View from the moon

Last night I was in bed by eleven. I thought I slept fairly well. Not according to my Fitbit however, which reckoned I was awake three hours overnight. I did wake up early thanks to the sun rising in a cloudless sky but then dozed with the radio on as I often do, until I got up at eight, feeling clear headed rather than light headed. I didn't feel like I'd lost so much sleep. I doubt the accuracy of the gadget. If I wear it tight enough to have firm contact with skin on my wrist, I end up with sores caused by a wrist band that harbours sweat and deposits salty crystals as it dries out. No matter how well I clean it, the acidic accumulation burns my skin. If I don't wear it tight enough, its accuracy is unreliable. It's okayish as a pedometer but the rest of the data it collects is open to question. Its main purpose is to remind me to maintain daily activity even when I don't feel like it. The past six months this has often been the case. I've learned not to push myself too hard, and maintain a gentle regular pace. I haven't noticed until recently how much I've slowed down when I'm out walking.

The Artemis II mission continues calmly without setbacks. After surveying the dark side of the moon, the spacecraft is now on its return journey to earth. News coverage includes exchanges  with Mission Control and interviews with earth bound journalists in English and Canadian French. The astronauts express joy and delight at seeing the beauty of the earth from different angles in its cosmic setting. I'm not sure how it was possible for the crew to view the sun eclipsed by the earth from the Orion capsule. I found photos on the BBC news website showing the sun as a slender crescent with Venus in the Corner of the frame. Amazing. 

Meanwhile, in response to Trump's threat of destruction if the Straight of Hormuz is not opened, Iran has issued its own list of conditions on which a peace deal could be reached in response to his list of demands. Trump's threat to escalate the war by destroying Iran's civilian infrastructure is, of itself, a war crime. Iranians are now organising themselves in human chains across bridges and around key installations that cannot be attacked without slaughtering unarmed civilians. Iran also promises its own escalation of aggression by widening the scope of its attacks on the economies of countries backing America. What an extraordinary contrast, between the harmonious peaceful collaboration scientific explorers and warmongers fighting over control of the earth's energy resources, at the cost of lives and the instability of the global economy.

After breakfast, I worked on a Morning Prayer video slideshow and uploaded it to YouTube, well ahead of schedule, to make sure I don't get distracted by birthday visitors and a couple of up-coming hospital appointments. I try to prepare in order to avoid doing anything under pressure nowadays, as stress is now so much harder to handle. Now the weather is better and working outdoors is much more pleasant, Clare has been busying herself with routine maintenance chores, like renovating and re-varnishing iron framed wooden benches and a table that hosts her geranium flower pots. This morning she started chopping back an overgrown garden hedge that hosts two kinds of honeysuckle. I joined her to wield the shears on the tall sections beyond her reach, standing on a short step ladder, hoping it wouldn't wobble more than I could cope with. I wasn't sure I could. It was a small test of physical confidence that thankfully I came through unscathed. I tend to avoid taking risks nowadays, not wanting to cause trouble for others, but it's important to find out what I can and can't do when needs be, think about what I'm doing and resist acting on impulse.

While Clare tidied up the hedge trimmings I cooked salmon with rice and veg for lunch. Then we went for a walk to the Secret Garden Cafe in Bute Park for a cup of tea. We arrived as it was closing, but were able to get a drink and sit outside in the afternoon sun. A quiet evening after supper, and early to bed to ensure I feel well enough to celebrate the Easter midweek Eucharist at St John's tomorrow morning.

Training postponed

I was in bed by eleven and woke up to seven thirty. My fit-bit app congratulated me for getting to be at the right time and sleeping the right number of hours. I can't remember when it last did that, it's so long. As the device was charging during the night, I entered the time data manually. Such foolishness to think that kind of message does anything other than annoy. I woke up several times in the night. Before first light, I saw the bright crescent of a waning moon rising in a clear chilly sky. Wondrously beautiful.

Thanks to early rising I was out walking in the park by nine thirty, clad my winter jacket, scarf and gloves. Recent rain and cold weather have accelerated the colour change of the trees, all are now washed with gold. I went down the Taff Trail on the east side of the river, and saw a cormorant perched precariously on the overhanging branch of the limb of a tree fallen into the river, and regretted not having a camera with me. I used my Blackberry phone, but it doesn't zoom into subjects much at all and the quality isn't good, but here it is.

While I was out I had a message to say that this afternoon's Safeguarding zoom had to be cancelled due to the sickness of the trainer. Thanks to the same Blackberry phone, I consulted my diary and responded to the request for a re-booking appointment next Tuesday morning. I returned at eleven and worked for an hour completing this Thursday's Morning Prayer video, then Clare arrived from her study group, so I downed tools and cooked lunch, and finished the job afterwards.

