasion, Clare had added the dried yeast to the mixture of flour before leaving, something I normally do. I had to call her and check.  The dough rose more rapidly than usual as it would do on a warm spring or summer day. Clare added more dried yeast than I do. Lesson learned!

I went to the Co-op for groceries, then to Tesco's and Beanfreaks for things on the list not available in the Co-op. The shopping trolley was heavy on the home run and unstable on bumpy pavements due to its poor design. I bought a large pack of chicken breast pieces and put them straight into the oven to cook while I went out and walked for an hour before supper. After we'd eaten I watched two episodes of 'The Chateau Murders' on More Four, set in a snowy Quebec. It seems such a long time since Cardiff was covered with a layer of snow lasting for more than a few hours. The sight made me feel quite nostalgic, remembering winters in Geneva thirty years ago, and the excitement of snow covered rural landscape and the promise of skiing. An experience I never expected to have which came my way for the first time in my late forties and brought with it such joy and wonder.

On the brink

Another lovely sunny autumnal day. I tried a different combination of pillows, as my sleep pattern has been disrupted by neck and shoulder pain on waking from relaxed sleep for some while. I slept a lot better and woke without those unpleasantly sharp pains to deal with. The muscles are still sore and stiff, but a short spell of Chi Gong exercises sorts this out. If I reproduce the pillow arrangement successfully for a while, the chronic stiffness and muscle pain will subside I feel sure. A new mattress would help, but it's such a hassle to do, as it's important to try before buying preferably for a few nights.

I posted the WhatsApp link to today's Morning Prayer on YouTube half an hour earlier than usual, and went back to sleep after an excellent 'Thought for the Day' from Lucy Winkett. After breakfast, Clare went to buy a new hat as she lost hers yesterday getting out of the car at the hospital. Following up on Sion's suggestion yesterday, I wrote a detailed analysis of what I thought was lacking in the diocesan website and sent it to him. 

Then I cooked lunch in time for Clare's return. I had more writing to do after our meal and it was gone four when I went out for a walk. I walked north up the east bank of the Taff as far as Llandaff Weir. Many commuting cyclists overtook me on the way home after work in town. A rather uncomfortable experience as they're almost silent as they approach. Not all of them have a bell to warn pedestrians. Best to avoid the Taff Trail at peak cycle times in future. 

Owain called me when I was walking back home to tell me about his interview for another better paid job with HMRC. He said that suitably qualified candidates out of scores of applicants were being interviewed daily for the next fortnight before he'd know if he was to be on the short list for a further interview, such is the competition for higher level jobs in the Civil Service.

After supper I treated myself to another episode of 'Lolita Lobosco', romantic, funny, as well as a detective story shedding light on poverty in Southern Italy and youth unemployment driving youngsters into crime, often following in their father's footsteps. And it reveals the compassionate desire of some who strive to make a specific difference in a place where they know they can. The stories portray the same ethos as 'Inspector Montalbano' but from a feminine perspective. Heart warming and insightful.

With Iran raining down missiles on Israel, and Israel launching a ground offensive over the Lebanese border as well as targeting Hezbollah military leadership and strategic military assets, the situation in the Middle East seems to get more volatile and uncertain by the day. The suffering of civilians in Gaza is now being reproduced among civilians in Lebanon. All this springs from failure to make progress towards a establishing a Palestinian state in the region in which all three Abrahamic faiths believe they have stake and resist sharing. 

Conservative religious culture is part of the problem, but so is a growing secularity that is ambivalent about sustaining universal moral and spiritual values. The end doesn't justify the means when it is so inhumanely cruel and unjust. We're in a time of great spiritual crisis on many fronts where war and violent crime make life impossible for powerless people. We haven't learned lessons from history, nor from religious prophets and poets who denounce the futility of causing suffering to others. Climate crisis is telling us the same thing. Perhaps climate catastrophe will in the end force the warmongers to halt and there will be no winners.

Communication frustration

A cold but sunny autumn day. I went to the Eucharist at St Catherine's. There were seven of us. Our two eldest much loved regular attenders were missing. One becoming increasingly housebound, the other in hospital with a chest infection. I chatted with Fr Siôn after the service, expressing my frustration at the non appearance of the quarterly download of the Intercessions file on the Diocesan website. Instead of being available before the due date it's often several days late in appearing. 

It's been like this for years. A good idea thoughtlessly delivered. In past years, the information delivered could be badly out of date. There's been an improvement this past years, but punctuality fails regularly. I've complained before and never had a response from those who manage the site. It sends a poor message about the value and priority of a shared commitment to pray for each other. The 'Prayer Intentions' page is hard to find, and has been relocated several times with new versions of the website. It's not on the home  page. You must navigate down three page layers to find it, of you can find the drop down menu icon you start from. It's yellow on white, when it needs to be in a high contrast colours. It's in a sub section called 'Explore Faith', when it needs to be under 'Faith Commitments'. But why isn't an intercession link visible on the landing page? As it is on the Diocese in Europe website nowadays, and before its due date.

