Big event disquiet

Another day of sunshine and cloud after a pleasantly cool night's sleep, with the temperature rising to 20C mid morning. Clare went for a chiropractic treatment after breakfast and I chatted to Kath as she drove to work, as she often does on a Thursday. Then I worked on next Wednesday's biblical reflection while Clare cooked lunch. I continued a sermon for Sunday after lunch until I ran out of ideas, and went for a walk.

At half past five I drove Clare to the Cardiff Bay Nuffield Hospital for her hip replacement appointment, slightly uncertain about the last part of the route from Grangetown. Although it's properly marked on Google maps, I recall there was a junction where the road markings weren't clear enough. I went left instead of straight on and reached the destination from a different direction on a circular route. The hospital is situated in an area with other unmemorable large public buildings, overlooked by the A4232 bypass, and the signage isn't that good. Enough to make me nervous about getting lost again. It's a couple of years since we last came here for a second opinion from an eye surgeon. Anyway, this time, I came off the correct roundabout and saw that I needed to cross over into a single right hand lane that would take me where I needed to go, and we arrived with plenty of time to spare. 

While Clare was being seen, I wandered around the neighbourhood to familiarise myself with it. One huge building nearby is Willcox House, now a huge 'wellness centre' offering all sorts of therapies and training facilities. It was first used as the headquarters of NTLWorld internet service providers, then by Cardiff Council for social services admin offices. That was when I visited it for a meeting to plan a training course for volunteers feeding homeless people on the city centre streets sixteen years ago. Clare emerged from the hospital an hour later, reassured by her meeting with the hip surgeon who will do the operation after we return from the Douro cruise. He's also referred her back to UHW about the other hip in which he observed deterioration, proposing that she is put on the NHS waiting list to have it done. 

As we were driving back into Grangetown, she realised she'd forgotten to pay for the consultation, and left the treatment information booklet behind, so we had to return pronto and complete the process. Having revisit the awkward junction a second time so soon at least meant that I could memorise the turning. 

There was another concert in Blackweir Fields this evening, and in the news the City Council is being criticised and challenged for allowing concerts which deny use of a large area of Bute Park to the public. It's being pointed out that it was gifted to the citizens of Cardiff, not to the Council which manages it. The city's economy may benefit from these big events but it's hundreds of thousands of people whose daily lives and well being are disrupted by road closures and the comings and goings of tens of thousands of concert goers. There's no respite either, as road closures will continue over the weekend with concerts at the Principality stadium. Closures for international matches don't normally happen so close together, so it's no wonder there's public annoyance.

We had supper late, then I spent the rest of the evening reading my Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel. Time seems to pass quicker when I read in Spanish checking unfamiliar words, than when I'm watching a movie, perhaps because words stimulate the imagination and help portray a scene described. Watching something gives you pictures to work with devised by the auteur not yourself and if your mind works quickly to make sense of what you're seeing. Unless the pace of the story is rapid, it can seem long drawn out.