Dodgy Business

Thurssday morning, I didn't get ready early enough to be able to walk to the dentists for the second day in a row, and took the car, leaving myself half an hour to drive there. Just getting out of our street and on to the main road took half an hour. I began to think it wasn't a good idea, but the rest of the two mile trip took me fifteen minutes. It can take double this amount of time if there's a sudden hold up. The repair didn't take long, and I was home again just after ten. Clare had an appointment half an hour after mine. She used public transport and returned half an hour after me, lucky to find the traffic free flowing despite the rain and cold.

In the afternoon, I visited the CBS RadioNet office, where I found Ashley and Julie much disturbed by announcement from the 'For Cardiff' Business Imprevement District launching a competing radio network to ours. As if they haven't got anything better to do, trying to re-invent and reproduce as high a quality system for lower cost The process by which this decision was reached is alarming because of the lack of professional integrity shown by key players in two separate boardroom dramas, but I shall say no more. We have asked the City Council formally for an enquiry, and await a response.

Russel and Jacquie came to lunch yesterday, and we enjoyed a couple of hours good conversation.  Owain has gone to Geneva for a long weekend, and sent photos of himself and school friend Ludo enjoying a fondue in a hostelry on the snow clad Col de Sainte Cergue. It's twenty five years this months since we first took him up there, as a family newly arrived in Geneva. That was when I met the challenge and delight of ski de fond for the first time. I wonder if I'll get to do this during my new year sojourn in Montreux?

Today, with my sermon finished and printed off, I went for a pre-lunch walk around Thompsons Park and took some photos with my new DSLR, to help me get a fuller idea of its capabilities, especially in winter light. Later I went into town to buy Christmas cards, but felt disinclined to keep up the momentum, printing off labels and stuffing envelopes. Thinking abut an early morning Sunday start, I only watched the first of the two episodes of French crimmie -  'Witnesses - Frozen' on BBC Four. It's failing to sustain my attention with its suggesions of esoteric witchery. When you stop caring about the lead characters, it's time to go to bed. There's always catch-up in the week, maybe.
   

Part exchange

Yesterday afternoon, I went for catch up session in the CBS RadioNet office. Ashley took charge of my faulty electrical equipment and ran some tests with his expert equipment to establish whether it was the laptop charger or a socket board that caused the current to leak to earth and trip the mains switch, on by first day home. The charger seems to be fine, but the mains connector lead was faulty. I noticed the transformer getting warmer than usual, using it with a plug adaptor in Spain. Perhaps this alone caused the UK plug to flex and crack where the lead exits. Anyway it's a bin job. Luckily I have others . Next time I take the laptop abroad, I must be sure to find a continental lead to take with me instead. I'm sure I have several unused stored away.

I changed my Euros into sterling then visited Cardiff Camera Centre to check out if they had sold the discounted Sony Alpha 68 on offer lately and they hadn't. Its imaging technology is five years younger than my Alpha 55. The assistant asked if I was interested in part exchange and gave me an interesting quote. 

I banked the sterling this morning, and later returned to the shop, with the original telephoto lens which I hardlyever used, and another vintage Minolta telephoto lens which I never take out with me as it is heavy enough to need a tripod. Instead of paying £425 for the camera body, I paid £285, and got a spare battery added in for free. Only when I got home did I realise I had forgotten my dental appointment, for the simple reason that I'd not switched a phone on, and walked out of the house without one. It's unusual for me not to switch on and check out the news when I get up, then I get my diary notifications. Strange. I rang penitentially, half an hour late, and re-booked for next week.

  

Getting ready to travel again

There's been a lot to do this past couple of days, as well as pack my bags ready for my next tour of locum duty in Mojácar. I started yesterday with a hypertension review at the GP surgery, then with a haircut from Stavros my favourite joke telling hairdresser. After lunch, I visited our Osteomyologist Kay, for a back treatment. It was necessary, despite a fair reduction in discomfort these past few days. It's the unseen impact a fall can inflict on bone structure you have to consider, without the necessary corrective measures it can leave you vulnerable, and less flexible than is desirable. I then walked into town to do some banking, and made a visit to the CBS RadioNet office for a catch up session with Ashley and Julie, as CBS set about recruiting a new business crime reduction manager. Needless to say, I was late home for supper.

Today I had another visit to the School of Optometry to collect my new driving glasses, delivered in record time, since my appointment last Friday. It's a pleasure to go there as the team are so pleasant to deal with and superbly organised. Dealing with eyesight issues is a delicate and sensitive affair requiring a great deal of close contact with clients, and much reassurance. This certainly is a centre of excellence Cardiff can be proud of.

It's surprising how many small things escape attention when packing to go away for any length of time. I locked and strapped up my case three times during the evening, as I kept on thinking of things I needed to take with me. This time around I have to take a Windows laptop with me, as there isn't a machine available in the Chaplain's residence. I never go anywhere without my Chromebook, but I'm reluctant to rely on its wireless only network printing routine, it case I have problems with it. Apart from annoying issues with legacy printer drivers, devices running Windows 10 generally hook up to a printer easily and quickly. I took a Windows laptop last year, and will take it again this time around. For the sake of keeping my cabin bag weight down, however, I decided not to take my DSLR camera kit, which is a pity.