Starting a rebuild from scratch without reassessing priorities in the messages the website delivers leads to cosmetic changes which make no difference if the overall presentation conveys the impression of muddled values and priorities. So much of church content output whether it's liturgical texts or relevant information bears the hallmark of creation by committee rather than skilled experienced artisans. Poets of the word, visual designers, information analysts who manage content delivery. 

I started to understand this much better in latter years, thanks to conversation with Owain, working on government websites and my lawyer friend Roy, whose trade is public relations and advocacy. When I was young I sensed if something was not right about a communication, but have learned a little about examining content since then. A little late in life maybe! Anyway, Siôn has asked me to write to him a message he can pass on to the diocesan officer overseeing the website, outlining my concerns.

I collected this week's veggie bag from Chapter on my way home. Clare was already well advanced with cooking a chick pea dish for lunch. Diana arrived at the same time as I did to return the draft copy of my Dai Troubadour novel, with warm encouragement to seek publication. This feels like more of a hard task than writing it!

Clare had been frustrated by wasting time requesting her next eye appointment at UHW, being passed on the phone from one department to another, so we drove there to find someone in charge of the booking diary. I dropped her off, and drove around the block several times feeling guilty about adding to traffic congestion rather than parking, but ten minutes later she emerged from the entrance in triumph. We were lucky that the round trip only took forty minutes. 

We then went straight to the main GPO sorting office to pay for and collect an item labelled 'insufficient postage'. This little round trip of equal distance from home took us fifty minutes. Traffic congestion was far worse, an hour later. As suspected, the offending item was a square birthday card, not quite narrow enough to fit in the standard rate slot. It had a stamp on it, but ordinary second class rate is not enough, so you get charged first class rate. The recipient is therefore penalised. 

I wonder how the GPO would think if tens of thousands of people decided not to collect these cursed greetings cards and their sorting shelves were stuffed with them. How much would that end up costing them to dispose of? Or if card shoppers took a template of the regulation slot size with them, to try before they buy, and the retailer ended up with loads of unsold non standard stock? Cards may well be manufactured in a country with no regard for differences in national size standards. One of the annoying side effects of industrialisation and globalisation, sad to say.

When we got back, I walked in the park until supper time, a lovely dry evening. I spent the evening adding to my latest short story about my Grandfather's American adventure at the turn of the 20th century.  Putting memories from childhood into words is quite a pleasure.

Creative spurt

Cold and cloudy again today. After breakfast, Clare went to her study group, this week in Penarth. I had a conversation about spirituality with a neighbour over coffee at Lufkin in Thompson's Park, then returned to cook lunch, a little later than usual, so it wasn't ready when Clare arrived home. While she was having a siesta, I started work on another Morning Prayer and reflection, this time for the week we're in Tenby on holiday. By the time I went out for a walk at five, the whole thing was written and recorded.

While I was out in the park, I started having ideas for a haiku about the spiritual journey described by Sta Teresa de Avila in the canticle 'Iremos de noche ...' and stopped to make a note of it. Then I had an idea for another, and another. All of these I finished later at home. These little creative spurts come as a surprise, but are welcome for the pleasure they give when I make the effort.

Three Haiku for the solo voyager

Held in love’s presence / is enough any moment / when fear is aroused.

Venturing by night / Searching for the source of life / thirst alone our guide.

Sightless unknowing / if this is darkness or light / driven by longing.

After supper, the last episode of series four of 'Grace' to round off the day. As I predicted from the story line, the protagonist is left with the care of an eight year old son he's never met, and hasn't yet appeared in the series. So a series five is to be expected in due course. Ah well.

Lessons from visionaries?

A mostly cloudy day with occasional bouts of strong wind. After breakfast I started my housework chores, then took Ann to the station for her train, returned and continued. I had a meeting booked with Rufus at eleven, but received a message over the weekend which I thought meant that he'd cancelled, but he hadn't, and he phoned me after waiting in Coffee#1, to ask if I was coming. I explained, then invited to to come to the house instead. So we had our chat over coffee at home. 

He told me how Missions to Seafarers plan to scale down support for British operations and switch the resources to EU ports, on the grounds that there are 20% fewer ships visiting British ports since Brexit. Whether will prove justifiable in practice remains to be seen. UK ports are already under resourced to cope with changes that have taken place.

