Unusual discourtesy

Eleven hours sleep and the most intense allergic reaction has passed, but not over yet. After a slow morning we took the train to Málaga, visited the Mercado Atarazanas and saw the new Metro entrance nearby. The rush is on now to complete the processional viewing stands ready for Sunday evening. 

Then we walked to the port where a large cruise ship was docked along the quayside, and another at one of the several quays out beyond the lighthouse. After having a drink, I paid in euro notes and waited for my bill and change to be returned, and I waited... In the end I asked the water who served us, and waited even longer. Finally the bill and expected €2.20 change arrived delivered in 10c and 20c coins. 

I had to laugh at the impudence of the waiter! He presuming that I would go away and not bother, and then finding I was still there asking when. The weight of the change which could have been delivered in three rather than eleven coins was an unusal form of rudeness which meant he deprived himself of a tip. Had the change come back with the bill promptly he might have got the lot. Now there'll be a suitable warning on Trip Advisor about discourteous behavior from waiters with foreign tourists.

We had a picnic lunch in parque de Málaga across the road from the port, the walked into the old town and made out way back to the Alameda station for the ride back to Fuengirola.

After supper a quiet evening chatting and looking at photos and then before bed, after doing my daily Duo Lingo Spanish drill, I decided it was time to uninstall the app on both my phones. I'm bored with its role play characters, bored with its repetition and lack of any sense (not good AI, despite their claims) that it can distinguish between a keyboard error caused by tiredness or carelessness, and an ignorance based error. After using it for seven years and nearly two months it credits me with less time in use than is actually the case. Nothing's perfect, but its plethora of daily notifications, usually patronising, remind me of a sect badgering people into compliance. Not any more. Well, apart from documentary podcasts produced under the Duo Lingo brand, as these are very good and worth the listen.

Spanish practice

After I got up this morning I had a long exchange of messages with Rufus about the new generation of church leaders and their 'command and control' management style in his diocese. He's not happy about the way things are developing, and with good reason. 

Another trip to Mercadona for the second part of this week's grocery shopping this morning. It's necessary when there are a number of heavy items to carry back up the hill. I limit myself to five or six kilos, so as not to put additional stress on my dodgy ankle, even though it is slowly improving as the weeks pass, with walking up and down a steep hill.

When I went to St Andrew's to return the novel I finished after lunch, I met the two church cleaners, and succeeded in chatting to them for while and making myself understood. It seemed that my Spanish pronunciation was intelligible to them! I could understand them, just about. The accent wasn't Andalusian but Latin American, which I'm used to from Duo Lingo lessons and podcasts. It was good to have some live practice at speaking for a change, and find that I have to confidence to talk, even if I stumble and forget to use words I know.

I've been doing Duo Lingo now for seven whole years, but am getting bored with it. I think it may be time to give it up, or at least give up the language drills, which progress so slowly and are annoyingly pedantic. The podcasts are excellent, however, and present very interesting stories. It's really time that I switched on the telly and listened to Las Noticias to get used to the presenters' manner of speaking - generally too fast - it's hard to get used to.

After a walk along the Paseo Maritime I headed back to the house for supper, and settled down to read my new Spanish novel Soldados de Salmina, but only managed a few pages, as I was more tired than I realised and started nodding off. Bed early tonight.

Rehearsing in Llanilltud Fawr

Rain all day of varying intensity right into the evening. After breakfast we drove to Llantwit Major for a full rehearsal of the Fountain Choir concert we're going a week next Sunday, ten pieces of varying levels of difficulty, plus discussion of stage layout and acoustics and hospitality arrangements. Anna recruited a church member to look after ticketing and welcome arrangements. The programme should last about an hour. I'm still not utterly confident of myself, with so much Latin text and phrasing which challenges the habitual sense of rhythm, as it's early medieval music and some of the tunes are definitely dance measures. A lot more work to do then, in the next two weeks.

It was lovely to meet up with Father Edwin the Ministry Area Leader, for the first time since he preached at a funeral I attended in St German's a few years back. Having had a good long stint as a country Vicar, doubling up as Diocesan Director of Education, he's now pastor in chief of St Illtud's Parish Church, one of Wales' foundational sites, dating from the sixth century when Illtud established a monastery there which trained pastors for evangelising wherever they went within the travel reach of Celtic Christianity, in effect most of the western Atlantic seaboard Galicia, Britanny, Galway the Western Isles, if not beyond. He loved his involvement in schooling, and his eyes shine brightly with enthusiasm for the emerging potential of his remarkable everyday workplace. He's much loved.

