Shutting the stable door ....?

After breakfast, the battery on Jasmine's camera needed recharging, but we didn't have an adapter for the American charger, so we went into town on the 61 bus to visit Cardiff Camera centre, and sure enough they had a European one in stock for twenty quid. We walked around for a short while, and I took Jas into St John's, where she was baptized in December 2007. I must dig out the little video I took to show her while she's here. She's not been brought up in the faith of the church, but it is part of her story I want to be sure she is acquainted with. Maybe one day the Spirit will awaken a desire for God that will lead her to lay claim to her spiritual heritage, even if I don't live to see that day.

After lunch, I drove Clare and Jasmine over to the University Music department in Corbett Road Cathays for a Jazz Master Class, then visited the School of Optometry nearby to see if I could get an appointment to get two pairs of intermediate range specs made. I was lucky that a member of staff who arranges orders and fittings happened to be free, so I was seen without needing to book an appointment. As a regular client my last eye test details were available to process the order, so I didn't even need to produce the prescription form I took with me. In ten days time I'll have two new pairs of reading specs. It will make life a easier, and reduce the amount of time I spend chasing around the house looking for a proper pair of glasses to use.

When I got back, I spent an hour writing, did the regular Monday housework, then cooked lentils and veg for supper. It was ready just as Clare and Jas came through the door at seven thirty. After supper Jas and I went to Thompson's Park to check the moorhen nest in the pond by the statue. It's still occupied and hasn't been disturbed, which is good news. I wonder which will happen first, pond lily flowers coming into bloom, or chicks hatching?

After five hours of debate this evening the recommendations of the Parliamentary Privileges enquiry into the 'Partygate' affair were approved by the House of Commons sanctioning Boris Johnston, even though he resigned his seat in order to avoid punishment. Although some MPs claimed his resignation had made this a pointless exercise, the purpose of the debate was to affirm the values and standards by which Parliamentary government is exercised. Is it a case of shutting the stable door after the horse has gone? Or an penitent aspiration to renounce dishonest pragmatism in politics and restore standards of truth and integrity among members and civil servants? Time will tell.

The question of how the electorate could be persuaded to vote for a persistent pathological liar whose brexit campaigning deceived a slim majority of voters into making a decision which is proving to be more to the detriment of the country than its benefit has yet to be debated credibly in any public forum. Nobody likes to admit when such a massive error of judgement has been made, making fools of people who were so adamantly sincere that that had the best interests of the country at heart.

Zoom - but not the digital kind

A lovely sunny day today, but still cold. After a good night's sleep and breakfast, I walked to St John's to celebrate the Eucharist there for the first time since last autumn. It's the first public service to be held here this year too, and a Requiem Mass for Prince Phillip. Fr Benedict shared the liturgy with me and a congregation of eleven regulars a heartening return to regular worship. 

After returning home and cooking lunch, I slept for an hour and a quarter, which surprised me as I didn't feel especially tired. I then walked into town to the Camera Centre to follow up on my Monday visit, and buy a 14-150 telephoto lens for my Olympus camera. I've been mulling over this purchase since before the last lock-down began. My preference for using longer lenses is reflected in the cameras I've bought over the years. This new Olympus lens certainly offers the scope I need. This lens and camera together weigh half as much as the equivalent lens with my DSLR, as well as being physically smaller. In the six months since I bought the Olympus second hand, it's proved to be a camera system worth investing in.

On returning home, I contacted one of the two families for whom I shall be taking a funeral next week, and with the information received, drafted a service for consideration before supper. Afterwards, an hour or so uploading photos into an assortment of subject albums spread across three accounts. It's a fiddly job but worthwhile for easy access, if only my Windows 10 workstation wasn't so slow.

Speaking of which, I read a tech blog post yesterday which got me thinking. 

It spelled out the implications of Microsoft's strategy of moving data and apps to the Cloud and the way it affects the average consumer. The digital architectural design underlying Windows 10 relies not only on internet access speed, but on the memory capacity of the device being used. 4GB memory was worth having for Windows 7 or 8. It was OK when Windows 10 arrived. But no longer. 

