Covid jab time again

I got up at eight and posted today's Morning Prayer video YouTube link to the Parish What'sApp thread. The meds didn't affect me quite as badly as they have done. I remained fairly clear and sharp. Getting to bed earlier does seem to make a difference. 

We were a dozen for the Eucharist at St Catherine's. We stood around a nave altar for Communion and I was standing in front of it with a full view of the Holy Table. I noticed that I could see the candlestick and lit candle to the right of me, but on the left side I could see most of the candlestick and candle but not the fact that the candle was lit until I raised my head. It shows where my field of vision is impaired. It's good to be aware of this and consciously look up when checking what I think I'm looking at. I've learned to double check when I cross a road in case I've not noticed a car entering my immediate vicinity. 

Almost all of us stayed for coffee and chat afterwards. I can't have slept as long as I needed last night, as I dozed for an hour in my armchair after lunch. I went out for a walk when I woke up. Fortunately a phone notification reminded me that I had a Covid jab in half an hour's time, at the Riverside Health Centre. On my way home I called at Tesco's to buy a few food items that we're running out of. Then I went out again to do a lap of the park and complete my daily step quota. Ashley called as I arrived home and we chatted for an hour and a half about our ailments and reminiscing.

An email arrived from HMRC this morning acknowledging receipt of my letter of complaint sent three weeks ago. At least it didn't get lost in the post. It will take a while to get an answer, but it's important that I have started the process. Owain advised me about the letter I sent, and this caused him to look at 'extra help' provisions for the disabled, access to the complaints procedure and information about how to obtain technical assistance. His inquiries and conversations with relevant team members have led to him to work on how to deliver this information in the most user friendly way on-line. It's complex, to say the least, as he explained when we chatted after supper.

Trump claims that Iran has asked for a cease-fire. and that the war will end soon. Iran says this is 'false and baseless'. After so many insults to NATO allies, he now threatens to take America out of NATO altogether in retaliation for members' lack of support for his Iran invasion proposals. The King and Queen are going to make a state visit the USA on the 250th anniversary of America's declaration of independence. Trump has high regard for the Royal Family, but how will he behave when the visit takes place? He's notorious for his embarrassing off-script random remarks and unreliability. Meanwhile several Israeli cities have been subjected to a barrage of missiles from Iran and Hezbollah in response to Israel's war on Hezbollah waged at the cost of Lebanese lives and loss of homeland, as swathes of the country are turned into a battlefield.

I'm confident Charles and Camilla can do the right thing in an awkward diplomatic encounter. Trump is so vain and self centred he may undermine his own populist appeal. He's already losing a significant amount of support due to his prosecution of a war which has caused such economic chaos and effectively ceded power to Iran, which still controls the flow of oil and gas from the Middle East to the world. Even Iran's president warns in an open letter to the American people of the cost of continued war. If at any time Trump declares he's won, it will be seen as a pyrrhic victory. What will happen, who will take over if it becomes evident he's completely lost his grip and is unfit to lead?

  

Bot spotting

A blue sky littered with hazy cloud dimming early sunshine. I paid for going to bed a bit later than usual; last night. Although I woke up clear-headed, the meds made my head hazy too. Will I ever discipline myself to get to sleep early enough to ward off their ill effect? Clare's study group arrived after breakfast. A quick excursion to the Coop was necessary to buy coffee and plant milk, as we forgot to stock up. That helped to clear my head. 

As I was settling down to write after returning with supplies, I had a call labelled 'nuisance?' on the phone handset call display - a useful monitoring service provided by BT. "Good morning this is James calling you .." said  a southern British educated voice alleging to represent a green energy company with a forgettable name. "Who are you?" I asked. "Good morning this is James .." the voice repeated. "What do you want?" said I. "Good morning this is James ...". "No you're not, you're only a bot." I replied, and put the phone down. Not so smart AI technology, badly designed or malfunctioning, unable to respond to a couple of essential business communication questions. The digital era has saddled the world with a host of attempts to win trust and steal assets with lies and deceit. 