Rufus left just before lunch. Clare was cooking while we two were chatting. I was meant to meet someone else after lunch, but fell asleep in the chair checking my news feed and messages. 'In a food coma', as the kids say. At the end of my afternoon walk in the park, I made contact, apologised and re-scheduled the appointment I'd made.

After supper I spend the evening writing and reflecting on the circumstances surrounding apparitions of the Virgin Mary which have had a big impact on Christian popular devotional life and pilgrimages down the centuries. These have continued unabated in different historical situations, in the face of secularity and decline in support for traditional institutional church life over the past century. It's aroused my curiosity. Quite apart from well known and reported ones like Lourdes, Fatima, Medjugorje, there are scores of others, not only in Europe but around the world and in our time. What does this have to teach us I wonder?

Michaelmass Birthday weekend

A cold grey day again. Breakfast in shifts around the kitchen table as people got up at different paces. Ann came with Clare and I to the St Catherine's Eucharist. Clare was on the rota to read the Epistle today and did so beautifully, as she always does. The Feast of St Michael and All Angels was celebrated on the traditional date, not bumped off Sunday until Monday, as in the CofE.  It's been optional for years to displace a feast day to a Sunday. I don't know why this is now the default, especially in the case of this Red Letter day, as angels appear in the resurrection stories, giving preachers plenty of scope to make the connections.

The others went for a walk in the park instead. We came straight home afterwards to continue preparing lunch, started as soon as breakfast was over. The walkers returned in perfect time, just as everything was ready to put on the table, and Clare was starting to grow impatient. Owain brought with him a bottle of German Rhineland Pinot Noir which was delicious. Instead of pudding we had a chocolate cake from M&S with birthday candles for Clare to blow out, and a toast with a bottle of Cava.

After lunch, Kath and Anto drove to Bristol with Owain to see his new flat. It's a year since he t first got the  keys and started decorating before moving in. Kath messaged us to say how impressed she was with what he's done to make it into his home. And how tidy it is!

Meanwhile we went out for a walk in the park. Ann and Clare to Thompson's Park and me for a longer circuit of Pontcanna Fields where it was very windy, and rained towards the end. We watched the first of the quarter finals of BBC Young Musician of the Year on telly. Then I watched another episode of 'Grace' until bedtime.

Family feast

We woke up late again, to sunshine and clouds, but no rain. It's Clare's birthday today, so I made porridge and then cooked pancakes for a long leisurely breakfast. Clare and Ann went to the Co-op, and I went to Tesco's to buy a bunch of flowers, wine, plus extra mushrooms and garlic to cook for a light lunch, given we're dining at Stefano's this evening, en famille. When I got back I composed a birthday haiku to write in a card I bought for her.

Then, a walk in the park for an hour. There was a RSPB promotional stand, and I stopped to chat to the guy who was looking after the stall and chatting up passers by. He told me that he works at the Newport wetland nature reserve, somewhere we've yet to visit. He'd been in the Algarve on a birding trip earlier this year, and we talked about birds we've seen in the Iberian Peninsula. I talked about my time in Nerja. Over by the stables I caught sight of a pair of ladybirds with big black spots on a yellow background. 14-spot ladybirds they're called. There are 22 spot ladybirds as well. These are not uncommon, but I guess we're more used to seeing red ones with black spots.

At a quarter past six, Kath and Anto arrived together with Owain, having picked him up from the station. We had a table booked at seven, so there was just enough time for a glass of Prosecco before arriving there for an excellent meal. Being a Saturday night, the place was packed but we had a corner table. The music wasn't too loud,  nor was the buzz of conversation with fifty odd people eating together and talking, so we were able to converse too. We were back home by nine, drinking another bottle of wine and chatting, until it was time to turn in for the night, earlier than usual for us. A symptom of advancing age and weariness, sad to say.

New production of Rigoletto

We got up late and didn't do much during the morning. I cooked lunch while Clare and Ann went out for a walk. Then I walked in the park for an hour and a half after we'd eaten.

I had an encouraging email from Diana, who's read my finished novel and thinks it's certainly worth seeking a publisher for. A story worth telling - she says. There are a few more punctuation corrections to make and a page re-format before printing a couple of copies to send to interested parties. A lot more work to do. It also means exposing myself to the critical eye of others and having to promote myself as an author.  And a lot more work ahead, with no guarantee of reward or satisfaction. Am I ready for this?

We drove down to the Millennium Centre after an early supper for a WNO supporters' drinks reception before the evening's performance of Verdi's Rigoletto, a long standing Company favourite. A new production with minimalist scenery, but in period costume, with an international cast of singers with Mancunian Soraya Mafi as Gilda, and Daniel Luis de Vicente, a Spanish-American Rigoletto, an Italian conductor, Pietro Rizzo and others from France, Russia, Austria. 