I've noticed the progressive slowing down of my Core i3 desktop mini workstation since I bought it five and half years ago. The boot process is slow. Attaching the Cloud file system is slow, and loading files into Open Office or Gimp is slow. All slower than they used to be. It might be faster if I upgraded the RAM to 8GB, or replaced the 1TB hard drive with a smaller SSD, but one way or another it's evidence of ' built-in redundancy' nobody needs

The operating system works better with newer components, not just a faster SSD, but say, 8GB of RAM for my mundane purposes. If I was a business user relying on Microsoft Teams or the likes of Zoom for conferencing, I'd need 16GB of RAM or more to work in a smooth efficient way. Ultimately Windows 10 is designed with this in mind, which means new hardware all round. Well, I guess many companies do this anyway, and it's tax deductible if you need to. But think of the consumption of physical resources which forced upgrading requires. Think of the carbon footprint of all that Cloud server activity, much bigger than we may imagine.

Meanwhile, I can re-cycle my desktop HP Mini using the latest Linux Mint. Even with its existing hard drive it will do everything I need ten times faster than Windows 10, and not give me the same grief about system updating. I can still easily access Cloud applications and data services. The design of Linux is more efficient, even if it doesn't look as sexy. 

I'm rather obliged to maintain a Microsoft platform for easy compatibility with most other users, but for everyday use Linux and Chromebook deliver what I need when I need it and easier. Even on devices that are ten years old. It's ridiculous if you think about it. Crazy to think that the major producers of public digital devices have been conning us for the past quarter century by under-delivering the longevity and reliability many consumers need from an expensive purchase.

Time zone snafu

It's still cold, but at least it's been sunny and dry today, something for which I was especially grateful as I had a trip to Western Cemetery for a burial after driving to St Luke's to take this morning's funeral, very much a local affair. One of the funeral directors' men and the cemetery worker supervising grave digging had been contemporaries with the deceased in secondary school. Unusually, the family decided to organise their own live stream of the service for one of their members in prison. Covid safety measures would not allow an inmate to attend in the company of a prison guard, (something I've witnessed occasionally over the years), but the authorities were willing to arrange an exclusive live video link from church to be arranged. Credit is due to the prison governor for agreeing to this.

I returned home just before two o'clock for my Safeguardng training session on Zoom, only to find that the session had been running already for an hour in Central European time. When I was contacted about the session I explained that there was a slight risk of traffic delay which might make me late, but that I did expect to be back by two. I don't know if the person I was in contact with arranging this was in London, where the Euro-diocesan Safeguarding team is based, or in Brussels. I said I was in Cardiff and would be back by two, but this had evidently not registered, otherwise I wouldn't have been booked in for the session, allowing someone else to take my place. 

It was rather embarrassing, as I got a brief impression that the session was for serving chaplains not locums, whose experience of working in a chaplaincy isn't quite the same. If the Zoom was organised on behalf of the London office by someone in Brussels for people in the dioceses, this was just a simple communications error, neither of us picked up on. But, I'm now wondering if the fact of my being a locum in the UK was taken into account at all. Ah well, I have let the organiser know of the mistake. That's all I can do for the moment.

As this gave me a couple of free hours in the afternoon, I walked into the city centre and enjoyed being out in the streets and shopping centre along with lots of other people, out looking for bargains on the first day all shops are open again for the first time since Christmas Eve. I went to the Camera Centre to investigate a possible lens purchase for my little Olympus, and because I thought of it bought a clamp to use to attach my mobile phone to a tripod while making a video. Because of its shape it's called a 'dog'. Clare was quite bewildered when I told her I'd bought a dog for ten quid! 

I went into John Lewis' store which has also reopened and has huge stocks of discounted goods, especially tempting tech bargains. The top floor is like an Aladdin's cave of red ticket items. Possibly goods from some of the JLP stores nationally that have closed recently have been shipped to stores remaining open. Much temptation. I did buy a box of three cordless phones. Ours are ancient and their batteries are dying. Clare says they are the wrong sort, a health risk. I don't really know what this means. Why would they be on sale if they were?