Fraudsters and confidence tricksters have been a part of the world for millennia. In the past, scamming people was a face to face activity. Reliance on all things digital has made this crime largely impersonal. In different ways, we're all exposed wide open to fakery, constantly needing to question the trustworthiness of others, as well as needing to prove who we are, and that we too are trustworthy. No wonder institutions of government, finance, medicine and science are scrutinized, often distrusted, due to a pervasive climate of fear, uncertainty and doubt, in which truth and lies are readily confused, and people are failing to care about the impact this has on our lives. The so-called 'post-truth' era in human relationships is a diabolical invention designed for the entrapment, manipulation and domination of others.

Trump continues to insult those who won't automatically do his bidding in mounting assaults against Iran, threatening the future of the NATO alliance. He's not only a bully but a fool, unreliable, untrustworthy. In spite of all the damage done to Iran and its military capability, retaliatory attacks persist, in alliance with Iran's Houthi insurgents, on Israel and the Gulf States. Some ships get through the Straight of Hormuz but attacks on others deter use of Persian Gulf. The Red Sea with its long Saudi Arabian coastline provides an alternative oil transport route, but at its south eastern coast is Yemen. Houthis control entrance through the Bab al Mandab Straight. It's a strategic choke point for traffic between India and Europe whose name translates as 'Gate of Tears'. Asia is being badly affected by lack of Middle Eastern oil and gas.

I was expecting a call from the Consultant Pharmacologist this afternoon and stayed in until late afternoon before taking walk in Llandaff Fields and enjoying the sunshine. No call, however. I must have been mistaken about the day. After supper I joined the congregation of fifteen at St Catherine's for a healing Eucharist, led by Mother Sue. It was held in the side chapel where the grand piano is kept. Music was provided by a 'cellist accompanying Mother Sue on the piano. The story of the anointing of Jesus at Bethany was read, then the oil of Holy Unction was passed from hand to hand so each member of the congregation could anoint their neighbour with the sign of the cross on the palm of the hand. A bit messy, but effective. I appreciated the calm reflective nature of the occasion.

Diplomacy in the Holy City

Sunshine and a clear sky, but cold throughout the day. I slept well and my head was clear when I woke up. Then I began to feel slightly light headed but felt better after eating breakfast however, and no worse after taking my meds. My slow foggy brain was somewhat clearer than usual early in the day, and remained so. What exactly brought about this change isn't obvious. Will this 'improvement' continue? At least I have something to report in tomorrow's phone consultation with Sil the clinical pharmacist.

In the news, Israeli police denying access to sacred sites in Jerusalem for yesterday's Palm Sunday Liturgy led to widespread international criticism. Formal protest in a dignified but forthright diplomatic manner  pushed security authorities to reverse the decision. Careful dialogue by the Latin Patriarchate, custodian of Holy Places with Israeli authorities, has overcome an impasse which put inter-faith and community relations at risk of undermining goodwill and future co-operation, not to mention international opprobrium. 

Carefully worded press statements acknowledged the serious health and safety concerns that need to be addressed. The willingness of church communities to comply with regulations designed to protect the public indicated an effort by city authorities to prevent anyone from benefiting from what occurred. A side effect of this mini-crisis, is highlighting concern over anti-Christian incidents affecting Palestinian Arab Christians by Zionist and Islamic extremists.

I worked on my fifth Reggie Rabbit story, then went for a walk around Llandaff Fields before lunch, and  emailed the completed text to Rachel to read and comment about what I made of her notes on the original version she remembered so clearly. Then another walk in the park making the most of the sunshine despite the cold, grateful it didn't rain. Later Rachel and I chatted, and she sent me a file of a duet she recorded with Bill of the Black Forest Society band. A nice piece of music. 

When I was passing by the recently opened Coffi Lab cafe, our Spanish neighbour Miriam and her partner Pascal were at an outside table, and waved to me. She started speaking to me in Spanish. It's been a while since I last saw her, and I told her about having a stroke. We chatted for five minutes in a mix of English and Spanish. It was cheering to find that I hadn't forgotten all that I've learned in the past ten years, even if my memory was a bit slow retrieving the detail. Speaking or thinking in Spanish in a rudimentary way takes me back to a happy place full of sunshine - the Costa del Sol inside my head, always there even if I never visit again in the flesh.