Inevitably, with the retirement of Bishop June this week, the subject of electing her successor came up. He's one of the two electors I have known for many years. I made my pitch for choosing a candidate who is of the Church in Wales with a deep knowledge of our tradition and culture, both sacred and secular, not another import from the Established Church the other side of Offa's Dyke. The difference is an asset to be celebrated, and we're not short of people for the role in this time and place, women and men. In fact Edwin would himself be a suitable candidate, well known with a credible track record. But could he bear to part company with Llantwit, any more than Llantwit could bear to part company with him?

After the rehearsal five of us chatted over lunch together at the Two Swans pub, to far from the church. One Italian, two German and two Welsh, discussing the terms in respective languages for different coffee brews, after a remark about the appearance of lengthy coffee menus in some coffee shops in recent years. Well, the variety has always been there, but its systematisation in coffee bar menus is a phenomenon of the age we live in.

When we reached home there was nowhere to park the car in our street or in the wider neighbourhood. I ended up parking the other side of Thompson's Park with a ten minute walk in the rain back to the house. Any Saturday in the rugby international season the city is invaded by thousands of extra cars carrying fans and shoppers who would rather than than use the city's park and ride facilities use any space they can find in outlying residential areas. If you go out by car for a few hours shopping, you can expect to lose your space for the rest of the day, if not the weekend.

It continued to rain unrelentingly until late evening again, but I was determined to get some exercise, rain notwithstanding. I walked to Tesco's to get wine for the weekend, and then walked in Llandaff Fields for an hour. This required a change of rain gear, one lot sodden by the short walk to Tesco's, so on my second outing I used the free brolly received when I bought my latest pair of Ecco shoes. I've yet to find time to wear them indoors to find out if they fit as well as I thought they did in the shop.

After supper, I extracted the SIM and SD cards from my Blackberry and installed them in the new Moto phone. Both worked without issue. All that needed to be done was find my habitual ringtone and deploy it in the new phone to avoid any confusion at the moment of receiving a new call. I took me a while to work out how. Now Moto has replaced Blackberry and given me a fresh Android user interface which works well for me.

One surprise, on re-installing Duo Lingo on my new phone was a complete overhaul of the user interface, demanding that a rather lazy routine user like me face the challenge of learning new stuff and paying more attention rather than just going over new stuff. Now I know the big learning algorithm has been tracking me and found me out. It's rather fun, this kind of digital prod, especially as I ready myself for a spell of work in Fuengirola where I'll be able to get involved with the ecumenical social outreach work of Lux Mundi, some that that would be been unimaginable when I was last there eight years ago. Amazingly all things work together for good.

Buena Vista masterpiece

I slept much later than usual this morning. Like the weather, sometimes my wound condition give more trouble than usual and then I need more rest as well as exercise, but this robs me of time to do extra things. Once I was up and running and in my study looking for something, I was struck by the  the need to clear some shelf space in my study where some books are in double rows, and sort out my library. I started weeding out books of passing interest acquired decades ago, some in French, from our Geneva days, and ended with several kilos worth of books to dispose of. 

I still keep lots of books for occasional reference despite habitual recourse to the internet nowadays. Sometimes it's quicker to grab a bible commentary, prayer book  or text from something of special interest from a shelf than it is to trawl through scores of irrelevant search entries. But there are still a lot of books which are a waste of space which I have to decide about. Before I get there, how do I dispose of such a weight of literature which would be of no interest to any charity shop (once they re-open), or second hand religious book seller?

I walked in the park before cooking lunch, and another after supper to complete my daily distance, hoping this will leave me less stiff and tired. My lower back is still vulnerable, and if my legs are stiffer  in the morning I have to take extra care when getting up that I don't inadvertently repeat the notorious nerve trapping movement which first got me into trouble.

My sister June sent me a DVD copy of the Wim Wenders and Ry Cooder documentary 'Buena Vista Social Club' made in 1999, about the making of the original album of that name. It's a masterpiece in the musical documentary genre. The album was the fruit of the interest Ry Cooder took in Cuban music over many years previously. It seems that June had two copies in her library. I wonder if she bought one to give me ages ago and the forgot to send? As I was much comforted during my Ibiza lockdown with this and many other recordings by the Buena Vista stars in my phone's audio library, I was delighted to receive this. 

The movie has been on telly over the years but I've never seen all of it. This evening, I watched it in bed on my laptop. I was pleased to find how much of the Spanish spoken I could follow without subtitles. Older Cubans speak fairly slowly and clearly, plus the Duo Lingo series of comprehension lessons in story form uses a range of accents, Latin American as well as Iberian, which is improving my grasp of the spoken language.

