New phone for Clare

A dull cloudy day, toasted waffles for breakfast. Yesterday's covid jab is producing its reaction today, not severe, but enough to make me feel slightly groggy with muscle aches. Not enough to lay me low, but an effort to stay active throughout the day.

Clare's phone screen was displaying signs of degradation as a result of being dropped down the toilet a couple of weeks ago. We went into town and visited John Lewis' tech' department to buy her a bargain Moto G17 for a hundred quid. Then we tracked down a pair of pearl earrings she fancied for her birthday. This was the first occasion we've had to hunt for them since then. After a bowl of soup with sourdough toast for lunch, we headed for home and a snooze. 

Our neighbour across the street needed help re-setting her clocks to GMT so I went over and sorted them out. She'd just had her door lock changed to make it simpler to open, but getting used to a new routine was proving somewhat difficult, and she had to repeat it many times to get the hang of it. The perils of failing memory, sad to say.

I went out for my daily walk at five and return just after sunset. Setting up Clare's new phone after it had charged took a while, but nothing went astray in the process. Now she has to get used to the different look and feel of a new user interface, and she's not pleased about it.

After supper we watched an old episode of 'All Creatures Great and Small' and 'The Repair Shop', for lack of anything better to do. Clocks back, then bed.

Facing a future unprovided for

I was rather slow getting started this morning, as I needed to made a bereavement call and arrange a visit, but made it to St John's for the Eucharist just in time. The visit will be tomorrow morning in Llandough. 

When I got back from church, I decided it was time to pay my contribution to Parish funds, and went on line to our bank account. I was rather annoyed to find that I can't find a way to produce a record of all my previous payments, to figure out how much I should be paying, and had to hunt through the paper version to find the previous entry, among hundreds of transactions great and small. 

The bank keeps nagging me about going paperless. If only clever people on big IT salaries realised it's easier to scan a sheet of paper in hand than scrolling a screen when identifying a single item with no search facility in this section of their website, and do something about it, maybe I could be persuaded to comply.

It took me a while to check my figures and work out how much I should pay. I tend to do this only two or three times a year, rather than use a simple standing order. This allows me to adjust the amount we give to take into account rising running, and the need to contribute for special purposes. So far, I'm in a position to give more as I earn extra from locum duties. I'm happy that's how it is for the time being.

We had a tofu stir fry with rice for lunch, one of Clare's specialities which I helped her prepare. She went to the CRI for an x-ray after lunch. I followed her into town, to bank a cheque, and we met in John Lewis' for a drink before returning together on the 61 bus. I was going to buy a discounted Lumix GX80 camera, but when I enquired about it, found that the packaging and accessories were no available, so the displayed item could not be sold to me. 

The same thing happened with another discounted Lumix camera several months ago. Why on earth display the camera when no stocks are left, no more are expected to arrive in-store and the display camera is deemed unsaleable? Something's wrong here. It's bad enough that the sales person knows nothing about cameras and tries to sell you one that's totally different from the one you've stated that you want. No wonder 'The Partnership' doesn't do as well as it used to when service standards are lowered.

After supper I made a few phone calls to contact bereaved families. Mother Frances asked me to cover yet another funeral this afternoon so I'm preparing one a week in the next three weeks. That's eight altogether since returning from Spain. A consequence of full time clergy shortage. My friend Rufus is far sighted in retiring early from his part time job to develop a specialist pastoral ministry to bereaved families outside the church in areas barely covered by understaffed Parish clergy with many other duties to cover. If only it were possible to establish a guild of ministers, lay and retired clergy which trained to the same standards, and were willing to be deployed over a wide area, to wherever there was a need, and funeral directors find local clergy are not available. It would be necessary to have a protocol so that working clergy and guild members treat each other as partners and share information so neither rivalry nor resentment can arise.

It's a problem that established churches often see themselves as proprietors of the realm of pastoral care, and fail to acknowledge the depths of the gulf between themselves and grass roots secular community. In his early days as Pontiff I recall Pope Francis expressing fraternal warmth towards religious leaders of the Anglican, Protestant and Pentecostal communities in Latin America, valuing their missionary enterprise and seeing them as 'Partners in the Gospel'.  Many would agree with him, but there are still some people in leadership, quietly dissenting and disregarding changes that have taken place in the past half century. 