When Clare woke up from her fiesta we went shopping together, first to Wickes on Western Avenue to get dust covers for the kitchen, due for them remedial work on the plaster. We discovered that Wickes had closed during the pandemic and been replaced by a budget supermarket called B&W, We drove out to the B&Q superstore at Culverhouse Cross to get what we needed, but not before a visit to Aldi's for the week's grocery shopping. We both observed that it's a long time since we did anything quite so domestic together, and certainly by car, as normally we walk to the shops locally.

Having agreed with Brian the organist a possible programme for an Advent Sunday Mass with a RWCMD choir singing at Saint Germans, I sent our proposals to Andrea for consideration. It's not as big a challenge as last Sunday's, but that will probably be welcomed, as it's only a week after a special afternoon music by students who have been rehearsing in church all term. 

I had intended to go to this evening's All Soul's Mass at St Luke's, but got distracted by other things I was doing after returning from the shops and ended not going, rather than turning up late. We watched some old comedy programmes on telly after supper and then a really interesting documentary about the remarkable paintings of Vermeer on Sky Arts. 

Now, early to bed, as I have a ten o'clock Mass at St German's tomorrow morning, with a class of children from Tredegarville School attending, young kids for whom this will be a new experience as the 'class Masses' stopped for the past eighteen months of the pandemic.

Stroudwater Canal

Another day of rain of varying intensity from dawn to early evening, After our usual Saturday pancake breakfast, we drove to Stroud in Gloucestershire to visit Clare's former colleague Jacquie for lunch. It was good to see her happily settled in her new one bedroomed house with its small terrace big enough for the round garden table and four chairs she brought with her from Dinas Powis. It's south facing, looking over  Froom valley woodland just ten minutes from the town centre. The small row of four houses sits alongside the Christian Community Anthroposphical church to which Jacquie belongs. 

Stroud and its environs has many Anthroposophists, contributing to its creative and social life, helping to create an environmentally friendly place with a hip alternative lifestyle, rated by the media as one of the attractive places in Britain to live. Five Cotswold valley streams meet here, so it became a world famous centre for woollen cloth weaving from the seventeenth century onward, thanks to water power, and the canal infrastructure. Those days are long gone and the factories, constructed from brick and Cotswold stone have been repurposed for other enterprises, social purposes or converted into apartments.

After lunch, I went for a walk alongside the canal flowing down the valley to the Severn Estuary, called the Stroudwater Navigation Canal. It was built in the late 18th century in order to link Bristol and London by water. At Wallbridge in the town centre is the junction with the longer stretch of canal through the Cotswolds that meets the Thames further east. From Wallbridge the Navigation runs to Framilode on the Estuary to the west. Boats of a specific length and capacity called Severn Trows went from there to Avonmouth and through the Avon Gorge into the city centre basin. The eight miles of waterway was abandoned in 1954, but is being brought back to life, restored by the Cotswolds Canals Trust. It's interesting that there's a footpath along its southern bank, but it's not a towpath horses could use. The Trows used sails but were hauled through locks manually. I walked eight kilometres in the rain, covering the stretch from Wallbridge to Ryford Double Lock, beautiful experience. My photos are here.

Thankfully, the rain was far lighter on our journey home than it had been in the morning, and there was less traffic. When we returned, I was relieved and pleased to find a package had arrived in the post, small enough to go through the letter box containing the fit-bit straps Clare ordered for me. The order took eight days to arrive from heaven knows where, but was scheduled to take from ten to twenty days to deliver, so I can't complain. Two packages sit in our hallway for neighbours nearby who have been away this week. Has The System figured out we're at home and answering the door more often than others? 

After supper we watched a fascinating Michael Palin travelogue about southern Brazil from a few years back, before the catastrophe of the Bolsenaro presidency. We started watching a French movie on BBC Four with a start studded cast, but gave up on it once we realised it didn't finish until late. Better to get an early night after a hundred and twenty miles of diving in the rain.

Matthewtide

Fifty two years today since I was made Deacon and started serving my title in Caerphilly. A sunny Monday morning, with cleaning chores to be done before I could get started on preparations for next week's Thursday Office. After lunch, a walk around the park, feeling lethargic as I didn't sleep for long enough last night. I relaxed in front of the telly when I got back with another episode of 'Floodlands' before supper. I went to bed early to work on writing my play and to watch the newest episode of NCIS, featuring guest star Cote de Pablo which sees the closure of the Ziva David storyline, making possible a return to her daughter and her lover/former partner Tony diNozzo.