Post-op day two

A slightly more disturbed night's sleep, but very little pain or discomfort throughout, apart from a strained back muscle from unusual exercise getting on and off beds, and holding positions for wound treatment. I think I've found a remedy for this however, in the form of a stool placed at the bedside that can take my weight and help me maintain unstressed posture when moving on off a mattress that gives too much at the edge. The stool was placed there accidentally when Clare needed it to take a small water container while cleaning me up. It'll stay there now as long as it's needed!

Just as I was finishing lunch we had a nurse visit, to do a dressing and bring us fresh supplies to see us through the weekend. Another Q&A session about wound care for Clare. She needs to feel sure and confident in dealing with a changed scenario. I'm a lucky man to have such a caring wife.

Today, I've been noticeably tireder and slept deeply in the afternoon. Nevertheless I did get out for a walk as planned, while Clare was out at the gym, and walked a mile or so to the shops and back. I needed to walk at a slower pace than usual, being careful to work within my energy limits. Apart from that, I spent several hours watching catch-up TV crime series - 'The River' from Norway on More Four Walter Presents, and 'Trapped' from Iceland on BBC Four. Heavy stuff, both recently made and both reflecting emerging political and social concerns in telling tragic human stories. It brings a different more real perspective to the endless stream of news and comment to which we are daily exposed.

Having completed all but one of the French Duo Lingo exercises, I decided to abandon it. One set of tests of a past subjunctive I repeatedly failed, not just because of its difficulty or its irrelevance, but because it insisted on English expressions and translations which made no practical sense to use. Just a bad set of exercise, which seem designed to humiliate. I continue daily Spanish drills however, as it's far less annoying. I know I can communicate in French, but I have yet to prove to myself that I can communicate just as well in Spanish. I look forward to more opportunities for this once I have recovered and am fit to travel again.

Homesickness in reverse

Yesterday, I spent quietly at home resting and recovering. A call from the surgery offering me an early appointment with my GP Dr Jordan this morning. She told me that Sunday's hospital blood tests showed that the infection count continues to reduce, and a feel this is corroborated by daily reduction in discomfort and wound weeping. Very much at its own pace, my innards are starting to function as our Maker intended once more. And I am feeling most grateful.

Clare noticed that the central locking system and electric window on the Polo worked as expected from the passenger side but not the driver side, so she returned it to the garage, where a connection fault was diagnosed. We'll get it back in a couple of days. It's rather strange not to see it outside.

I while away the time watching Channel 4 Walter Presents euro-crimmies on my tablet, cooking some of our main meals and taking short walks. I'm committed to a week of inactivity and not making plans, doing only what I feel I have energy for, to prove to myself that I can achieve some measure of peace without always pushing myself to be engaged in 'meaningful' activity.

I think about Spain a lot, and places there that I love. It's like homesickness in reverse.  Only occasionally do I look at any of my thousands of photos, as they remind me that miss the climate, the social ambience and walking by the sea. After all, over the last few years I've spent three to five months on locum duty there. Maintaining daily Duo Lingo drills keeps me going ad interim. It could be a while before I get to travel south again.

  

Improved comprehension

A quiet Sunday for me, apart from walking with Clare to St John's, to celebrate the eight o'clock Eucharist. It was a very cold day, and we didn't venture out after that. I found a book of charming folk tales in Spanish which Kath loaned me last year. I read a couple of stories and then mislaid it for a very long time. This afternoon, I completed reading it in one go, finding now that my memory for vocabulary and sentence construction has much improved, so I can read and make sense of text with only occasional references to the parallel English text for obscure ancient words. I was quite cheered to realise this. Obsessive daily Duo Lingo daily practice seems to be paying off. I wonder what else I'll be able to read with enjoyment when I get to Spain this time?

Owain was meant to come over yesterday, but his plans were thwarted by disruptions in the regular Bristol to Cardiff train service, so he gave up in frustration, and came over to see us for a couple of hours this afternoon instead. So, I was finally able to give him the bottle of Gamay de Genève, I bought for him in Duty Free when I flew home from there three weeks ago. He wanted to open it and drink it with me, but I sent him home with it, as I am off wine for Lent. It's not much of a struggle to do so these days as I seem to get more sensitive to the after-effects of wine drinking the older I get.

Owain has given his techno music and culture blog a complete makeover, with new graphics and user interface, to make his expanding content more accessible to his growing readership. It's very simple, not at all flashy. It works well. He is talking about moving the site to another ISP later in the year. At that point he'll have no more use for the server capacity I've been hiring from Servage.net for his use and mine over the past ten years. I stopped making use of it altogether when I retired, not least because free Google and Microsoft storage capacity became more readily available, and I had no new need to develop website management skills, or fill the server with content. All part of simplifying one's life.