Butterfingers

Thank heavens the strong winds of the past few days have subsided and the rain has gone away for the moment! All we need now is summer warmth to return. Today the five mile travel restriction advised by the Welsh government is lifted, but we didn't get around to going anywhere.

I walked to and from the city centre again this afternoon, and was pleased to find that my favourite camera shop is open for busness. I needed to enquire about the possibility and cost of repairing my long zoom Sony HX300 as it's been giving me the same ominous fault message which I had on my old HX50 before it died. The internal mechanism driving the barrel of the zoom lens either gets worn or dirty so that auto-focus or exposure electronic sensors cannot function properly. It may be possible to fix, but maybe not. I can take the camera in for examination next time I'm passing, and the hope for the best. 

It was a perverse coincidence that later, when I was taking my HX90 from its bag to take a photo of the closed road at the Kingsway end of the Castle I dropped the camera. The compartment housing the SD card and battery burst open and shed its contents. It still works, but opens and closes with a scrunchy noise now, so how long it will last is anybody guess. Last week I dropped my Blackberry and chipped its outer casing. I've noticed that handling smooth objects has become tricky recently. Lots of precautionary hand-washing is making my finger tips smoother and drier, affecting grip and touch.

Interesting to see many younger people, sitting in groups on the grass outside the Castle inside their individual whitewashed circles, also without benefit of circles, in groups across Cooper's Field and other open spaces in Bute Park. For a while the snack bar near the bridge from the park to the bus station was serving soft drinks and ice cream to passers by from outdoor tables. That, I guess is as much 'take-away' refreshments as they can manage with the kitchen still closed. 

Blackweir Bridge is still closed as it is deemed too narrow for two way traffic, so you have to walk up to the Western Avenue crossing, adding a mile to your journey if you are entering Bute Park from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. I wonder if we'll get a second crossing at Blackweir? A temporary bridge would make a good training project for a Welsh Army engineers' unit to tackle.

This evening, at my sister June's recommendation I watched the first of three music travelogues by Huey Morgan on Latin American music in its social context. The first was about Brazil. I watched it on iPlayer, aware that the second was on later in the evening, but I got distracted by the discovery of series two of 'Non Uccidere', the Italian crimmie set in and around Torino and focusing on crime in the family. There's plenty of time to catch up on Huey's second programme tomorrow.

Suddenly, insidiously I'm reverting to the old habit of watching too much telly, when I could be doing other things. For the moment, I have a bad back as an excuse for such passivity. Lounging is a lot less uncomfortable than sitting down to write for any length of time. This afternoon I wrote to Mrs Cornish the surgeon to say that I am still alive, and inform her about what has happened in the seven months since last I was last examined, and expressing the hope that my name remains in the long queue for minor surgery. I'm not expecting a response under present circumstances, but I am determined not to be lost in the medical admin system again.

Midweek bargain

Wednesday morning, I celebrated the Eucharist at St Catherine's, and we observed the Feast of St Barnabas a day late. There were just half a dozen of us present. After lunch, I walked through Bute Park into town and then walked back to the Natural Health Clinic for an acupuncture session. Despite wearing my comfy new sandals, my feet were killing me when I arrived, but after treatment the walk home was fairly pain free. It wasn't just a matter of having an hour's rest, however. I discovered on other occasions that acupuncture really stimulates kidney function, making them able to remove from the bloodstream that much more efficiently impurities that cause the soles of the feet to ache like that. I'm fortunate in that my body responds well to this kind of treatment.

Thursday morning, I celebrated the Eucharist at St John's. We learned that one of the regulars absent this week on holiday with her husband in Portugal has been taken ill with a virus, and is in hospital out there. How unfortunate, especially as they're only there a week. We prayed for her, naturally, and I sent her husband a text message. At this distance there's little more one can do.

