Beware digital tyranny

Despite the heat I had a good night's sleep, though it left me feeling light headed after taking my meds for the day. High cloud and cooling wind from the west limited the afternoon air temperature to 24C, which is hot enough.

After breakfast, I worked on a biblical reflection on Luke's story of the giving of the Lord's Prayer. Clare called me from town to ask if I would prepare lunch, which I did at short notice, so it was ready by the time she got home. I met Rufus at Cafe Castan for coffee and chat after lunch. He's very busy in his work with Missions to Seafarers, involving a lot of travel and organising volunteers. 

Sadly the response to his ministry from the Church in Wales leaves much to be desired - an institution in survival mode tending to turn in on itself, away from the concerns of the wider world. I get the impression that morale is low among clergy approaching retirement age, drained by decades of struggle against slow  decline. We're among the number of faithful who have come to feel like strangers in the household of God, as it manages its own demise. 

The demise of physical parking permits and imposition of digital parking permits in our car crowded area is leading to many complaints on our neighbourhood WhatsApp group. The system is comple. The permit managing app is giving users grief. Civil Parking Enforcement officers are having a field day issuing fines to parked cars, some of which may have tried to use the app and failed, or entered details incorrectly.  It is possible to pay using one's mobile phone SMS, and by calling a live operator, but the volume of demand for this large enough to jam the system. 

Clare wants to pay for a permit for one user, but it's far from clear how this is meant to work when a house has no set parking space, only a designated zone in which there may not be an available space anyway.. In order to obtain a digital permit, Clare needed our Council Tax reference number. It's in a document in a physical file cabinet that's so old it's falling apart. Once every file was properly labelled, but over the years many of there have detached themselves. Taking out folders from a ground level cabinet in a poorly lit corner of my decrepit pre-digital office to examine them isn't easy. It's precarious. Bending over threatens to provoke a nose bleed. 

I already had a nose bleed earlier today sitting quietly, trying to figure out how to respond to an NHS appointment SMS with a distinctly ambiguous labelled response button, as the respond by date was yesterday. I was about to go to the GP surgery and ask them to decode this for me when Jorja arrived for her house cleaning session. She dialled the mobile number from which the SMS was sent, something I had assumed wouldn't ring out as such automated messages can come from a server that blocks return calls in favour of messages from the auto response button. Jorja called the mobile number anyway and got to speak to a real human being, and identified me as the recipient of the SMS. It turned out there was a date error in the message I was sent. The impact of over-reliance on 'smart' digital forms of administration and management is generating more chaos than order, as we are seeing with the EU's electronic passport gate network. Clever people are making stupid and costly strategic decisions because they don't consider the human element and regard people as immutable cogs in a machine.

In November the spacecraft Voyager 1 passes a distance equivalent to one day's travel at the speed of light. A story about human teamwork is being told which celebrates the truth that human beings at their best are anything but immutable cogs. 

'A spacecraft built by people, many of whom are no longer alive, was rescued by people who had retired — called back specifically because the knowledge of how Voyager works had become rare enough to be precious. The fix required no new hardware, no rocket, no rescue mission. It required old engineers, deep institutional memory, two days of patience, and an extraordinarily careful understanding of a computer designed before most of the modern world existed. Voyager 1 is now so far away that its signal, travelling at the speed of light, takes most of a day to reach us. In November 2026 it will cross a strange threshold — it will be a full light-day from Earth.'

In the past thirty years, communication technologies and social networks have brought about huge upheavals in culture and relationships influencing values and social priorities. Whether something is popular rather than just, true or correct is unduly influencing moral thinking, or perhaps just distracting attention from the pursuit of truth. Making sense of this from a disciplined Christian perspective and challenging where necessary is vitally important. Especially given the rise and rise of AI. 

Pope Leo has been outspokenly critical in his first encyclical 'Magnifica Humanitas' published this week. An important contribution about human value and the dignity of God's children in an era when computer algorithms are so powerful they threaten to eclipse real human intelligence. To trust and rely on such digital devices of our own making to reason for us, is to my mind, nothing but idolatry.

After Rufus and I parted company I walked home, had a drink, then went out again and walked for an hour before supper. As the sun reached the horizon, I went out again for a breath of fresh air in the cool evening breeze before bed.

Mona's thoughts on the Haj

A hot and sweaty night, though I managed to sleep fairly well, but didn't feel as if I'd slept enough, and felt physically tired. It wasn't brain fatigue, my head was clear enough, if a little slow thinking at first. A cooling wind from the west brought the temperature down below 30C today. Meadow Street was noisy again when I got up with the sound of scaffolding being erected and the workers' loud conversation. A loft conversion is under way a few doors down from us. 