Catch-up viewing language lesson

Feeling somewhat better on Friday, I worked on my Sunday sermon, worked on next Tuesday's funeral and then went into town in the afternoon, for a catch-up meeting with Ashley. On the way there I walked around the Central Square development site and took photos It's ten weeks since I was last here and the major visual change is the extent of the external glazing of the buildings. On a bright but cloudy day, the reflections look very decorative. Not so wonderful on one of Cardiff's many low grey cloud days, I suspect.

This afternoon, Clare and I walked our usual circuit along the Taff through Bute Park and back. It was pleasantly warm, and there was an open air concert going on in the car park of the SWALEC stadium, with a wild sounding jazz big band playing.

In the evening I decided to catch up watching the latest BBC Four serialised euro-crime, a Spanish production called 'Sé quién eres', (I know who you are), rather than drop in and watch the most recent double episode. I got through four of the eight published episodes in one go, as not only was it an engaging story line with good acting, but to my amazement, my last couple of years of hard work using the Duo Lingo language app is now paying off in terms of being able to follow dialogue, and see how it relates to the sub-titles. It was like a four hour lesson in colloquial speech. I learned a lot about how common phrases and interjections are actually used. It was most rewarding.

The plot concerns a tough ruthless well connected lawyer who loses his memory in a car accident and finds afterwards that his car is a crime scene, and he is chief suspect in the disappearance of his student aged niece. He is totally reliant on what his family and colleagues tell him about what kind of person he is. Finds find this leaves him feeling unhappy with himself. He no longer wants to be that kind of person. Yet he has to recover a sense of himself and his memory to defend himself against allegations which promise to ruin his life. 

The thought provoking story of how this happens is convoluted and interesting, and the theme of family loyalty runs through it, as well as that of corrupt practices in the legal profession. I think it's set in Barcelona. Thankfully the discourse is in Castilian rather than Catalan, or I would have far less chance of following it and getting so much out of it. That's the first time I've watched any TV or video since I went to Malaga, two months ago. Amazing how one can live without entertainment when everyday life on the street is so interesting to be part of.

Another locum adventure begins

I didn't go out at all yesterday, but spent much of the day packing my case and checking I had just the right things I need for spending time in Spain. It rained anyway, so I had no  motivation to take exercise. I got to bed by eleven, however, and was up and breakfasting by five after a fitful night's sleep, then on my way to Cowbridge Road for a bus to town to catch the airport shuttle by quarter to six. I was so grateful to see that normality had been restored to the city centre after the weekend's lock-down, so the T9 collected me at 06.20, as usual. Fifty people were already queuing to check in at 06.45 when I arrived. Not late home-bound hung-over footie fans, but families with pre-school children, and frail elderlies heading for a place in the sun, all suffused with holiday good cheer.

By 07.15 I was through security and doing my Duo Lingo daily drill in the departure area, quite badly, under the effect of a  poor night's sleep. The flight left a little late but arrived on time. For a change, I had an aisle seat, so couldn't gaze out of the window at the landscape from 35,000 feet as a usually do in between bouts of dozing. This time I read 'Ling' the airline magazine, produced in English and Spanish, but this time I read only in Spanish, only occasionally checking expression and words that were new to me. It's a lot easier since I last tried to do that, six months ago. Maybe it's a sign of improvement, despite memory lapses on bad days.

Rosella was there to meet me, and drive me into Malaga to the chaplaincy apartment, where I'll be staying, in La Malagueta barrio, 300m from St George's Church. It's on the second floor opposite the Plaza de Toros, overlooking a busy thoroughfare. It's a 1960's building in good condition, with high ceilinged rooms in a spacious apartment. It took me a while to find the kitchen, as I had quite forgotten that the layout of some older apartments puts the kitchen by the front door - from where a maid or housekeeper might run the place. 

I decided not wait for the starter food supply ran out to stock up, so walked to a Mercdona 500m away. In fact, I did the trip twice as I couldn't carry everything I knew I'd need first time around. I certainly needed the exercise after travelling early in the day. On one trip I popped into the church to chat with Rosella, who was hunting through old legal documents to do with the church. Given the chaplaincy's unusual history, I imagine there's a fascinating collection of material relating to it in the archives of the Diocese of London, of which European chaplaincies were part, under the former suffragan see of Fulham and Gibraltar, before the formation of the Diocese in Europe.