I bought a small light Acer Windows 10 device last year, to take with me on occasions like this, but had to give it to Kath to take with her to the USA, as Rhiannon's laptop was not fit for purpose when she brought it to me at the weekend. It's running fine now after a Windows re-install, so Clare can return it for Rhiannon to use when she goes up to Kenilworth to Kath's for the start of their Arizona trip next week. Altogether my case and hand baggage weigh twenty kilos, well within the allowance, and as much as I want to manage, while my back gently recovers for yesterday's vital therapy.

Nerja and an old friend re-visited

I got to the Muelle Heredia bus station in good time for the 10.35 ALSA coach to Nerja, but it didn't arrive until 10.50, perhaps because there were enough travellers to fill two coaches. I was on the non-stop one, which reached Nerja in just an hour. Muddled myself into thinking I was meeting Judith at our usual venue on the Balcon de Europa. I walked down there, and when I failed to find her, sent her a message and discovered our rendezvous was on the Balcon de Maro. I was lucky enough to arrive at the bus station again as a bus from Velez Malaga to the Nerja Caves, via Maro was pulling in. I was its only passenger, and only half an hour late.

We spent the best part of four hours sitting in the shade, drinking beer, eating a salad lunch and catching up on a couple f year's worth of news. It seems that no sooner had she stepped down as Church Warden after an eight year stint, last Easter, than her hip joint started giving her trouble. He is awaiting further investigation and a plan of action, which will probably involve a hip replacement operation in the coming year. She's in good spirits, but hating to need a walking stick for the time being. She told me how kind and supportive her Spanish neighbours are, helping her spontaneously whenever she needs a bag carried to her door. They have really accepted her as a fellow village even though she speaks very little Spanish. It's all done with the smile, I think.

Finding a local bus timetable for the return journey to Nerja proved impossible. Nothing on the bus and nothing readily findable on the smartphone web browser, except a bus after the time my coach leaves Nerja. So, decided to walk, afternoon heat and lack of shade notwithstanding. It's only four kilometres to the coach station, and the exercise did me good, after sitting for so long. I just got a little scorched on the legs, but nothing serious. The return journey was an hour and forty minutes, as the coach went via Torrox Playa and Torre del Mar. I was back in the apartment by eight, and ready for supper. 

I didn't go out again later, as I had work to do for Ashley on a RadioNet Newsletter to make public some details of the major frequency changes successfully executed by CBS during the past year. A few weeks ago I found the church laptop version of Office 2010 includes MS Publisher 2010. I downloaded  from CBS Cloud storage the last newsletter edition I prepared ages ago, and found it loaded perfectly well in the newer program. The saved file, won't be backwards compatible with software on my home PC so reluctantly I admit it's time for an upgrade from Publisher 2000.

  

The personal touch

We took Ann to her train this morning. She's off to see friends for the weekend before returning to Kirton. Clare's niece and god-daughter Caroline flies in from South Africa tomorrow, and we will rendezvous with her at Magor service station on the M4, so that Clare and drive with her down to Exeter to visit Auntie Daphne in hospital still recovering from her recent stroke. So this means I'll have an unexpected solitary night to myself.

This afternoon I went to the office again for a couple of hours, braving the security cordon and the crowds of parents with small children in the lobby, invading the Disney Word exhibition to reach the relative calm of the top floor. It's been great to see the difference made by Ian, our Business Crime Reduction Manager since he started work four months ago. The fact that he has a long experience of working in the city as a policeman and security consultant means that he's well known, respected and influential. Quietly, he's improved our working relationship with licensed premises users in a way we've found difficult to sustain, and that counts for a lot.

We struggled on without a public relations or marketing officer to help make known what RadioNet and the BCRP is all about, and endured some setbacks in the process. Having someone who is known and knows people is much more of an asset when it comes to good public security, as so much is built on personal trust. Funding the post has been well worth all the effort we've put into it. Ashley and I met up for convenience again at the Louie today, to continue what we started yesterday. He told me that the Uber taxi service is set to start in Cardiff today. I realised that I don't know much about it. Normally my pensioners' free bus pass is all I need.

This evening I started work on inspecting and editing my latest batch of 350 photos taken in Sta Pola. Some of the bird pictures will need weeding out of the collection as they are not as good as I'd hoped for, many being taken at the full extent of telescopic range for both cameras. Using a tripod as many bird watching photographers do would lead to some improvement, but carrying even a small lightweight one, such as I have, is an unwelcome encumbrance to mobility. Still it's nice to look at them and remember a warmer place to be than Cardiff.