Soraya Mafi has an amazingly powerful voice for such a diminutive person, definitely the shortest person on stage it seemed to me. Her several bel canto duets were perfectly sung, and emotionally moving. We were fortunate there was a full chorus on stage tonight. No strike in protest at the punishing cuts in arts funding imposed by government. It was good to see many house staff wearing protest tee shirts, and the chorus wore them for the curtain call over their costumes.

A great night out although driving home in the dark afterwards was not pleasant. The new generation of LED street lights are bright as well as economical, but it's high contrast illumination which makes looking into shaded areas more of an effort. Lucky to find a parking spot when we got back. The one I left from was still vacant, a relief when you're tired.

Expensive delay

Waking up to rain again, with a few sunny intervals, or was it sun with rainy intervals? It least it wasn't cold. One way or another it's variable unpredictable weather. After breakfast I recorded Morning Prayer for two weeks time, made a video slide show and uploaded it to You Tube. Clare received a delivery of fish from Ashton's and cooked salmon soup for lunch using the bones. Always a delicious treat. 

In the mail a notification from the Post Office requiring payment of £1.50 to deliver a letter alleged to be without any  postage. What is it this time? Is it overweight, oversized, or a reject from the system with a counterfeit or outdated postage stamp? You'll never know without paying to have it delivered. A reasonable requirement, but it feels unfair.

We went to the Co-op together  to buy our weekly groceries, but came away lacking a couple of things, so Clare had to go to a greengrocers as well, so we arrived home separately. Then I went for a walk in the park. Ann's train was due to arrive just after four, but was cancelled because of a fatality somewhere on the line. After a long delay, she ended up on a train to Bristol with a connecting train to Cardiff and more delay. It was seven thirty by the time we met at Cardiff Central Station. Despite the three and a half hour delay, Ann was consoled by the fact that GWR will refund her fare because of this

It took ages to extract ourselves from the station car park, which was busy with people leaving after meeting the London train. After supper, we spent the evening catching up on recent family concerns and talking until late.

Podcast planning

Overcast and more rain again today. We were five men only at the St Catherine's Eucharist this morning. It happens from time to time. I left the house too late to buy food bank donations  at the Co-op on my way there, so I went to Tesco's to buy groceries and dropped them off at St John's before their service began. It gave me an opportunity to ask Ruth if she'd be willing to be recorded for an interview about the Mothers' Union for a Parish Podcast series I'm planning to develop from scratch to showcase key aspects of church life in the Ministry Area, and further afield. Rufus has already agreed to be interviewed about his role as Welsh Ports Chaplain with the Missions to Seafarers. A few trial runs to start with, and assess how much time each takes to produce. We'll see how this works out in due course.

I collected the veggie bag from Chapter Arts Centre, topped up with the last big round courgettes and a handful of kidney beans from St Catherine's Church garden. It started raining steadily not long after I got home. Clare was already cooking a veggie stir fry with salmon for lunch, less distressed than she has been since her eye operation. Yesterday's hospital visit to check healing progress led to a stitch in the corner of her eye being trimmed. Thankfully, as a result, it's not as uncomfortable today.

After lunch I recorded the reflection written  for the week after next. We'll be in Tenby on holiday. I aim to be completely free that week. Then I went and collected the Beanfreaks order, and other food items from Tesco's. After that a cup of tea and an escargot Clare bought when she was out, as a treat for me. Then an hour's walk in the park before supper. Afterwards I watched another episode of 'Grace', and then bed.

Images from the eighties

The welcome return of a cheerful sunny start to the day albeit with some cloud. Late last night I had a cheering message from Basma telling me that the Council has assigned her a single person's temporary housing unit in Grangetown after a month in emergency placement in the Tongwynlais Holiday Inn. In a short while, she'll be able to cook for herself and follow properly her required medical diet in a her own safe space. It's near bus routes to take her to town and her beloved St German's once more. Well done Cardiff Council for dealing decisively with a vulnerable person! This will certainly help her to get on with making a new life for herself and contributing to society here in the way she is eager to do.

Although I woke up just after seven and started listening to the news, I dozed off again after Thought for the Day, and it was nine by the time I finally got up. I must need the extra sleep. Getting myself to bed earlier would make a difference, but I'm just not well disciplined about that. Clare was getting ready to go to her study group, so I made my own breakfast and got on with my daily routine tasks, then finished and uploaded next week's Morning Prayer video.

Israel has launched 1,600 targeted air strikes against Hezbollah military sites yesterday with nearly five hundred people dead, among them women and children, and 1,645 injured. There have been retaliatory missiles fired into Israel, but in comparison minimal casualties. For the moment Gaza is no longer the centre of aggression, and hopes of a ceasefire and release of hostages suspended indefinitely. The reason given for scaled up aggression from the forces of Hezbollah and Yemeni Houthis to start with is to put pressure on Israel to implement a ceasefire deal. 