After supper I walked around the barrio and along the promenade of Playa la Malagueta, busier with joggers than with strollers, it seemed. I found the modern Parish Church and was surprised not to find an external notice board telling anything about it. Google Maps informs me that it's the Parish Church of San Gabriel. I wonder when it's open?

After Skyping Clare, I was ready for bed, surprised by how quiet the street below had become after the evening rush hour, and quieter still in the bedroom furthest away from the street.

  

Double duty, then respite

Back to St German's for the Wednesday school Mass, with a class that seems more eager than others to sing at the service. After coffee and a chat in the Day Centre, I had to return home and arrange another bereavement visit, for a funeral on the thirty-first of this month, passed on to me by Fr Phelim. This one, will be that of a young girl who died unexpectedly of a winter bad chest. It's usually people my age and older who succumb to 'the pensioners' friend', except when there's a major epidemic, from which God preserve us. This will doubtless come as a shock to the extended family, and they'll need plenty of time to prepare, so the sooner I can make contact the better. By lunchtime, I had secured a rendezvous for Friday morning at St Catherine's.

Thursday morning, a walk to St John's Canton to celebrate their midweek Eucharist, then a return home to await collection an hour later to return to St John's to officiate at a funeral. This was followed by a journey to Thornhill for the burial, then an hour in the Crem waiting room until my second funeral office of the day was due to start. I used the free time to complete my Duo Lingo daily exercise, as best I could given the flaky signal, and was quite surprised, given the distractions, to get 100% again, eleven days after the last time. I thought the set of exercises were easier than others lately. Difficulty levels in the exercises seem to vary, but so does my ability to avoid typos, memory and attention lapses.

I was home again by five and eating an early supper prepared by Clare, so we could leave early and walk across the Taff to the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Clare is a supporting 'Friend' of the College, and gets concert information and ticket concessions. This evening, we heard a performance from an excellent and classy jazz ensemble - piano, bass, drums, alto sax - music students playing standards from the 'cool' era of the fifties and sixties, in a manner of the Dave Brubeck Quartet. This kind of is part of the musical sound track of my early adolescence. I'm familiar enough with the music to know it almost off by heart, to know that they were exploring this music with fresh positive energy. It wasn't just faithful reproduction, it was proper jazz, and had me smiling from ear to ear.

Then we had a solo recital from a brilliant pianist, playing pieces by Debussy, Liszt and Chopin with great sensitivity and passion, making full use of a fine concert instrument, plumbing the depths of its finest subtle sounds in quiet pieces as well as its rich energy in the stormy dramatic moments. I found myself reflecting of the different emotional energies of these contrasting kinds of music for the first time and maybe that's a result of being in a smallish recital room with excellent an acoustic, making for an intimate direct experience of hearing music without the meditation of electronic amplification. The jazz spoke of the delight of playful adventure with simple melody, harmony, rhythm. The classical pieces in all their variety and length, explored the range and depth of powerful emotion, from contemplative awareness to passionate grief and anger. All this comes from the music as much as from the performer, and maybe somewhat from the hearer as well.

    

Election aftermath

Last night was probably the coldest I've experienced in Spain this year, although I don't suppose the temperature dropped below twelve degrees. I woke up several times, and couldn't resist a quick check on the American Presidential election commentary, and as proceedings developed it was harder to get back to sleep. I ended up hunting for another blanket as I wasn't conserving heat, after reaching for a phone or tablet on which I could listen to BBC news. By dawn, it was clear that there was going to be a major upset, not predicted by the polls, unexpected, as with the Brexit vote. 

The only early indication of Trump's victory came from a tech' blog commentator on Wired.com, pointing out that traffic analysts had noticed Twitter and other social media platforms were getting a disproportionately high volume of Trump favoured input, reflecting the same trend observed during the campaign. Trump seemed to be constantly in the news spotlight for his outrageous remarks, as social media would be the first place reporters would look for material to write about. 

Social media distributes and promotes information and disinformation, facilitating discussion outside the range of news media intelligence trawls and it happens much faster than news media can deliver. Trump's media strategists and activists contributed to his victory, and got people out to vote who had abstained or never voted before. Perhaps something similar was happening in the Brexit campaign, that wasn't adequately taken into account by those who thought they were going to win, and even took by surprise those who weren't sure they'd win. Only those who are really marketing savvy would notice the trend, from their own experience of commercial brand promotion.

So, America has been sold Trump, as it might have been sold soap, or a Caribbean time-share. Across the world his victory has evoked nervous reactions. Everyone is wondering how much of his blustering rhetoric he meant, and which outrageous statements if any, he will translate into policies affecting the lives of billions, and potentially the fate of the planet and humankind, if he disregards the latest climate change treaties, or is willing to use nuclear weapons as more than a deterrent threat. 