After lunch I met Fr Phelim for coffee at Cafe Castan on Llandaff Fields, and we chatted for an hour before he went off to pick up his kids from school in Llandaff. It's lovely to see him settled and happy at St German's and St Saviour's. It's quite something, coping with two churches in a populous area where 25 years ago where would have been four clergy working full time. It's reassuring to see that he knows how to pace himself, and that lay ministry within both congregations is evolving gradually in new ways. I'm look forward to covering for him at both churches in a couple of weeks time.

Later in the afternoon, I went into town, and went to Cardiff Camera Centre to buy a Sony HX90 to replace the HX50 which died on me last December. I've waited this long as I didn't urgently need another, as I don't need the convenience of a pocket sized camera at the moment, when I'm not going far from home. At the start, I was ill enough to wonder quietly if I was going to survive, and whether there was any point in adding an unused new camera to my legacy of goods and chattels. So I haven't been into the shop since the day I went in to enquire about prices. 

I bought a factory refurbished model for two thirds of the list price. I gathered from the official refurb serial number detail on the box that this particular camera had been imported into the Norwegian market, and probably was on display, and hardly used. After a certain time span, these are returned to Sony's European distribution centre and checked to ensure they can be guaranteed as if they were new, then sold at a big discount. I paid thirty pounds less for this new improved model than I paid for a discounted HX50 five years ago. I hope it will last long enough give me another 10,000 pictures as its predecessor did.

Chaos over, a dead camera and more waiting ahead

I slumbered fitfully, propped up on pillows for fear of waking up covered in blood out of a snatch of deep sleep, and stayed in bed dozing tiredly until late. At ten, Debbie phoned to say she'd had no success getting a response from the surgeon's secretary, yesterday or this morning, but she expressed determination to get answers using all skill and clout as practice manager.

In the afternoon, Clare and I walked into town and had tea in John Lewis' upper restaurant. On the way, down the Taff footpath, we caught sight of a heron on the east bank, and then a jay, taking off and flying across from west to east. It the first sighting of either this year. I got two heron photos at maximum zoom range, but the Sony HX50 is now malfunctioning so often due to a mechanical fault when opening up, that it's become too unreliable for used. That's after five years of use and ten thousand photos.

I called into Cardiff Camera Centre where all but one of my cameras have been purchased and confirmed my suspicion that it's beyond economical repair after a longer than usual lifespan for a consumer pocket camera, very well travelled. I'm now looking at getting a HX90 to replace it with, when I get back to my usual level of regular photo snapping. It's something to look forward to. The HX90 is a bit more sophisticated, even smaller and just as capable. Better still, factory refurbished cameras with full Sony guarantee are available at 27% discount, when I'm ready to buy.

As we travelled home on the 61 bus, a call came through on my mobile from an administrator at UHW, who to had been given the thankless task of calling my to explain and apologise for the past day's chaos. It seems I was misled about the requirement to have another ultrasound scan. The good news is that the anaesthetist who'd read the pre-op report is apparently satisfied that I'm fit to be sedated so all's well on that front.

The bad news, however, is that the day's surgical schedule for 17th Jan has been cancelled altogether, heaven knows why but that's how it is. I have to wait for another five weeks until St Valentine's Day to have this dealt with.

Well, it's a relief to know I'm not lost to the medical system, and tough to have to wait even longer, for Clare as much as me, but there's nothing that can be done. And for the moment, I am in a stable enough state with regular life simply on hold.

A small parcel arrived for me in the post from Kath. I'd asked her to find me a novel in Spanish that was short enough for me to try reading and not losing heart, with so many dictionary calls needed to clarify the narrative, when getting the general drift isn't enough. Good practice! She bought the book before leaving Tenerife on Tuesday, and says its un regalo, love her. It's Crónica de una muerte anunciada (Chronicle of a death foretold) by the Colombian Nobel Prize winning author Gabriel García Márquez. It's in Latin American Spanish rather than Castilian, but as DuoLingo is more Latin American oriented at intermediate level, it's not as foreign as a novel in Valenciano or in Catalan might be. It's something to keep my mind active while I'm on hold, it will do me good.