The Netanyahu government pays no heed to this, but is trying to force the aggression to a halt. Despite mass protests in Israel by citizens calling for a deal, a policy is being pursued of utter destruction, a final solution to deal with its adversaries. If they persist in this, it seems likely to me that if there are still hostages surviving, a stage will come at which keeping them alive no longer serving its purpose to their captors, so they'll be killed in a final act of retaliation. Fear persists of all-out war in the Middle East, and will, as long as both sides keep believing there's no alternative to salvation by violence. 

I cooked a mildly spicy chick pea dish for lunch, and it was ready when Clare arrived home. She had another follow-up eye appointment at three, and I decided to wait for her rather than going home to wait for her summons. As a result, I spent two hours in the corridor outside the clinic people watching. It was interesting, so I didn't get bored. After we got home and had a cup of tea and bara brith, I walked for an hour, then returned for supper and went out again in the dark to complete my daily step quota. I returned with an idea for another Haikus forming in my mind, and wrote it down.

Bike lights in the night / dazzle dog walkers in the park / hounds bewildered bark.

I spent the rest of the evening scanning photo negatives again. A pack of late 1980's pictures of Nick and Sue's wedding, plus the wedding of Axel and Maggie, and a small number from a camping holiday by Lake Annecy. Lovely to to see photos of the children and Clare, and ones of older generation relatives now dead. And now here we are, elders with only my sister June above us on the family tree.

Demand led

All day overcast with persistent light rain until late afternoon. After breakfast I did all the housework, to spare Clare as much physical effort as possible while she's recovering from her eye surgery. I had to do it in stages, as early day stiffness makes everything an effort until I'm really warmed up. All due to ageing, sad to say. 

Then I cooked lunch, a veggie stir fry with prawns and brown rice. I've done it several times before but still can't get the amount of chilli powder correctly so it's no more than a hint of heat as Clare prefers i though it wasn't really an all-afternoon mouth burner. Practice makes perfect I suppose. After we'd eaten recorded Morning Prayer and a reflection for next week, using the 'Twisted Wave' Chromebook web app, then saving the file to Google Drive, using the Ogg Vorbis file format for a change, as an experiment, to see if it was possible to work with a .ogg sound file in Audacity for Windows, and it was. There are many more sound file formats than there are text file formats. Normally I'd record and edit just using Audacity. It's good experience learning how to handle sound files and interchange them between Chromium and Windows file storage arrangements, if the need arises to work with two devices at the same time.

It was tea time by the time I went for a walk. In my two hour long circuit, I visited the Tesco hypermarket on Western Avenue, in search of mini pork pies and a pack of gammon steaks. I browsed in the domestic dry goods area of the store for bargains, and was surprised to see the shelf when flash memory devices are kept completely empty. Is this a product area that's abandoned, or is there a delay in new stocks arriving? The store has stopped selling TVs and the such like, cameras and laptops disappeared years ago but some security camera systems are available for on-line order. Everything in retail is demand driven now. When I think of the range of computer magazines available on supermarket and newsagents' shelves 20-30 years ago, we were spoilt for choice. Nowadays the same content is consumed from computer news sites, and few specialised print magazines remain.

I got back in time to prepare supper, After eating I returned to editing the files I'd been working on earlier, then watched another episode of 'Grace' to end the day.

Heron Haiku again

A dull damp Sunday. We went to the Eucharist at St Catherine's, with fifty others, Sunday school children included. After lunch, a siesta in the armchair for over an hour. I had in idea for a reflection on the passage from Acts to be used in next week's Thursday morning prayer, and very quickly wrote it before going for a walk in light drizzle.

My course included the east side stretch of the trail along the Taff down to Blackweir. I spotted a heron standing in a storm drain which crosses beneath the path, an unusual place to stand, as the light is poor, so the photos I took weren't all that good. Then the bird took to the air and flew up to a branch on a nearby tree. It was about ten feet above my head, but again the light was poor. Interesting to see a heron in such a shadowy place under the cover of trees where even with the keenest sight it wouldn't be easy to spot fish if there were any in the shallow waters of the gully fifteen feet below. This gave me an idea for composing another heron haiku, which I did while walking, dictating it into my phone, leaving the writing until later.

Heron in tree takes / time out from the river bank / rain stops prey today

When I went to check my Fitbit app, after walking, I was surprised to be told to log into my account again, something which hasn't happened since I installed it and set it up at first use. It was an annoying rigmarole. Login details were memorised by my phone, but it kept on reverting to the opening page, with no error message displaying. It did however offer the alternative of logging in with Google credentials and once I did this, the app resumed normal functioning. Then I remembered seeing a tech news items a few weeks ago, stating that Samsung was phasing out use of its log in credentials for Smartwatches for those who use a Google email address to log in with. I guess it's a way to enhance security, but to do so without giving an explanation is no way to increase trust in the system.