From Trump's victory speech, he has adopted a more dignified conciliatory posture, appealing for all parties to unify around his presidential leadership for patriotic motives. Obama and Hilary Clinton also made suitably dignified and patriotic noises of support for the presidency. A time honoured ritual, yet the exceptional toxicity of the campaign, undermined confidence in both main candidates. 

It's clear Trump won't have high popularity ratings as President, but no matter what he achieves, will he be trusted or respected? The media onslaught has exposed all the ills and weaknesses of the American political system. The ensuing loss of innocence cannot be ignored or hidden. In America, as in the UK, we are entering uncertain times. Navigating through whatever happens next when the collective moral compass has been trashed and tossed aside, is a real cause for concern.

I emerged from the house mid-morning and went for a walk, to get away from the radio and internet. A broken night's sleep made me feel like I had a hangover, despite several alcohol free days. It's hard to take it all in, hard to know how to pray about these affairs. Living with change and interpreting change from a faith perspective, is what I've been doing for most of my ministry. At my time of life that's about all I can do. Brexit, this election and all that accompanied both, however, represent what gets called 'disruption' these days, an unexpected and radical shift in the process of change itself. It challenges and shakes up our thinking in a way that is bewildering. Where do we go from here? 

After lunch I had a call from Alwyn asking if I could contact Mojacar's parish priest Fr Manuel and check he has the date for this year's bi-lingual ecumenical service of lessons and carols in his diary. I checked what I thought was the right thing to say with Google Translate, and called him. I was so pleased that he understood me and that I understood his affirmative response. Daily language drills using the DuoLingo Android app help greatly to anchor vocabulary and sentence formation in my memory, but what I most need is full time exposure to life in a Spanish speaking family and community. Having to speak French most days in Geneva did wonders for learning achievement. I need the same opportunity here in Spain!

In an effort to shut the news out of my head for a little longer, I went out for another walk at tea time, but only as far as the rio Aguas, and then circumnavigated the inland lagoon (if that's what this stretch of inland watercourse is rightly called) on the beach side. I got some photos of the first of the Egrets returning to roost, and several of warblers, though figuring out which kind of warbler, is another matter. I think there are several in this stretch of wetland. A very satisfying sort of distraction, before the sun slipped away behind Mojacar Pueblo and the Sierra Cabrera through an array of tinted dark clouds.

         

Poetic discovery

The second Sunday of Advent Eucharist at St German's this morning, numbers down a little due to the rotten weekend weather. Hamid, an asylum seeker from Pakistan was in the congregation again. His spiritual journey led to family rejection and took him away from his homeland, in his endeavour to study the bible and learn more about Christianity. He has been coming to St German's since he was sent to a Cardiff hostel, pending a case appeal, a few months ago. His life will be at risk if he goes home. He's asked us to write to his solicitor to confirm that he is attending church regularly.

Happily he's found an experience of Christian worship at St German's that speaks to his contemplative side. Punjabi speaking Christian communities introduced him to the Bible in his mother tongue, but their noisy, exuberant style of worship has limited appeal for him. Happily, it's the beauty, peace and orderly dignity of worship that appeals. He's asked for baptism, and we're aiming for this on the feast of Christ's baptism in January. It's going to be a challenge, given his limited English, but it's clear his heart is set on this. 

For the first time in many weeks Clare went to Riverside Farmers' Market after church, before lunch to stock up with some favourite cheeses, including mature Caerphilly, which to my mind ra

nks with Parmigiano for flavour, eaten on its own with a glass of the right red wine or grated and sprinkled to enhance a cooked dish. She's been making her own mincemeat this weekend, and the house is full of heavenly Christmas aromas.

Having done my DuoLingo Spanish revision exercises for the day, I set about hunting for my copy of the poems of St John of the Cross on the various bookshelves around the house. It's a bi-lingual edition with an classic English translation by Roy Campbell, which I acquired over thirty years ago. I wanted to see how much of the Spanish I can now decipher. It's really time I started reading things to improve my comprehension, as well as practising reading aloud for fluency. 

It took a while to find, but in the process, I discovered on another bookshelf a bi-lingual collection of poems by Pablo Neruda, given to us by a friend, some years ago, when we began spending time in Spain. I was delighted to realise that I could read and follow his work far better than I'd anticipated. There is a directness and simplicity to his writing which makes it more accessible than the Renaissance language of St John of Cross - new sources of inspiration and enjoyment to savour.