Last night we watched Steven Spielberg's move masterpiece 'Bridge of Spies' about the negotiated swap of U2 pilot Gary Powers for Soviet agent Rudolf Abel in 1960, something I remember well from my teen years when I was fascinated by state of the art aviation technology and knew a little more about the hush-hush U2 spy plane's existence. Abel is portrayed as a placid stoical guy, who when asked if he was worried about the prospect of capital punishment or a life sentence would simply reply: "Do you think worrying would make any difference?" It's a great line, an attitude to aspire towards.

The thought of being forgotten, lost to the system was a terrible blow yesterday, but worrying achieved nothing. I have to get used to waiting without worrying, and trust in the amazing care I am getting already. After all, it could be so much worse.

 

A world tour starting in Cardiff

I celebrated the Eucharist at St Catherine's this morning. I drafted a sermon for Sunday, and then in the afternoon went into town to look for a new camera bag. I found just what I needed in the shop where I habitually go to buy cameras and accessories kit, Cardiff Camera Centre, a family firm with two shops and an internet store as well.

Road closures were already under way when I arrived, as there was a concert in the stadium, the start of Rhianna and Jayzee's world tour. An armed response police team was located prominently at the entrance, for public reassurance after last year's Manchester stadium bombing.

The streets were unusually busy for a Wednesday, and lots of people were relaxing out doors, chatting drinking, either at tables or standing in the street. The only jarring note was the sound of breaking glass, as a few people accidentally dropped or toppled a drink. For some strange reason, the public safety injunction applying on match days, that drinks be served only in disposable plastic wasn't in force, and it meant that broken glass was being trodden under foot. Not very desirable in the sandal wearing season. 

Whenever there's a large crowd in town, discarded rubbish accumulates, especially after normal Council working hours, so the quality of the environment soon deteriorates. I makes me wish our city was more like Malaga where street sweepers are numerous and work in shifts from early morning until late at night, and take a pride in keeping the streets clean. The sight of broken glass is rare. How anybody with safety oversight as part of their job, whether Council, Licensee or Police didn't expect a seventy thousand pre-concert drinking crowd in summer to be outdoors is a mystery to me. 

More episodes of NCIS watched on catch-up this evening. Interesting to see how a change of actors to reflect greater inclusivity is reflected in squad room personnel. A Latino, a black Brit, an Afghan and added prominence to female leads among them.

  

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.

  

Cruise kit

I decided to break in the new sandals by going to Penarth today, I walked to the Leckwith retail area to get a bus, and ended up running the last 100 yards, as a suitable bus was queued behind cars at the Sloper road traffic lights. I got a few bemused looks from passengers, and an oversized passenger my age commented with amazement about how fit I was. I run with apprehension that I will become breathless, or my legs turn to lead, or I trip over on these little sprints, and am relieved to get away with it. Not what I'd call fit. Although there were times past when I was overweight that I couldn't have done that. Losing  a couple of stone has been very good for me, losing another stone is proving to be much harder. If I did there'd be no excuse for not returning to jogging.

I had a panini and a cuppa for lunch on the pier, took some photos, and as the tide was in, walked back to Cardiff Bay over Penarth Head and across the barrage, busy with crowds of people taking the air, enjoying the sunshine. I'd taken a top coat as it was cold when I left, but mid afternoon I had to carry it looped over the shoulder strap of my camera bag, it was so warm. A number six Bay Car bus arrived just as I reached the Dr Who Experience centre, so I took it into the city centre, and went shopping for a new camera - another camera, yes another camera. 

I want something to take on the cruise with me that is as range capable as my DSLR with telephoto lens, but lighter and handier in use. I've had my eye on a Sony HX400 since it first came out last year, as it has a 50x zoom lens, more reach than my much used HX50 with only 30x zoom. Being on a river boat for eight days, I am anticipating there'll be as many interesting if slightly remote details I'd like to record as well as magnificent big vistas, especially wildlife. Anyway, there were no HX400s in stock, but there was a refurbished HX300 at £189 - quite a bargain! And I think it will be a lot easy to control for those long zoom shots without need for monopod or tripod support, to my mind, these are unnecessary clutter when travelling. So often, interesting things glimpsed need quick responses and sharp shooting, and a lighter camera with a real viewfinder too, should make a little difference on the journey.