Yesterday in an exchange of messages with Rachel, she told me about a new digital guitar amplifier she proposes trying out today. She reported back how pleased she was with the one she tried and bought it on the spot, so we've decided to pay for it rather than imposing a burden on her credit card.

After supper I watched another episode of 'Grace' using headphones, while Clare was viewing a proms performance of Mozart's Requiem, accompanied by a group of contemporary dancers. An imaginative idea but it was unsatisfying. It was beautifully performed but the choreography often seemed disconnected from the music. Movement I glimpsed occasionally out of the corner of my eye didn't adequately express the moods and emotions of this final masterwork, one of Mozart's greatest. A challenging creative project, but it needed more than it could deliver to express the solemnly sacred ritual progress of a Requiem Mass channelling powerful emotions behind its liturgical text. And so to bed.

Views from the past.

Another dull cloudy day. I took a turn cooking the Saturday pancakes for breakfast, then spent the rest of the morning tidying up my study, trying to make myself a better workspace. Then I started the Windows 7 laptop I bought from Anto and then attached my photo scanner to it and installed the software to run it. No success. Although the device works perfectly with my fifteen year old Windows Vista Acer workstation, it won't work with Windows 7. This Acer laptop was configured to play music in what nowadays would be called 'kiosk' mode and used offline only. It's never been attached to the internet, and I'm unsure it has network software activated. Not impossible to update, but basically not worth the effort. 

I have another Acer laptop also about 12 years old. I had a spare hard drive and some time ago installed Windows 7 on it from a CD with the activation key provided, but its authenticity relies on using it on-line. I'm not sure if it can do this any longer since Microsoft stopped supporting Windows 7 a decade ago. Redundancy designed into it. Fortunately, I have a SSD with Linux installed on it so I'll have to swap it over, now that I know my efforts have come to nothing. At least the Windows Vista version soldiers on.

What I was working away, Clare cooked me a comfortingly delicious pork chop for lunch. I set up the scanner with my old workstation Acer to confirm it can be configured and works properly, then we walked to Bute Park to have a drink in the 'Secret Garden' cafe. It was very busy, maybe more popular than ever since the business succeeded in renewing its lease on the property, thanks to support from its clientele.

In the evening after supper, I scanned about thirty photos: negatives from a Bristol Steiner school camping trip to Three Cliffs Bay, in July 1988, when Owain had just turned ten, and some from a family package holiday to Teneriffe in the previous summer. In that packet of negatives were also photos of our Australian friends Jan, Katie and Karina, visiting us in Chepstow after I started working for USPG. It's lovely to be reminded of good times when the kids were young. And there's lots more packs of negatives remaining to be rediscovered in times to come.

Drained

An overcast day on which I didn't wake up until ten to nine. I didn't wake up at half past seven as usual and had to listen to Thought for the Day on catch-up, before getting up and making breakfast. I went and collected the Beanfreaks grocery order before cooking lunch, and shopped for groceries at the Co-op in the afternoon, having slept for an hour after eating. I didn't think I was tired after sleeping so long during the night. 

Clare is still tired after he eye operation, although she was tired beforehand. Many of her friends also report feeling permanently tired nowadays. Is this due to the cumulative stress, in the shadow of war, the threat of terrorism, impoverishment from price inflation, environmental degradation and climate insecurity in a toxic combination?

I walked in the park before supper, and watched an episode in the third series of the ITV crimmie called 'Grace', set on the South Downs and in Brighton. Plots are always complex, and there's a running back story about his wife, who disappeared and is presumed dead after years of unfruitful investigation. Occasionally clues are given to the viewer that she's not dead, but has changed her identity and is living in Germany.

Hezbollah in Lebanon have retaliated today, firing a barrage of rockets into northern Israel, and in return Israel has been target bombing the district of Beirut where Hezbollah's leadership elite reside. Both sides maintain their response is measured, but international observers are apprehensive of an escalation of this localised conflict into a regional if not global war. Neither side really seems to know where to stop or take stock of the inhumanity of their actions towards their adversary, Very disturbing.

In the dentists' chair again

A pleasant mild day, clouds, sunshine and the occasional breath of wind. I woke up just before my phone told me it was time to upload this week's YouTube Morning Prayer and Reflection link to WhatsApp, just before 'Thought for the Day'. It's the fifty fourth anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood today.