After supper, I watched another episode of 'Blanca' until it was time for bed.

Passiontide under the shadow of war in the Holy Land

Having got to bed early to avoid sleep loss due to clocks changing to Summer Time, I slept well, and the meds didn't have such an unsettling impact on me. An overcast start to the day, with a cold wind blowing on my way to St Catherine's for the Parish Eucharist. I was relieved our procession with palms took place indoors for this reason. Walking around the church singing from a hymnbook while feeling light headed felt slightly precarious, thanks to my field of vision impairment, but I didn't trip over or bump into anyone. By the end of the service, slow reactions and the light headed sensation started to diminish I was able to chat with people over coffee before returning home.

Listening to the St Matthew Passion reading, the bystanders' words 'This man is calling on Elijah' after Jesus cried out "Eli Eli lama sabachthani" caught my attention afresh in a way they didn't when I was busy reading them aloud. Those Aramaic words open Psalm 22. 'Eli Eli' translates as 'my God, my God' but it seems the bystanders think that Jesus is addressing Elijah (which means 'my God is Yahweh') the prophet expected to return and save his people. They mistakenly assume Jesus appeals to Elijah to rescue him and are nervously joking about it as nobody knows what might happen next. 

That opening verse may be heard as a cry of desolation and abandonment, but despite the expressions of suffering in verses which follow, Psalm 22 ends in an expression of triumphant victory emerging from complete trust in God's power and mercy. The death of Jesus is far from the tragedy it may seem to be. The bystanders and his murderers have no control of unfolding events. The humble self sacrifice of Jesus is what determines their outcome and reveals the power of God's merciful love in Him.

After lunch, I completed writing the Reggie Rabbit story for which I could only find a drafted outline in my archives. I was quite pleased with the result, but I have no idea of how I might have intended the story to be told in the first place. Then I went out for a walk. The cold wind turned into a damp wind, so I only walked for half an hour, reluctant to get completely soaked through. I went out after supper and walked again in the dark before settling down for the night, trying to recall how the story about Reggie Rabbit and the Magic Chocolate Carrots might have unfolded when I first told it to the girls.

Having mentioned this to Rachel, she proceeded to recall the outline of a story, I told her more than forty years ago in enough detail to enable me to fill in the narrative detail. Letting my imagination go to work on this was great fun, but I had to stop and not press on into the night re-writing it. I rely on the right quality of sleep to cope with another day on this wretched medication.

Trump's popularity rating has slumped further, his leadership blamed for rising fuel and commodity prices. He and his envoys press on with forcing peace negotiations, reassuring critics with vague remarks about the war being over soon as an invasion force of American Marines is being deployed. His credibility and trustworthiness as a war leader are doubted by military experts. 

Iranian backed Houthi insurgents in Yemen as well as Hezbollah in Lebanon continue to attack Israel with missiles and drones. Gulf State energy production facilities, a key factor in both regional and global economies are likewise targeted, affecting manufacturing and food production. Fertiliser supply shortages lead to lower crop yields. Energy costs will increase food prices. People in poor countries suffer most. 

Houthi attacks, whether intentional or not, resulted in shrapnel from a missile shot down hitting the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. For 'safety reasons', including the lack of bomb shelters, the Western Wall and the Al Aqsa compound have been forced to close in addition to the church. There is, in any case, a restriction on gatherings of more than fifty people in all public places. Worshippers were barred from making the traditional Palm Sunday procession in the very place where the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem took place as well as celebrating the first Mass of Holy Week in the Holy City. The Maundy Thursday Mass of the Chrism, usually a large gathering, has been cancelled. It's not entirely without precedent. Similar enforced closures took place during the covid pandemic. Holy Week observances will take place, albeit subject to the restrictions imposed.

Sorting out stuff

I woke up in sunshine after a fairly good night's sleep. I was light headed and clear when I woke up, but became even more light headed after taking my morning meds. My goatee beard needed trimming, but my thirty year old electric hair trimmer with beard attachments turned out to be no longer up to the job after I dropped it a while back. I used the trimming blade on the back of my electric razor. This too was rather hit and miss. I think I need a new trimmer more suitable for the job. A birthday present maybe?

