At last a change in the weather with the temperature in the low twenties, with sunshine and thin cloud, East Wales is said to be the warmest area of the country today. It's more like summer at last. I was awake after slightly less sleep than I needed, and posting this week's Morning Prayer YouTube link to Morning Prayer just before half past seven, dozed through the news, got up at eight and washed my hair after breakfast.
There were ten of us at the St Catherine's Eucharist and a dozen for coffee afterwards. Two men of the congregation were mowing the church lawns when I arrived. Before the service when the door was open, the sound of mowing and the scent of freshly cut grass like incense wafted into the building on the warm breeze. The church grounds are looking lovely with many more fruit trees and bushes being planted, cold frames and two greenhouses, soon to be relocated. All along the front railings a colourful border of flowers, behind clean green painted railings. Let's hope that a well cared for place conveys the message of being a caring place to the wider world, and attracts newcomers.
I collected the veggie bag from Chapter on the way home and cooked brown rice, carrots and fennel with prawns using the remainder of my garlic soup as a sauce to heat the cooked prawns in. Then I slept for an hour in the chair and felt a bit more fit for purpose. Clare took herself to watch a film in Chapter. I didn't feel up to it, and thought I might fall asleep, unless the loudness of the cinema hi-fi surround sound system bullied me into staying awake. My hearing is pretty good still, but I experience pain from excessive noise, whether in a movie house or outdoors. Being two miles from UHW we hear a lot of ambulance and police sirens along our main roads, and it's really unpleasant. Funnily enough, live un-amplified orchestral music at fairly close range in a concert hall isn't painful. That says a lot about the difference in quality of the sound I'm hearing.
After my siesta I went for a walk in Llandaff Fields, and reached home at the same time as Clare. After supper I looked on iPlayer again for something to watch and found a BBC Wales production set in various locations in South Wales, though mainly in Y Bannau Brycheiniog as the Brecon Beacons National Park is now re-branded. It's a well crafted lightweight comedy. You could say it's basically a sit-com with in the setting of a murder mystery lots of typical character led banter in English, as well as subtitled dialogue in Welsh. The crime investigators are not really believable, and the amateur sleuth, a retired actor who played a detective in his working life, the one interesting character. There's no dramatic pathos in it to balance the entertaining funny dialogue.
The pace of story I found rather fast in places making it difficult to grasp the reasoning that solves the mystery, but maybe that's just my age. It's had many favourable reviews for its acting and scenery, except from a handful of people like me who tried it sight unseen and the wondered why they had after the first ten minutes. Perhaps the only reason to watch more is to find out if it improves after the first couple of episodes. Watching the brilliant 'Black Forest Murders' mini series yesterday spoiled me. It had elements of low key humour colouring the seriousness of the story, emerging from the relationships portrayed, but it told a real life story. 'Death Valley' is just fiction, somewhat divorced from grim reality. That's enough for now. Bed time already.
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