I got up just after eight and made breakfast, then hung a load of washing that Clare had started before I got up. As I was about to take a shower, my phone reminded me of something I had forgotten - a dentists appointment. I dressed in haste and was out of the house in the car ten minutes later. I arrived twenty five minutes early due to my tendency to allow time before an appointment which involves a ten minute drive on a road often congested. It meant I had time to say Morning Prayer from y phone app before Mrs Benfield was ready to see me.

Twenty minutes later I emerged, with my back tooth decay dealt with, and numb face muscles. This time, I found then initial injection process quite stressful. I was less relaxed than usual, perhaps as a result of the hasty awakening I had to get there twenty minutes early. The noise of a drill used for excavating the tooth in need of filling and the physical tension, awakened vivid memories of the dentist's chair in Ystrad Mynach dental surgery when I was about eleven years old, being treated by Mr Mason, a large but gentle man, facing the challenge of dealing with a kid with a few broken front teeth, and a few others other worse for wear thanks to a sugar rich diet.

Before returning home I visited the Lidl store near the dentist's for a few items we needed. Then I cooked a pasta dish for lunch. After eating, I slept in the chair for nearly an hour and a half. I needed it having gone to bed too late last night. Then, late afternoon a walk in Llandaff and Pontcanna Fields before supper

I spent the evening listening to a baroque music concert with instruments of the same period which was performed in Dublin, reproducing a concert performed in the city in the days of Handel, a pure delight. As I listened, I made the video slide show for next week's Morning Prayer and uploaded it to YouTube. 

News of more deaths and injuries in Lebanon among Hizbollah operatives, this time from booby trapped walkie-talkies with a dozen people killed. These two days of exploits presumed to have been carried out by Israeli secret services seriously undermine their capacity to wage war. It demonstrates a technological sophistication and ability to infiltrate the equipment supply train not seen or maybe imagined before. No wonder it's causing anxiety among non-military citizens, as distrust of phones and other digital devices being hacked is now spreading. The distribution of booby trapped devices used by civilian and military personnel without distinction is a violation of the laws of war. Another horror of wartime life, in which the political and strategic implications are discussed, and ethical considerations reduced to 'the end justifies the means' when there is no consensus about what that end consists of.

Reality and / or Fiction?

A cloudy start to the day, but the sky soon cleared as the sun rose into the sky. An early breakfast, and then a drive to UHW with Clare for her post-op checkup. Finding a space was easier today, despite the flow of cars entering the car park. I joined Clare in the waiting room, which was already filling up with patients for early day appointments. I had to stand outside after a while, along with others accompanying patients. Three quarters of an hour later she emerged, and we made our way to the car park. It was twenty past ten when we reached home, not quite enough time to walk to Mass at St Catherine's, so I drove there feeling guilty about not walking, but I simply hate to be late for worship. I drove home afterwards, then walked to Chapter to collect this week's veggie bag. Then I cooked curried lentils with sweetcorn on the cob plus veg for lunch.

A second appointment for Clare at UHW mid afternoon for another bone density scan, our third trip to UHW in 30 hours. I had enough time in hand before leaving to watch the finale of 'Nightsleeper', gripping right to the end. In addition to being a first rate thriller written in six episodes corresponding to the journey time of the night sleeper train from Glasgow to London, it portrayed the activity of the National Cyber Security in full operational cyber warfare more in all its presumably fictional jargon filled complexity, near Victoria Station in London (in real life) where a high speed runaway train is programmed to arrive and precipitate a major disaster on the station and its neighbourhood. 

A dozen people are trapped on the train, each with their own background stories. As the hours pass and a grisly fate seems to await them all, their masks drop to reveal the truth of the real person beneath the lies. The truth behind the motives of the crime fighters at HQ is also revealed, and it's revealed that malware they have previously created for stress testing systems prone to cyber attack is being used against them. Several alternative ways of preventing a catastrophe are discussed, with perilous consequences. It seems that political and security leaders will sacrifice the few to save the many, a 'less worse' expedient solution. This also seems to be what compels the train trapped individuals to hide behind their masks, with tragic consequences for some. 

There is however, an uncompromising heroine who succeeds against the odds in finding an innovative solution that forestalls catastrophe, just. It's worth watching for dialogue revealing the best and worst of intentions, and highest moral values. It's an engaging philosophical essay in the guise of a spy thriller. My only complaint is that the background music resembled closely the frenetic genre of music behind the 'Call of Duty' series, 'The Capture' and several others.