I posted the YouTube Morning Prayer link to WhatsApp just after 'Thought for the Day' Mona Siddiqui reflected on the significance of the annual Haj pilgrimage to Mecca which started last Sunday night. Saudi Arabia has been under attack in recent months from Iranian allies like other America supporting Gulf States. She remarked on the presence of anti-missile defence batteries around the holy city protecting the 1.5 million pilgrims arriving in even greater numbers this year despite Trump's war. She interpreted this as expressing the people's faith in God defying their own fear, and refusing to let themselves be defined by uncontrollable chaos and anxiety unleashed by regional conflict.

Despite getting up in good time, I arrived five minutes late at the St Catherine's Eucharist, detained at home by my irritable bowel which runs on a timetable of its own. There were ten of us this morning, including Pam who's been housebound for months. It was good to see her looking well, and happy to be among friends again. I settled accounts with Ann for our Tenby stay and she brought me home in her car to collect the key to their Sandy Reach apartment.

I prepared the veg to cook for lunch, and Clare cooked ravioli stuffed with ricotta and chicken or spinach, bathed in our best olive oil. It was a pleasant change, and good to find that a pasta enriched with egg and a cheesy filling didn't give me indigestion. Then, a stimulating acupuncture session with Peter, one which literally made my feet tingle. Despite the stress and sleep losses of the past couple of weeks my body has responded well to the ups and downs of changing routine. I won't need a session so often from now on.

Clare also had a session with Peter this afternoon as well, but got muddled about her destination and went first in the opposite direction to the clinic where we have osteo massage treatment with Clive. Fortunately Peter didn't have another client at that time and all ended well. 

I had a rest when I got home, though I didn't sleep, and went out for a walk before supper. Banners for an orienteering event had been planted in Llandaff Field, marking the start and finish points for the day's course. It made me think of Sara and Gunnar as they are keen on orienteering in the countryside outside of Gothenburg. I took a photo and sent it to her.

Having completed my daily mileage quota, I started getting ready for bed before sunset, hoping for extra rest. Sometimes I feel as if I'm wearing myself out, as I rarely feel fully recovered after a night of broken sleep.

Stalemate

Another 30+C clear blue sky day of sunshine. It stayed warm overnight with the usual sleep interruptions from my bladder and painful shoulder. Rubbing the joint with Voltarol when the discomfort woke me up in  the night, made a difference however, but robbed me of an hour's sleep. The house next door but one is having work done on its roof. A work gang started before eight this morning. Scaffolding poles banging against the terrace walls with a thump woke me up, together with the loud non-stop talking of the gang leader, continuing all morning. If this was Switzerland a policeman would have been summoned to tell the gang to work without disturbing the domestic peace.

Only Fran came to study with Clare after breakfast. I confined myself to the front room and fell asleep for an hour and a half after saying Morning Prayer. I started to wake up after Fran left. Thankfully for a change, I escaped the effect of sleep loss. Clare cooked mackerel for lunch, with red cabbage and brown rice, followed by raspberries with ice cream and chocolate sauce to follow. We ate in the garden, and when the breeze died down it felt really hot under the sunshade, the kind of heat I associate with Spain.

After lunch, a walk to the shops on Cowbridge Road East with a stop to collect prescription items from the pharmacy in King's Road before buying a few more items I needed. I still can't find a suitable antiseptic liquid to replace TCP since the supply chain broke down. I meant to ask in Boots this afternoon but there was a queue to be served so long it snaked around the store. I'll try again another day. Walking the streets with the sun still casting short shadows was a bit like going near a furnace on times. Rather than extend my walk into the park, I returned home straightaway, to shelter in the relative coolness of the house. After supper, I went out and walked for an hour to complete the rest of my daily distance before settling down for the night. The sunset was spectacular, made special by the sound of the Cathedral bell ringing practice in the distance. It was over 32C in Bute Park this afternoon, a record breaking high temperature for May,  Europe is heating up faster than anticipated, an indication of things to come.

