A lovely sunny day 22C and less humid than yesterday. I posted today's Morning Prayer YouTube link to WhatsApp when I woke up at the usual time, and dozed for half an hour before getting up.
Owain was up eating breakfast bright and early and went off at nine thirty to meet a a friend for coffee before returning to Bristol, where he has a birthday supper with former colleagues this evening. I went to St Catherine's to celebrate the Eucharist and after coffee went on to celebrate at St John's before returning home via Chapter to collect this week's veggie bag. Clare was just putting lunch on the table as I arrived home at one. A busy morning, quite tiring in the heat.
In the past couple of days Trump has been claiming he's done a deal with Hamas for a 60 day ceasefire that Israel is willing to agree to the terms, but until this evening there's been no response from Hamas. It's being reported now that they are willing to agree to return the remaining hostages, living and dead and talk terms in detail, provided that it leads to an end to hostilities. Hamas has already stated they want the Israeli military out of Gaza. Will a broad Israeli buffer zone independently monitored be agreed? What about the Palestinians to whom any exclusion zone territory is home? Will UN humanitarian aid agencies be allowed back in once the occupiers leave? I can't see any rapid answers to these questions being given. It's not in the interest of Netanyahu's government to reach a speedy conclusion. What if anything will happen now?
After lunch I realised Owain had left his phone charger behind. When I went shopping at the Coop I took it with me, wrapped in an old jiffy bag and mailed it to him at the Post Office opposite. Being there gave me a chance to activate my replacement Post Office Money Card. A chip and pin transaction is required, not that I need to make a payment in euros, which is all the cash that's on the card, but making a balance request with the card at the counter allows you to do this, although the account balance is printed out in sterling. Having the new card ready activated is advantageous, as the next time I'm likely to pay in euros will be when we arrive at the airport in Oporto at the start of our Douro cruise. There's enough on the card, if needs be, to tap and pay for a drink if we're waiting for transport to the cruise ship.
On return from shopping, I cooked the chicken pieces I bought and baked a few potatoes for supper while the oven was hot. This motivated Clare to make a chocolate cake. Then I prepared the text to use for next Wednesday's Morning Prayer, before we had supper. Afterwards, I walked over to Thompson's Park. With the sun heading towards the horizon, ornamental grasses in the circular flower bed radiated golden light.
Several parakeets high in the leaf canopy were calling out to each other. There's also a couple in the back gardens on our side of Llandaff Road. Occasionally I see a family group of four flying together down to the river in the evening, but at the moment they're not very visible as a social group. I wonder how long it will be before their numbers really begin to multiply? I wonder if the local buzzard and the peregrine falcons in the Cathedral tower are helping to keep the numbers from growing too rapidly? Time will tell.
We had an exchange of messages with Jasmine at supper time telling us that she's going to be spending her summer holiday travelling in Europe with her boy friend Louis. They were going to start with a visit to his grandparents in Bordeaux, but it's so hot there at the moment it's too much like home in Arizona, so they propose coming to Britain first instead. They arrive next Tuesday, and she's asking if they can stay with us next week. What a lovely surprise!
I left it a little late to watch anything lengthy before turning in for the night, instead I watched an episode of 'The Good Doctor', only forty minutes.
No comments:
Post a Comment