Owain came over for supper and an evening of chat over a bottle of Nuit St Georges Village he'd acquired from Lidl's, a really refined Bourgogne Pinot Noir, a favourite favourite of ours since our Geneva years, until the Genevois Pinot Noir began to be produced with much improved quality and lost its rough edges. I wonder what the Genevois equivalent to Gemischter Satz might be?

Libre Office landmark and new lenses day

This morning I noticed a tweet announcing the release of Libre Office 4.4, so I downloaded a copy to install as soon as I could and installed it to try out on one of my home laptops. I was most impressed by this upgrade and processed to install it on four more Windows 7 & 8 machines in the house. It's worth the effort. A few days after the release, whatever device you run Libre Office on, notifies you of the upgrade and nags you until you install it. If you're busy, that's a time wasting distraction, so it's better to waste a block of free time and get the job done early, if you can.

It's been one of those weeks when business work has been done mostly from home. The afternoon I went into the office to touch base with Ashley and work on a few things together. I got around to upgrading two of the four machines with Libre Office installed, although I'm the only regular user, as the machines are set up for MS Office default use. Changing that would most likely sow too much confusion for comfort and efficiency. I'm glad to have been an early adopter of Open Office, and then Libre Office, not least for their versatility in dealing with different file-types, and ,pdf generation. It's great to think that so many people world-wide contribute their expertise to make a product which continues to adapt and develop in  changing times.

On my way to the office I resolved after much agonising to buy a new telephoto lens for my Sony Alpha 55, something more capable than the kit lens which came with the camera originally. I visited Cardiff Camera Centre, where I've purchased all my Sony camera equipment over the past decade, and walked out, not only with the 18-270mm 'all in one' general purpose travel lens I had my eye on, but also a second hand bargain, an old and heavy 75-300mm Minolta lens with Sony Alpha mount compatibility. It's known as the 'beer can' lens because of its length and shape, and needs mounting on a tripod, but even with the few trial hand-held shots I took outside the shop, I was impressed. Very quickly I got the feeling this would be fun to experiment with. 

Later, back at home, out in the back garden, I got a hand-held shot of the half-moon with better detail than most attempts I've made in recent years with other cameras. I'm confident the new lens will do everything I need it to. There's extra pleasure in having a classic old lens to play with as well, at little extra cost. Moreover, the purchase has prompted me to retrieve the camera handbook from my digital archive to investigate the ins and outs of using the camera's 'manual' settings. Normally, I am so lazy that I rely totally on Auto settings, and spend ages afterwards fiddling about with a digital photo edit program to get the result I could have got in the first place with a bit more forethought. What you think you see isn't always what you get in the world of photography, digital or otherwise.

       

Camera quandry

We went out for Saturday coffee n' croissant' breakfast at the Fat Pig Deli on Romilly Road this morning. Then I took my Sony DSLR camera into town with me to visit Cardiff Camera Centre to buy an additional lens, to work with especially in shooting street-scapes. I've been meaning to do this for a couple of months, but just been too busy to make the special trip, even though I walk past the shop on my way to and from the CBS office several times a week. It's a great shop, with knowlegable and enthusiastic staff, and often lots of customers.

The telephoto lens I bought with the camera in November last has a narrower field of view when unextended than I expected. I can't afford a really wide angle lens, but the standard entry-level lens at a reasonable price will do me for a good while to come. I now have a sophisticated camera with two lenses whose combined capability is now roughly the same as the lens of the little pocket camera I bought in Spain, to replace the one I lost there.