  

Tedious work but family pleasure nevertheless

This morning was given over to Sunday sermon writing. Rachel sent a message to tell us she'd won a local song writing competition for the Verde Valley River Association festival in Arizona, and would get to perform this live on stage tomorrow. We're thrilled for her. She's had such a tough time of it lately moving house in difficult conditions with little help, but she's come through, nevertheless.

Afterwards I began to think about acquiring independent web hosting for the CBS RadioNet site. With just a little surfing, I found a decently priced basic package with Host.com, and signed up for it. Next step will be to transfer our pages there and get them to work, a job I haven't done in ten years, so will need to re-learn, if I want to keep the layout and design of our existing pages on Google Sites. The sheer difficulty I had trying to link up some new company domain names to Google web hosting, since the company has changed its web security frontiers, left me feeling that we'd be better served by a simple and more easily controllable resource. Here's hoping I can make this work! 

Satisfaction with my efforts at database migration quickly faded today when Julie found some transfer anomalies I hadn't noticed. She was very kind about it, but this puts complete transfer to Libre Office Base on hold for another week. It may not be a fatal error, but I have to re-visit the creation process once more from the data source with a CSV file error check and then re-build - probably the fifth time I've done this recently. Errors, while frustrating, provide experience in the use of the Base program, and that's valuable as I find my memory for new routines of an abstract nature quickly fades. By the time I left the office, I'd got as far as making a better complete data table. All that remains now is to finish the job recreating display forms.

Owain came over early evening for a supper outing to La Cuina, a local Catalan restaurant at the bottom of King's Road, in honour of Clare's birthday, which actually falls on Sunday. The food was excellent, and so was the wine, from the Lleida area. One of the people running the restaurant is a teacher who proposes to launch a Spanish conversation group shortly. I put my name down on her list. It's high time to make use of all that I've been pumping my head with daily for the past nine months, using the Duo Lingo Spanish app.

 

Nerja - from fishing village to prestige holiday resort

I walked to town and back this morning using a different route through the back streets interested in finding out more about the variety of shops tucked away from the main thoroughfare. There were just half a dozen regulars for the Eucharist in the church shop, no visitors. After a drink together, I walked back past the town's old covered market, now transformed into a small exhibition centre, and finally found it open at a time that was convenient for me to stop and take a look at the latest offering.

Jose Miguel Ortuño Rodriguez has published a book about how Nerja has changed in the past two centuries from a poor simple fishing village into an international holiday resort. This uses the work of an eminent local writer and historian Alejandro Bueno García (1851-1927), using quotations from his work about Nerja published in 1907, illustrated with photographs from the era.

The substance of the book is the subject of displays on a series of eight large wall mounted exhibition panels. One end of the building contains a collection of painting and furniture of the period, arranged into a writer's study, and there are display cases with artifacts from the period as well.

Now that I have come to the end of all the learning exercise  drills in the Duo Lingo language app, I thought I would make an effort to read all the texts as well as look at the many interesting pictures. This was not quite as daunting as I feared. With some gaps, I was able to follow most of the texts I read from start to finish. I still have a lot of work to do, topping up my memory and remembering verb declensions, but I begin to feel as if I have actually made some progress in learning Spanish since Kath introduced me to the app last Christmas.

Back at home, it was time to do a load of washing before lunch, but the machine wouldn't start, as there was no water supply. If it was scheduled and advertised, I hadn't noticed. Anyway, promptly at one it resumed, thoughtfully, for people starting to cook lunch. By mid afternoon the washing was done, dried and gather in, smelling all fresh and warm, baked in the bright dry heat of the backyard that gets the sun durectly above between two and six at this time of year. Then, time for a brisk walk to Mercadona to replenish some basic foods for the week. Domestic tasks complete, time to relax.

After supper I went out for a stroll around the urbanizacion, and came across a very excited white wagtail, flying around in circles, chirping madly for its mate, and returning to perch and chirp again, staying still long enough for me to get a few photos, despite fading light.

I found my way to Genesis Bar, the local hostelry in the urbanizacion, run by an English couple. It was very quiet. I had a beer and then made my way home.

Finally, I found out from a local English language website 'Nerja Today' news blog that Partido Popular's Jose Alberto Armijo Navas, el alcalde de Nerja, has been re-elected for another four years, albeit with a reduced share of the vote (42.62%), which means coalition negotiations, as elsewhere in Spain this week. He's been Mayor for the past 20 years, with a good development track record, so no doubt his team has a lot of experience of compromise as well as leadership at a local level.
  