We had our usual Saturday breakfast of pancakes with the unusual addition of pureed strawberries. very pleasant indeed. I didn't feel like going out with such a light head, and worked instead for most of the morning on a reflection for Morning Prayer about the Visitation of Mary and Elizabeth.

Clare cooked lunch, then went to town to have an ear wax removal treatment. I walked for an hour in Llandaff Fields, before tea and the sky began to fill with clouds but it didn't rain. 

I spent some time going through paper files in my study, in search of paper drafts of Reggie Rabbit stories. The ones I found were digitized in 2010  the one I needed had no paper draft, just digital version of page of sketchy notes being worked upon. I found a series of travel notebooks: Greece, Jamaica, Mongolia, Syria and Jerusalem. Greece is already transcribed into a digital file, the first I did after retirement. The rest need doing. Another writing project from times before I started post retirement blogging. 

After supper I started reconstructing from notes taken the fourth of the Reggie Rabbit stories. Not easy as I don't recall what I had in mind when I first made them up. 

Early bed tonight as the clocks go forward. 

Bed time stories rediscovered

I woke up two hours after going to bed to the slow torturous bleep of a smoke alarm. It was impossible to get back to sleep in between, getting up to empty my bladder, and I couldn't find the pack of ear plugs that Kath bought for me when I was last in A&E. Sheer torture. I had flashbacks about the three nights I spent in A&E following the stroke with different devices bleeping warning sounds as nurses did their night time rounds, an experience akin to a disturbing waking dream. Having lost three hours sleep, I got up at eight thirty loaded a rucksack with a breakfast picnic of fruit cake, banana and morning meds, then walked to St David's Hospital for a fasting blood cholesterol test. 

It was windy with an unpleasant drizzle of rain, weather to wreck a brolly with. I knew a 61 bus was due when I set out, and went to the nearest stop with a shelter, only to see the bus pass me by. If I'd turned toward the stop in the other direction, where the bus was headed, I'd have caught it as the road was blocked for several minutes by a large van, and the bus had to wait at the next stop before continuing its journey. I had to walk the full mile to the hospital. Fortunately it wasn't a timed appointment. Two other patients were queuing to have their blood taken at the outpatients phlebotomy clinic. I didn't have to wait long and was soon eating my picnic breakfast before leaving. Rather than wait fifteen minutes for a bus I walked home and had a second breakfast. 

The bleeping smoke alarm was still punctuating household peace, but Clare found the missing pack of ear plugs to relieve the anxious agony it generates. My hearing is still quite sensitive, to the point that loud high pitched sounds take me to the verge of pain, I was so grateful the ear plug pack wasn't missing, just hidden. It gave me an hour's respite before Darren, a 'Care & Repair' worker arrived to change the battery. Clare had contacted their help line while I was out. 

Matt the plumber's apprentice arrived at noon to install the replacement bidet we ordered a few weeks ago. Unfortunately the one we had installed eight years ago after my surgery to treat anal infection started to leak a few months ago and couldn't be repaired. I don't think either of us would want to do without a bidet now, as we got so used to using it. It turned out the job couldn't be completed as the piping attachments for joining the bidet to the water supply are American not European specification. A workaround or some kind of adapter is needed. This leaves us without an upstairs toilet over the weekend. We must be grateful the house has two.

While Clare was out after lunch, I recorded and edited Morning Prayer and Reflection for the second week of Easter, and made the video slideshow to go with it for posting to YouTube. Then I walked in Llandaff Fields for the best part of an hour, and finished watching the episode of 'Blanca' which I started last night, rather too late to finish before bed.

When Rachel and I last talked, she'd just read 'Jack's Tale', about her Great Grandfather's time in America, and worked with me to correct the typos she found. She mentioned the Reggie Rabbit stories I wrote and read to her and Kath at bed time when they were young. I promised to extract them from my digital archive and send them to her. Tonight I got around to doing this, and re-read them for the first time since I transcribed and digitized the original written texts when I retired fifteen years ago. They were written to read aloud and entertain the girls before they settled down to sleep. When I read sections aloud to Clare I could hear my voice again as the young story telling dad I was fifty years ago. I was quite touched by this reminder of who I once was. So much to give thanks for at the end of a difficult day. And now bed.