Appreciating the past

This morning I was asked to visit a shop in the town centre which was closing down, and collect its radio handset equipment. It's a rare change for me to do something for CBS that's isn't back office, but nevertheless interesting. Businesses, great and small have their life cycles. Some die, some get taken over and keep running, some close for a while and then return when trading conditions improve. For the most part, I see this reflected in the history of records we keep, but a visit to the shop floor, meeting the workers in good times or bad, puts faces to the statistics of trading. Thankfully, despite recession and economic uncertainty, numbers of our radio subscribers have gradually grown over seven years.  

In another era, when there were more working clerics, I would have relished the opportunity to visit people in the retail sector and take and interest in their lives as a chaplain to retailers, but this never came my way, even when I was Vicar of the city centre Parish church, because there was always so much else to do.

There's a lot more mission that could be done by voluntary ministers fully embedded in the everyday world of work, the 'worker priest' ideal that was being explored half a century ago when I was training for ministry, was attracted to, but never followed up. There's a certain element of that kind of freedom for me to engage outside the institutional church setting now I'm retired, but it's not the same as actually earning a living, with all the challenges and these days uncertainties of the secular work environment which this entails.

When I reflect, I realise how privileged and protected some aspects of my working were. Nonetheless, I learned a lot, acquired unexpected skills and experiences which University and Theological College didn't prepare me for, and grew to have a confidence I certainly didn't have when I started out. The older me is willing to tackle things the younger me would have shied away from, but there's no way to turn back the clock, only to do was well as I can now, in appreciation of what it once was like, and of all those whose trust, patience and encouragement got me this far.

I've had some calls lately about my availability for services, and funerals for next week, when the Diocesan clergy school will take most of the active work force away to Oxford, throwing a great deal back on to the ranks of the retired. Clergy schools were in my experience a great opportunity for bonding with colleagues through worship and discussion, even if the input from contributors wasn't everybody's cup of tea, so I'd be pleased to support this mass absence, except that next week, we'll be in Sta Pola, out of reach when it comes to plugging the gaps.

Another bereavement visit this evening, for Thursday's funeral. It'll be third in a row for me to officiate at in St Paul's Grangetown, covering for Fr David. By co-incidence, it'll be the second this week of an elderly woman who worked in Freeman's, later Gallagher's cigar factory in Grangetown, having been born into a large family and growing up in the community there during the war. I expect there'll be another big local attendance for this one too, marking the passing of an extraordinary era in the history of the city.

More office chores

I celebrated the Eucharist for a dozen people at St John's Canton this morning, and later drove to the office to deliver and set up the new administrator's PC. Julie had the day off, which gave me time to sort it out properly. Making sure it was properly hooked up to the network drive for back up purposes took me longer than expected. The device has run faithfully for over three years, but I'd forgotten how to navigate around its file system, to check if the backup routine was working the way I'd set it up. 

Tracking down the printer drivers for the Dell network printer and the HP inkjet used to print off Safetynet files took much longer than expected. Longer than when I did this for Ashley's new office machine a few months ago, I feel sure. Windows 10 was fine at recognising both printers existed, but not automatically finding drivers, as the Dell is seven years old and the HP five. It's easy to get tricked by this and ending up wasting hours troubleshooting when it fails to print as required, so I had to make the effort to get it right.

I also had to identify and copy work material in progress from her old Desktop to the new one, as this is not included in the OneDrive file sync. I left her with the full AT extended keyboard she's used to rather than let her have the shiny new one, which has the laptop extended keyboard layout. I can give her the choice to change tomorrow, but I am aware how much of an impediment a different interface can be when you're getting started in the morning and under pressure, as we always are at CBS.

Fortunately the packaging for a similar machine had still not been disposed of, so I packed away the machine being retired, for safe keeping, until the rest of the office workspace has been re-arranged. Ian's arrival prompted us to request an expansion of the area we occupy to provide proper room and storage for him. This has taken a month to achieve, and shelving has now been shifted to give us an extra two feet of space along one five metre wall. Once our cabinets have been re-located, Ian will have a full sized desk of his own, and I'll get my old hot-desking workspace back. 

Getting Julie's new machine to the state where she can switch on and go to work ate up another four hours of time, more than I expected. That's ten hours from unpacking to being in place and fit for purpose. I was glad to get home again, and do some more work on preparing for my Lent project.

  

  

Knowing and being known

Another midweek Eucharist to celebrate this morning at St John's Canton for a dozen people. Nice that it's near enough to walk there. After an early lunch, I spent another afternoon in the CBS office, trying to arrange and publicise another Counter Terrorism briefing for retailers next week, as there may be more who'd benefit from attending but were unable to attend last week. There was also work to be done on preparing a briefing for a client with several users about the status of accounts prior to a change in payment means. Each change in management, or premises location or payment policy on their part means additional work for us in tracking our sole income stream. 

IN addition the security of our radio network depends upon radios being fully useable by trained personnel in the specific location for which each handset is registered. With over 200 users out there, it's a never ending task. The ancient pastoral duty of 'knowing and being known' in any place is so much more complex in the busy heart of a city's business quarter, and in the era of electronic information. But it's still only as good as the efforts made by those whose calling in life is watching out for others.