Catch up with former colleagues

I slept well again last night, but it took a long time to wake up properly. I didn't feel breathless, but rather as if I'd been sleeping in a room with no fresh air circulating. Well, I suppose that may be true. I don't keep a window open all night as the weather can change. When the temperature drops, I wake up feeling the cold, then it takes me ages to return to sleep.

I went to the Eucharist at St Catherine's after breakfast. Fr Sion is in Sweden on a diocesan twinning visit this week, so Canon Jenny Wigley took the service. We were colleagues in the city centre team ministry in the years for a while before my retirement. She moved on to Radyr Parish and I helped her out by taking services there occasionally. It must be ten years or more since our paths last crossed. She's a white haired granny now, but possesses the same exuberant spirit as she did twenty five years ago.

On the way back home I met Paula who lives in a nearby street. She contributes regularly to the Parish Daily Prayer WhatsApp thread, and I worked with her at the start of publishing Ministry Area information on Microsoft Sway. I haven't seen her since then, eighteen months ago. We chatted about our ailments and coming to terms with the vulnerabilities of old age. It's what people in our age bracket do, after all.

I had an acupuncture appointment booked for one o'clock, which thanks to Clare involved a hastily cooked lunch and a brisk walk to get to Parkwood clinic on time. When I arrived there I had no response from ringing the reception door bell. I phoned and got Peter's answering machine, so left him a text message. He called back an hour later apologising for having given me in haste an incorrect appointment time when changing the appointment time a few days earlier. We've re-booked for next week, the day after my GP appointment about a medication review, which could be useful, as I've discussed medication with him previously. 

After supper, I watched a couple of episodes of 'Vigil', combining a murder and a spy thriller with two female British detectives caught up with British, Chinese, Russian secret services and the CIA competing for control over the discovery of strategic energy assets in the Arctic Circle. It's such a complex story of lies, deceit and political intrigue it's hard to follow. The protagonists sometimes look puzzled too as they try to figure out what's happening, who's doing what to whom. Set on the island of Svalbard in the Barents Sea, the landscape is gaunt and treeless, covered with ice and snow even in summer. Aerial photography using a fashionable drone camera is impressive, showing viewers a place that few are ever likely to visit. It was engaging enough to watch that I stayed up later than I intended.