After twenty one months of almost continuous wearing my Samsung fitbit watch strap started to break up last week. It's an early model with an uncommon strap, whose design was subsequently changed. They are available on-line, mostly through Amazon. I don't have an Amazon account and laugh whenever I get one of those robotic scam calls telling me unusual sums of money have been charged to my Amazon account and that I should enquire about this with their security hotline. I want to keep it that way. Some vendors use PayPal. I tried that service but wasn't comfortable with it. Finding a vendor for this item from whom I can buy just using a credit card is proving difficult. I can find a store anywhere which any longer sells such a small ticket item. It's rather frustrating, to say the least. For the moment the wrist band is held on by pieces of thick elastic thread. It looks awful but it works.

The Feast of St Matthew the Apostle today - the one who has watched over my ministry since I was made Deacon on the eve of his fiesta. Another warmish sunny day. I stayed in all morning to take delivery of some parcels while Clare went to her study group. I did some more preparatory work on next week's Morning Prayer audio and then cooked lunch. A call came in asking me to do a funeral at Pidgeon's Chapel of Rest two weeks today The audio I eventually recorded and edited before going out for my daily walk. My route took me to Peacock's store on Cowbridge Road, where I was able to purchase a much needed black shirt. It's tailored to a slim fit and looks good on me now. Nine months ago, I couldn't have fitted into it. I also went to the pharmacy in King's Road and booked myself in for a 'flu jab. This will be done a week Thursday.

After supper, I watched both this week's episodes of 'Silent Witness' while doing my daily Duo Lingo drill. Maybe I didn't give it my full attention, but I'm not sure how well the threads of the complex investigation all fitted together in the final resolution. Much the same as last week.

Vaccination marathon at the start line

At bed time last night I took off my Fitbit for re-charging. It only takes about an hour, and I can rely upon waking up every couple of hours, to retrieve it and wear it again. Yes, I wear it at night as it has its motion sensing chip is programmed to monitor sleep patterns, an interesting thing to review from time to time. In fact I slept longer than usual and forgot to put it back on until gone six. So according to the smartwatch app, I only slept an hour. This reading can happen once a week, but the Fitbit and the app doesn't admit the need to re-charge. When it sends me my weekly health review, my sleep time average is reported as seven hours instead of the 'recommended' eight, even though I usually sleep eight hours plus every night. Worse still, it sends a digital reproach telling me I'm not getting enough sleep. Smart monitoring? What a joke!

It's been a cold day, so I switched over to my ancient padded ski jacket for my daily exercise, and in doing so left my keys in the pocket of my rain jacket. Before heading to the park, I took a kilo of used batteries to recycle in Tesco Metro after lunch, then had a much needed haircut, my first for three months. On the way to the park I called in at home, and that was when I realised I didn't have my keys. Clare had already gone out for her walk of the day. Oops! But never mind, she's more than likely to be there when I return as she doesn't walk for as long as I do. Changing coats tends to be a nightmare if you rely heavily on pockets rather than a bag to carry your stuff around, as I do. 

Today, the first batch of covid-19 vaccines arrived in Welsh hospitals, as they did all over the rest of the UK thanks to a phenomenally efficient logistic operation which has brought supplies from Belgium over the weekend, flown in I believe by military transport. Initially, medical and care workers will receive their jabs starting from tomorrow, then most susceptible people by virtue of their age or medical condition. Half the population of Wales should receive the vaccine by Easter next year. Meanwhile, cases continue to rise in Wales whose infection rate is now the highest in the UK. 

No idea when Clare and I will get vaccinated, and it's clear that no matter when that happens, our present lifestyle and precautions will need to continue well beyond gaining hoped for immunity, and the decimation of the infection rate. I don't think this is understood very widely yet, perhaps because mixed messages conveyed by the government and tabloid press tend to raise false hopes of an early return to normality. This may be the beginning of the end, but as the top medics are saying, "This isn't a sprint, but a marathon" And one could add that it's a marathon over an obstacle course. 

Vaccinating half to two thirds of the UK population is not only complex to deliver through a winter with all its weather hazards, there's also brexit from the end of this month promising major disruption to the transport of goods internationally putting the food supply chain as well as industrial productiveness at risk. Unemployment is already rising due to known uncertainities. If the economy collapses, resulting in increased poverty and deprivation, it will exacerbate existing conditions favourable to the spread of virus contagion. Brexit is destined to undermine the resilience and health of the population, just as it needs all possible help to recover. As scripture says "Without a vision the people perish", and even more so when vision is blurred and blinded by lies and false promises.

An hour after sunset, I think I caught a glimpse of Saturn and Jupiter appearing in close proximity to each other above the south eastern horizon, so close that to the unaided eye and a poorly configured camera, they appear as one bright light. It wasn't for long as high level cloud soon moved in obscuring stars and planets alike, I wonder if weather will permit a proper look before the end of the month as this conjunction of planets that hasn't been seen on earth for nearly 800 years? Maybe I'll have time to learn how to optimise the capabilities of my cameras and their telephoto lenses, tripod mounted.