Coffee, coffee, coffee!

Cold and cloudy today. Early bed at half past nine last night despite the usual broken sleep, improved the way I felt on waking up. After taking the blood pressure pill I felt light headed and slow thinking until I went for a walk and had lunch. That 'toxic head' feeling wasn't as intense as it used to be. I'll try whatever change of routine makes a consistent difference. Only taking a statin every other day seems to spare me the worst of the awful sensation I've been living with since the stroke. Tomorrow morning I return to St David's hospital for a second fasting blood cholesterol test.

Radio Four's 'In our time' programme this morning was all about the element silicon, its importance in the making of the universe, its physics and chemistry and its use in semiconductors and electronics. It took me back to my time as a chemistry student sixty years ago, when fresh discoveries about silicon compounds and how to synthesise them were being made. This was just before the revolutionary innovation of silicon based products began to be commercialised. It was an exciting time to be in a scientific environment. The inquisitive and imaginative nature of scientific enterprise attracted me. I'm not sure that I would have become sufficiently disciplined and competent enough as a practitioner to make a worthwhile contribution to science, however. I was more interested in people, how they think, what they think and believe, always interested in the bigger picture, and how everything works together for good.

Clare soaked and cooked a batch of beans to make a curry with some of them for lunch. They are soft enough to use for making our own hummus as well. I fell asleep in my armchair for an hour afterwards. I didn't realise I was that tired since I slept fairly well last night, but I felt better as a result.

I walked around Thompson's Park for an hour. The old park keeper's hut, converted into the 'Lufkin' coffee kiosk seven years ago, closed last year. It's being given a makeover and is about to re-open, re-branded as 'Ground' the sixth in a small chain of local coffee and pastry shops around Cardiff and Penarth. 

Another coffee shop, one of a chain of twelve under the 'Coffi Lab' brand, has just opened opposite the Half Way pub, competing with Coffee #1 further down the street, plus 'Cafe Castan' and 'Square and Fair' in Llandaff Fields. That's a remarkable number of coffee shops within five minutes walk of each other, with two of them pitched at dog walkers. 

It will be interesting to see how long they last, given the rising price of coffee beans due to the effect of climate change, plus energy costs due to economic fall-out from war in the Middle East. Fashionable matt black is the paint colour used in the latest of these renovated retail outlets. I wonder how comfortable it will prove to be sitting indoors if we have summers of extreme heat? Pontcanna has been featured in recent news items as a top ranking trendy lifestyle residential area. I wonder how that affects local house prices?

Trump's threat to destroy Iran's energy infrastructure is meant to put pressure on negotiations to end the war. Pakistan is acting as a go-between. As a sign of good faith, Iran has let ten oil tankers pass through the Straight of Hormuz. Meanwhile, The United Arab Emirates have been attacked by Iran while Hezbollah continues to attack Israel with missiles. Russia is supplying drones to Iran in the background. No matter how successful Israel and America are at destroying Iranian weapons production and stocks, this is bound to prolong Iranian retaliation and resistance. The Iranian regime although hit hard has not collapsed. Its assassinated leaders have been replaced by other hard-liners determined to maintain the oppressive status quo. Coercion and violence have produced much suffering and death, but succeeded only in prolonging conflict and a descent into global economic recession.

I found a new Italian crimmie to watch from 'Walter Presents' called 'Blanca'. It's about a young blind woman who becomes an intern at police headquarters. She has a highly developed sense of hearing from her job transcribing courtroom audio, and puts it to use in an investigative team. A clever idea showcasing  blind people's potential to be active participants in team work. The accents caught my attention. I guessed Northern Italy correctly, as the  setting of the drama was the port city of Genoa, with obligatory mention of pesto!  Listening to it through headphones was a really good thing, as the well crafted stereo sound track made the experience of the blind protagonist come alive.