Despite peace talks during a cease fire between Iran and America fighting over access to the Straight of Hormuz and to Iranian ports continues, very little oil traffic gets through and the economic fall out grows and gets more serious in its effect. Trump's team makes optimistic noises about imminent progress, but in effect there has been no change. It seems the Americans are trying to talk their way out of a stalemate in an attempt to quell the rising price of oil. Israel keeps punishing Lebanon in its war against Hezbollah, with cease fire talks supposed to continue in the background. Iran threatens to extend the war beyond the region's borders if American and Israeli aggression continues. It has shown its military effectiveness with missile and drone attacks across the Middle East, and has Russia's discreet background support. 

The US  mid-term elections in November will no doubt reflect dissatisfaction over the war and the economy under Trump, and may well shift the balance of support away from him and his costly Middle Eastern interventions. How this war may actually be brought to an end in such circumstances is unpredictable. Chaos has spread throughout the region, with Iran's allies, for reasons of survival or taking revenge against US backed Gulf States, no longer fully under control of the leadership in Tehran. Gulf States which have benefited from their relationship with America in the past are seeing their economies and infrastructure damaged. How will this influence their partnership with and reliance on the United States in future? Whatever happens in the mid-term elections, future relationships seem unpredictable.

As hot as Spain

A comfortably warm night, a consolation as a painful shoulder added to my wakefulness. It's hotter than Málaga here today - 30C, as opposed to 23C on the Costa del Sol. I had a lazy morning indoors out of the sun. It wakes me time to acclimatize, and as medications dehydrate me, extra care drinking enough water is vital. The heat is going to persist for a while, the media already talks of a heat wave and record breaking high temperatures.

I read an article about saving wear and tear on a digital hard drive by disabling its 'fast boot' setting, Both my Windows 11 devices have digital hard drives and were several years old when I bought them. Length of life with a used device is uncertain, so better safe than sorry. It took a while to find the relevant means to disable the setting - it's not as if I need to boot up extra quickly, when my uses for a Windows 11 device are limited. If I want speed, I have the convenience of a Chromebook as a writing and editing tool, and can live with its limitations. Sound and video editing are what I use Windows for. With practice I could do the same on a Linux device, but learning how to achieve this habitually at speed would be an effort when my brain is sluggish and dull for lack of sleep. Remembering how to find and use the legacy Windows Control Panel to disable 'fast boot' was a slow exercise. As I don't use my Honor laptop often, undates were needed which took a couple of hours to download and install. 

Meanwhile Clare baked sausages and potatoes, and cooked green and red cabbage for lunch in the garden under the shade of our umbrella sunshade. A family of sparrows in the vegetation on top of the garden wall accompanied us with their chirruping while we ate. After a siesta in my armchair, I walked for an hour in Llandaff Fields. The afternoon sun was very strong and I navigated a course from one patch of tree shade to another to avoid sunburn. There was a cooling breeze from the west, but the wind was pleasantly warm, a change from how it has been for months.

I went out again after supper as the temperature began to drop, this time for a circuit of Thompson's Park. I saw one moorhen on its nest, but instead of the other parent at the water's edge there was a juvenile bird which had shed its hatchling down and was growing its flight feathers. It probably hatched while we were in Tenby. I wonder if there's a second clutch of eggs under the bird on the nest? Time will tell.

I completed by daily distance returning home, and started getting ready for bed.  I rubbed Voltarol into my shoulder when I got up this morning and it hasn't been painful during the day. Hopefully I can make up for last night's broken sleep. It left me feeling light headed and a bit unsteady for most of the day.

Quiet Pentecost

I got to bed by ten thirty but had an uncomfortable night's sleep, due to shoulder pain. When I eventually woke up it was ten o'clock. A day of clear sky and bright sunshine, 25C. I slept better than I felt I would, given the pain. I had to rush to get myself to St Catherine's by ten forty five and arrived during the first hymn. As it's a Bank Holiday weekend, parents with children were absent. There were about thirty present, half the number, our faithful choir. 

We had lunch in the garden under our big umbrella sunshade, eating the chick pea and veg I prepared for yesterday's lunch, to which Clare added a dash of curry spice. After lunch, Pete called in bearing a copy of Diana's latest novel, just published. What a lovely surprise!

A lovely afternoon for a walk along the edge of Pontcanna Fields along the so-called Spine Road. It's lined with tall trees in full leaf. It looks magnificent and provides ample shade for humans and cover for robins, wrens, thrushes, blackbirds, collared doves and starlings to sing their hearts out against a background of children's excited shrieks as they chase each other around playing football. The aroma of meat roasting on picnic barbecues pervades the air. It's lovely to see so many people enjoying the park.