The disturbing Spirit at work

Pentecost Sunday, and the two regular regular Eucharists to celebrate. At Almuñecár in particular we are under time pressure from the service that follows ours, to complete in  no more than an hour. I'd be happier to lose a hymn and shorten the Gradual Psalm to achieve this, but I've been asked to make my sermon shorter. That's quite a hard request, as I try to pack in as much as I can into a twelve to fifteen minute address, aware of how few other occasions there are when church goers are getting live teaching. So, I made the effort to try and reduce the length of my text from 800+ words to 600, and this means concentrating the content I have to deliver, and that means spending a good deal longer on preparation, as would be the case if writing a script for broadcasting or publication. Nothing wrong with that. It's an enjoyable challenge.

Across Spain today it's local council election day. Recently we've had our fair share of election material delivered, and much of it I've been able to read and understand, thanks to the effort I've made to cram some usable Spanish into my brain, with the commendable Duo Lingo internet app. You get to speak and type answers with this, and the voice recognition routine works well most of the time, except that occasionally it leaves you no time to respond, or fails to pick up your voice unless you shout at it. This can be very annoying, but so can typos, and I make rather of lot of them, so any learning session can be an occasion for much grumpiness and swearing. It'll be interesting to see how much election news in Spanish I'll be able to follow on tomorrow's news.

Talking of elections, yesterday's Irish referendum on incorporating gay marriage into constitutional law was an astounding outcome, when you consider how socially conservative Ireland has been until relatively recently. Nearly two thirds of those who voted have declared their desire to treat equally all couples who want to pledge their lives to each other in marriage. Some interviewed spoke seriously about respecting the ability of others to remain in permanent loving relationships, and uphold family values, recognising that the nature of family life is more diverse and complex than tradition and social convention has been prepared to admit. 

There are few clergy or church leaders who cannot know the truth of this, but the doctrinal ideal along with liturgical custom and practice, fails to reflect it. The Archbishop of Dublin said the vote challenged the church to take a reality check. But where will all the churches go from here? Both the conservative and progressive ones. Will they listen? What will they learn? 

In so many ways, the difficulty Christians have had in coming to terms with contemporary changes in understanding sexuality and relationships, has contributed to many abandoning the church. It's meant that the spread of secular thinking at grass roots level in society has led the way to a paradigm shift in thinking, and not the vision behind Christian doctrine. 

It's fascinating how often secularised societies can place high value on family life and faithful loving relationships, albeit of a much more diverse and varied nature, than the religious ideal believes possible or worthwhile. How will religious people respond? I pray we're not going to see a reactionary backlash, but a widespread change of heart. And I pray that the media will refrain from turning any kind of exchange or dialogue into confrontation or conflict, but let people use their hearts and minds to recognise each other's values and conviction, and be reconciled with each other, in order to live together well with differences.

 

Language drilling

We've been blessed by several warmer and sunnier days this week, and not a lot to do apart from housekeeping, and taking Clare to appointments. No pastoral assignments until this morning, when I celebrated the mid-week Eucharist at St David's Ely. Fr Jesse popped in to say hello, as he lives quite close to the church. He is on his way to recovery from his shingles attack, and looking forward to resuming light duties soon.

Lunchtime Clare and I attended the Ignatian meditation group at Diana's. I led the session, as it's the last time I'll be able to attend until the autumn. Then there was a bereavement visit to make in Radyr, and the funeral service to prepare for the day before I leave for Spain. I have another visit to arrange now for a funeral on Monday next, and a sermon to prepare for Sunday cover in Splott and Adamsdown. So, I've been glad of having few appointments of my own, to be able to work on these matters in a leisurely way.

I had an email from a Norwegian bride to be, whose wedding blessing I shall be doing in Nerja on Kath and Anto's 23rd wedding anniversary date. Their service will be bi-lingual, English and Norwegian hymns readings and prayers. I look forward to the challenge of learning how to pronounce a new language in order to make my role fully bi-lingual. 

Meanwhile, I continue to do 15-20 minutes of Spanish practice most days using the excellent if sometimes quirky and irritating 'Duo Lingo' Android app, on the Asus Transformer, much more on tablet than on phone, as touchscreen keyboard typos produce more unintended errors than programming tolerates, so it forces repeats of learning modules. Curiously, it accepts minor typos in Spanish, but is intolerant of typos in English. It's offers progressive language drill practice, but often leaves one guessing about words and phrases out of context or just bizarre in their intention to a UK English speaker, leaving me asking, when on earth would I ever say something like that? Well, it keeps me working at it, and looking forward to being soaked again in an environment where I can listen, speak and learn what works in practise.