Side effects

 I went to the surgery to have another blood sample taken for testing this morning. I hope it's possible to find out soon what's causing my blood pressure rise such that I need this extra medication which affects me more than it should to reduce it. It's hard to do anything that involves sitting or standing quietly for long as it makes me feel light headed, slightly intoxicated, as if I'm losing my equilibrium, although I never do. It's not good for sustaining concentration and undermines confidence. Only when I walk or am really active does the sensation subside. The remedy really is worse than the ailment it sets out to cure.

In the afternoon, Clare sieved all the pips from the blackberries collected and cooked yesterday, to make a beautifully flavoured puree, four small glass jars' worth. I walked to the Aldi supermarket on Western Avenue to stock up on a few of their select wine bargains, two different Utiel-Requena reds and a generic French Pinot Noir. There was nothing worth watching on telly, so I went to bed early

Life on hold

The weather is so strange for mid-June, cool, overcast, bouts of rain and wind, it's more like March and this makes me rather miserable and frustrated. I need to get out and walk for an hour a day, but hate getting wet, and not being able to take photos with my new camera. We're still without the car, as the garage hasn't been able to rectify the fault that left the nearside window half open and the central locking mechanism not working as designed, but annoyingly different. It has to go to a specialist auto electrical place to get fixed and we have no idea how long that will take, just like waiting to hear from the surgeon about the outcome of the last MRI scan.

Clare went out by taxi early, to spend the morning in the University School of Optometry once again, as a volunteer patient being examined for her glaucoma by a succession of trainee optometrists. She is paid a small fee for this which she donates to the St John's Eye Hospital in Jerusalem. She gets a nice thank you email from them eventually. I'd love to take her there one of these days, when I'm fit to travel abroad again. It's one place I didn't visit when I had my nine week sabbatical in the Holy City at the end of 2000. At that time I didn't know about it, as I joined the Order of St John only when I was Vicar of St John's City Parish Church.

Rufus came for lunch and a chat, so I cooked and has everything on the table when he arrived at one, and Clare arrived shortly afterwards, perfect timing. After he left, I went to the wound clinic for my only appointment of the week, mainly to collect supplies but there still hasn't been a delivery of much needed swabs. I called into our GP surgery on Wednesday morning to see if they could help and came away with enough supplies to last until the weekend. I don't know how the District Nurse team copes when they have many more patients far worse off than I. I dread to think what'll happen post brexit.

In the evening, I got around to watching the ninth and last episode of Berlin Station on More Four, as I missed it last night. It was very good indeed, with an ingenious plot which prepares the way for a third set of episodes. It's top quality plausible topical spy fiction. I look forward to series three. The IMDB website tells me that these were already screened last year. I have no idea when they'll be shown on More Four. More waiting meanwhile. 

Eurythmy in the frame again

I had a wound clinic visit this afternoon, primarily to collect supplies, as we are managing well at home without need to use a full dressing this past week or so. Unfortunately, supplies deliveries to the clinic haven't recovered from the last bank holiday. Again. This is worrying for the nursing team. In addition, nearly half of the district nursing team is off sick at the moment, and some of the regular local clinics have not been able to open, so all those patients who must have treatment are redirected to Riverside clinic, so their appointment diary is over full. I'm crossing my fingers that we don't run out before my visit, a week today.

This evening there was a Eurythmy performance by the West Midlands Stage group in the Steiner School, which Clare had been instrumental in arranging. It's a couple of years since they last visited. She was picked up early and driven there, as our car is still in the garage for repairs. I followed on the bus a little later, with my trust Sony HX300 in hand, to video the performance. As there was no suitable place to rig it on a tripod, I had to film hand-held, for an hours worth of performance time. This was taxing, but the results were fairly good considering. The performances by members of the six strong student touring group were excellent and powerful. Tomorrow, I have the task of extracting, editing and consigning to a web platform for our friends Marin and Alan Stott who run the West Midlands Eurythmy School to review and approve before publishing them to YouTube. I was pleased to have the opportunity to do this, even if it meant watching only through the camera.

We were home in good time to watch 'Berlin Station' on More Four. Broadcast time has moved from ten until eleven, which meant a late night that I didn't need, but it's too good to defer watching.

Electoral farce

Yesterday, I celebrated the Eucharist with seven others at St Catherine's in the morning. I had a phone call when I returned about officiating at a funeral the week after next, at the Vale Crematorium. Our friend Russell's funeral is there on the Saturday morning just before. A double slot has been booked for this, as the funeral ritual of the Anthroposophical Christian Community calls for more time. After this the Wake is being held in the Penarth Pier Pavilion. I imagine this idea would have given him much pleasure. 

After lunch I walked to an acupuncture treatment at the Natural Health Clinic, and then a walk around Pontcanna Fields. Recently, I've been feeling drained of energy, and walking for an hour has been an effort. This kind of treatment makes a difference I find, as it works on stimulating kidney function in this instance, and this seems to help disperse low level toxins in the blood which sap energy. It reminds me to put into practice lessons learned from Tai Chi / Chi Gung about massaging the kidneys and drinking lots of water. Things I'm at risk of forgetting. 

This morning, I celebrated the Eucharist at St John's for a dozen people, including Emma, who was pleased to sit in the congregation, saving her energies to officiate at a wedding following the service. On my way from church to the clinic for a wound dressing, I kept seeing unusually smartly dressed men in suits and ties, and women in glamorous outfits looking conspicuous among the everyday mix of shoppers and workers about their business. I wondered if this sight aroused curiosity among more mundane pedestrians?

The European elections take place today. Clare and I dispatched our postal votes a week ago. News talk is all of the likely majority of seats being taken by Farage's brexit party, a single issue movement taking seats they have no intention of occupying, but are dedicated to removing from the political map due to the UK's withdrawal from the EU. If further delays leads to the newly elected taking their seats, no doubt their presence and behaviour will end up causing offence due to the contempt they exhibit for European institutions. This fills me with disgust and shame.

In the evening another engaging episode of 'Berlin Station' on More Four. The story-line concerns the rise and rise of a populist far right party in Germany, encouraged by subversive conspirators inside and outside the country. The CIA is monitoring the situation and unofficially getting involved in trying to forestall a terrorism element in the equation, but elements in their own government may also be involved in the conspiracy. It's complex, but also very contemporary, written in and for the Trump era, even if he doesn't get mentioned by name. I think series two is quite an improvement on series one, which I found complex and hard to follow.