Thinking of 'less worse' the Israelis presumably launched a devastating hi-tech attack on Hizbollah in Lebanon, conning their militia into using a large batch of paging devices containing embedded military grade explosives. Nine dead and a couple of thousand people maimed. Following this, a similar attack on  digital comms handsets today. There have been fears that Israel would experience even more attacks from Hizbolla's army in Lebanon which have intensified since the war on Gaza. The large scale undermining of its secure communications ability weakens its ability to wage war, but at what cost? So many people will be put out of action, if not disabled. There's bound to be a risk that Hizbolla's allies and proxy forces will launch damaging revenge attacks on Israel, escalating the conflict, with what consequence? Reality and fiction seem even closer today than 36 hours ago.

Having delivered Clare to UHW in good time for her appointment, I waited for her with an Americano and a slice of fruit cake in the main concourse area of the hospital. We were home again by five, and after another slice of cake and a drink, I went out for a walk in the park. The pair of chairs fly-tipped late last night had migrated from next to the waste bin where they were dumped to the woodland edge of the field, for no apparent reason. There are a few spaces within the surrounding trees and undergrowth which are used from time to time by youngsters as a secret place to hang out, and maybe also by homeless people camping wild. They are in good condition. I wonder where they came from?

After supper, I spent time writing, and recorded next week's Reflection and Morning Prayer before turning in for the night.

Full moon in the park

I woke up at seven, listened to the news then fell asleep again until a quarter to nine. Meanwhile Clare was up and out of the house taking a taxi to UHW for a minor eye operation aimed at reducing internal eyeball pressure which is causing her loss of vision. With the house to myself after breakfast I listened to Kath and Anto's new Sonrisa album 'Scenic Roots' at a suitable volume on our big music / dining room hi-fi system, to get a more physical impression of the music than you can get from a set of headphones. It sounds as if they're in the room with you. It's a beautifully crafted work of art with a variety of songs in a Latino ethos. I really hope it gets the recognition it deserves.

Clare called on my mobile to say her op was over, but reception was so bad the call kept dropping. Then a nurse rang on the landline to say there'd be a delay, as she was not yet discharged. I drove to UHW at the specified time, but there was no sign of Clare at the rendezvous point outside. I drove around the block six times, calling each time I stopped to look for her, then drove to the multi storey car park and queued for a place. Finally we made contact and I learned of further delay in receiving medication from the pharmacy, so I went the eye surgery department and joined her in waiting. I had parked in a corner space head first, and when I tried to get out of it realised I would have to negotiate my way out carefully to avoid hitting a car which had parked opposite outside a valid space, blocking part of the turning circle. That was why the previous occupant of my space had reversed in and been able to drive out. Something I hadn't noticed. As a result it took me many stressful minutes reversing with Clare's aid, to avoid the rogue parked car. It was gone two by the time we returned. Fortunately I had prepared lunch before hand so that it could be cooked straight away.

I returned to story writing after we'd eaten, and to preparing next week's Thursday Morning Prayer and reflection. Then I took Clare's medical report from this morning's operation and posted it through the GP surgery letter box, just after it closed at six. After supper, I read aloud to Clare as much of the story as I'd written since yesterday - reading is out of the question at the moment as she's wearing an eye patch and can't read without specs. Then, after writing a little more, I watched another fast paced confusing jargon filled episode of 'Nightsleeper', before going out for a late night walk in Llandaff Fields under tonight's full moon in a clear sky, with a few planets and the occasional helicopter hovering just above the eastern horizon. 

I saw what I thought was a pale brown dog licking a pizza box, discarded behind a park bench, but I was alone. No owner in sight anywhere, so I concluded that it was a fox, the first time I've seen one out there. A little further up the footpath behind a bin, there were a pair of upholstered high backed chairs side by side. A surreal sight, fly tipped my moonlight. Bizarre. I collected the pizza box and took it to a bin on the return leg. Nothing I could do about the chairs. The bin emptying lorry will pick them up tomorrow, as it passes most days of the week. 

And so to bed, memory flooded with moonlight and beautiful tree shadows.

Digital House of Cards

A cold sunny start to the week with housework, writing, cooking lunch of rice and veg with British grown black fava beans which Clare soaked and cooked yesterday. A good flavour, not as bland as other similar kinds of beans.

I had an idea to write a fictional short story based on my father's father's migration journey to the USA and back at the turn of the 20th century and began writing it after lunch. Then a long afternoon walk in the sun enjoying the milder air. We went out separately at different times and then met unexpectedly on the path around the edge of Pontcanna fields, walking the circuit in opposite directions.

After supper I added another couple of pages to my new story, then watched the next double episode of 'Nightsleeper'. It's developing into a story about political intrigue as much as it is about cyber security threats and networking geekery. It's an interesting reminder of how dependent we've become in modern living on digital infrastructure. A huge house of cards in my opinion. No matter how robust and resilient systems may be, their energy consumption globally has as large a carbon footprint as the airline industry. How much does this matter to those in power with planetary heating reaching the point of being irreversible?