A quiet evening after supper, catching up on news until the light began to fade. Cue for an early bed time, in the hope of another restful night and minimal sleep disturbance. Life is so much less stressful when I'm not overtired.

Surprise turn

The weather gradually gets warmer each day, under a thin layer of high cloud, but it's cooler at night. The house stays relatively cool as the building itself takes a long time to warm up and stay warm. I notice this as I'm more sensitive to cold than I used to be, and need to wear extra layers until it becomes really hot. I remember my mother quoting the proverb "Never cast a clout until May is out." or was it 'the May is out' meaning May blossom, which already appeared before the end of April. We're already in the last week of May and it's possible to go out with no top coat at last, even if there's a wind. I notice other walkers more thinly clad than me. I don't generate as much heat walking slower and aim to stay comfortably warm in whatever way I can. 

Although I had a fair night's sleep, I wasn't comfortable, losing three hours to bladder interruptions, and I'm not fully awake until well after breakfast - Saturday pancakes this morning followed by doing nothing until it was time for lunch. Clare went out shopping, leaving a bag of frozen chick peas to thaw. I assumed this was intended for lunch and got busy with making a veggie sauce to cook them in. I didn't notice the   message  arriving to say she was bringing home fish and chips for lunch. Ooops! My savoury dish will have to wait until tomorrow, or go in the freezer.

After we'd eaten I walked in Llandaff Fields, and my head began to clear of sleepiness that slowed down my brain and reactions. As I walked back along Penhill Road, a man wearing a rucksack reversed out of his front gate on my left hand side without looking, hauling a push chair behind him right into my path  when I was just two paces behind him. Not only did I see him, but responded quickly enough to swerve and avoid a collision. He appeared in the corner of my left eye where my field of vision was impaired by the stroke. The sun was bright, he was partly in shadow. My physical reaction didn't lag behind my perception of a possible collision and I wasn't thrown off balance. 

This unexpected gift astonished me. There have been other moments too lately. Occasionally in this spell of bright sunshine, I started to experience  faint sparkles of coloured light in the left hand corner of my field of vision, the area which was darkened enough in the early months of recovery for me not to notice things on the upper and lower periphery of my vision. It led to collisions or near misses with overhanging foliage, rubbish bins and a protruding gate parapet, but it has slowly improved with the passage of time. The neuro-plasticity of the brain as it's called means repair happens with suitable stimulus. Something special to thank God for this afternoon.

I went out again and walked around Thompson's Park to complete my daily distance. The moorhen pair are taking turns to sit on their nest in the pond. I watched them change shifts. I don't think their eggs are  hatched yet. 

Owain returned from his excursion to Lisbon and sent us photos. Then after supper, he video called and told us all about it. He was impressed by the low cost public transport system, metro, trams, cheap taxis and buses. The city  is apparently very hilly. No wonder he sounded tired after his trip. It reminded me to take myself to bed earlier.

Google imposes unwanted upgrade

My right shoulder is weak from ski injuries thirty years ago and I strained my right shoulder carrying travel cases on our Tenby trip. Lying in bed on my back last night was painful. Propping myself up to get out of bed for a pee several times made it worse. I tried swapping direction - head to toe - so that I could prop myself up with my left arm instead and that helped, but I still lost four hour's sleep after ten in bed, and thankfully didn't feel worse for wear after taking my meds, just tired, as if I was on a long haul flight. A message from Ann said that her phone charger had arrived in today's mail. Next day delivery from West to East with first class post is still possible it seems.

I recorded and edited next Wednesday's Morning Prayer and Reflection before lunch, then slept for a while before an hour's afternoon walk in Llandaff Fields. I walked again for half an hour after supper. When my legs and brain are tired, I try not to push myself too hard or in too sustained a way. 

When I checked my fitbit phone app for the first time today, I was shocked to find it had been supplanted by the Google Health app. There was a warning notification a few days ago that this would happen, and it didn't say the user had no choice about this. The fancy user interface is not as simple, and it takes time to find your way around. I noticed that the phone app showed an estimate of an hour and three quarters more sleep than the Fitbit's smart watch dial. How long I wonder, before Google ends support for the device and effectively turns it into another piece of electronic waste?

Rachel called us from an airport departure lounge in Las Vegas early in her morning, waiting for a flight to Sacramento in California to spend some time relaxing and making music with a percussionist friend. She used her accumulated Air Miles to cover the cost of an internal flight. It's amazing when you think about it, and useful in a time when Trump's war  with Iran has pushed up prices, and brought the western world to the brink of aviation fuel shortages.