The quality of DSLR photos is meant to be far superior, although I should add to that 'properly taken'. So far, both cameras are set to run on 'auto'. This setting on the pocket camera seems to deliver as good an image, save for a little distortion around the edges as the big one. I have much to re-learn about how to get the best from the manual controls of a digital SLR camera. Will it be worth the effort I wonder?

Clare went to school for a few hours, still working on classroom preparation with others. At midday I went to College to attend the baptism of the four children of Carl and Lorraine, outgoing Senior Student. It was a beautiful relaxed participatory family celebration in which the primary school age candidates spoke for themselves. Readings used were from Welsh and English versions of bible stories for children and this made great sense with so many other children present as well as the candidates. I wish this could be done more often at our Monday evening family services in College.

I didn't join the party afterwards but went home to spend some time with Clare. We walked our usual afternoon circuit of Llandaff Fields and Bute Park, ending by leaving by the Castle Lodge gate, and going over to House of Frazer in St Mary Street for tea and a survey of the special offers. Everywhere seems to be in permanent discount mode these days. We came away triumphant with a king sized linen duvet cover for a third of its opening price. We've had a king sized bed and duvet for long enough for the original covers to have just about worn out. A side effect of being married for many happy years.
    

Powerpoint economics & Mass in Welsh

I went into College Monday morning and worked there a while, before heading into town for a Cardiff Business Safe planning session, which didn't happen as intended because the person who'd called the meeting didn't turn up. In addition, our accountant was late arriving due to motorway traffic congestion, but by tea time, four of us sat down to discuss next week's inaugural meeting of a reconstituted Board of Management for CBS. I came away from the meeting tasked with creating an introduction for new Board members, almost all of whom will have little or no background to the origins and day to day running of the business.

I worked on creating a Powerpoint presentation by collecting facts and figures from CBS operational reports and annual financial statements, doing calculations and turning them into charts. It meant a couple of really late nights from Monday evening until Wednesday night, as well as  spending time in College for a few meals, meeting a couple of students, and saying Mass on Tuesday afternoon before my tutor group meeting. I was so pre-occupied with getting it done that I forgot to watch the delayed part 2 of 'Vicar Academy' live and had to catch up on iPlayer this evening.

First thing this morning, I made a brief visit to College then went out to Ely for a bereavement visit. I've been asked to take a funeral service on Monday next. The lady who died, aged 89 had only one child, a daughter, who'd had seven children. Between them they'd produced twenty five children, and that generation had already produced three offspring of their own, so the deceased lived to see her great great grandchildren born. That's remarkable - and from what her daughter told me, they all gave her much pleasure. 

On my way to the CBS office to get the finished presentation approved by my colleagues, I stopped off at Cardiff Camera Centre in the Morgan Arcade and bought that digital SLR camera I've been thinking about getting for ages. Not what I'd been contemplating in other stores, but a heavily discounted Sony Alpha 55 with telephoto lens for bird-watching photos. Blame it on my Spanish sojourn days in the Delta de 'Ebre.

That was a busy few days one way or another, but I didn't feel under pressure as I was creatively occupied, and two weeknights were taken up with Chi Gong and Tai Chi classes. This kind of exercise seems to release energy for patient concentration and endurance when I need to get things completed. My mind stays clear, and things don't bother me the way they once did. I still need to rest well eventually though. It doesn't work by magic, but by re-balancing the self.

Tuesday afternoon's Mass was in Welsh. It was the first I'd celebrated using the new 2004 liturgy and twenty five years since I said Mass in Welsh the first time using the 1984 liturgy in St John's Church Ystradmeurig. Both of these were deeply moving. Even more so than saying Mass in French for Geneva's Old Catholic community back in the nineties. Celebrating the Holy Mysteries in another language makes you think about the meaning of what you're doing and saying in a different way, highlighting the sense of 'the Other'. I've been rota'd in for more Welsh celebrations as the year progresses. I look forward to this, and being taken by the liturgy deeper into the spiritual roots at the heart of my native culture. 

Sometimes I am amazed at the rich variety of the strands which make up my life, both active and passive. I'm so happy, so blessed to be given health and strength to enjoy retirement ministry as much as I do.