News of the return of the Pacific 'el nino' ocean current phenomenon threatens to exacerbate the impact of global warming in the next couple of years. The rate at which polar ice caps are melting increases faster than predicted, suggesting we are now past the feared tipping point after which damage to environment and species loss is irretrievable. Yet another case of people in power dissenting and disregarding well documented changes and insisting on interpreting them differently (for their own economic benefit). The ancient biblical truth that unless we repent of selfishness and greed we'll be punished and destroyed is as relevant today as it was two and a half millennia ago. For half my life I have been preaching about this possibility to deaf ears, sad to say.

O Sapientia

My goodness, a week until it's Christmas Eve already! 

By the time I got up this morning the temperature was already rising above zero and stayed there all day into the night. Clare cooked pancakes for our habitual Saturday breakfast. Then we went into town and ordered a salmon from Ashton's to take with us for Christmas, buy some more cards, and investigate reading lamps in John Lewis. We identified one to buy, but there wasn't one in stock apart from the display model, so we had to order one on-line for home delivery when we got home. Hopefully it will arrive before we leave for Kenilworth next Friday. 

We had a drink and a snack in John Lewis, and caught a C1 bus that took us to Cowbridge road shops to buy some cards as we'd forgotten while we were in town. We came out of the shop and saw a 61 bus in the distance. We caught it and were home sooner than expected, cooking lunch late. 

By the time we'd finished and cleared up, the sun was low and it was getting dark by the time I went out for a walk in the park. Several cyclists were riding along the edge of Llandaff Fields with helmets and bikes decorated with LED Christmas lights. In the night time most dogs out with their owners have illuminated collars these days, now they're cheap to acquire and run. It was quiet and deserted away from the road, until I heard a noise sounding like moped with no silencer coming from the Llandaff direction on the footpath, but the approaching bright light was too high to come from a moped. Then a guy with a light on his helmet sped past me standing on a skateboard with a small two stroke engine attached, the sort of engine you'd find on a noisy chainsaw or hedge trimmer. Skateboards with electric motors I've seen out and about, but this outfit was likely to be a DIY enthusiast's home engineering project.

I watched the third and thoughtful concluding episode of 'Granite Harbour'. Strangely, it turns out that Series One has only three episodes encompassing one story. More like a pilot for a series. No report yet of a follow up, though it's been well reviewed. Then I watched 'The Eagle has Landed' premiered in 1976. I've seen it a couple of times over the years since. Michael Caine and Donald Sutherland both look ever so young in it.

Cyber intrigue portrayed

We were back in church at St Catherine's for this morning's Eucharist. It looks bright and clean after the re-decoration. There were eight of us with Mother Frances. She spoke interestingly about St Thomas More's 'Utopia', a book I've never read. He was a man of conscience in Henry VIII's government opposing schism from Rome and Henry declaring himself head of the church. Although More was much valued by the king, he paid with his life for defying Henry, and sticking to his principles. It was a timely reminder of Christian integrity in the midst of our current political leadership crisis.

After the service, a coffee and a chat, I collected this week's veggie bag, returned home to investigate the mail order purchase from Church House London of baptism cards and communion wafers to take with me, as I've been requested to look into it.  in London to see if delivery would be possible by Monday next at the latest. I had no luck however, as there were none of either in stock right now, and time is running short.

Clare cooked a fish pie for lunch with a sweet potato topping. It made a change from ordinary potatoes, much lighter on the digestion. Then I went into town to deposit a cheque and inform Santander Bank about my debt card use abroad. It was confirmed that the least expensive way to buy in euros is to use a Santander ATM to withdraw cash, as this doesn't attract a fee the way using a card for purchases does. Good to know. I also looked for new travel bags, as few of the ones we have match our need to fly without hold baggage this time around. Not only does this cut the cost, but in a time when baggage handling is suffering from staff shortages internationally, it means being able to come and go without baggage delay. 

The dedicated luggage store has gone from St David Centre. M&S offered nothing, John Lewis' range of travel bags was far too expensive, except for a small rucksack in the sale. House of Frazer had a decent selection. Many of them were discounted. For just under sixty quid I got two really useful items for less than half their total price. Mission accomplished!

In the evening I binge watched 'The Undeclared War' on More Four, a drama about a cyber attack with GCHQ at the front line. It was written earlier this year, set in 2024. Embedded in the first episode was a news report featuring a new Prime Minister addressing a protesting crowd. We were told that eighteen months earlier Boris Johnson had been ousted in Parliamentary coup. And this was made before this weeks tide of government resignations was even contemplated, just before the confidence vote I think. Fiction and fact bumping into each other. The overall story makes a good job of explaining Russia's cyber warfare strategy, whilst portraying a brilliant young student intern working with an surprising an experienced team of geeks. I don't know how credible it is in all the detail, but it seems credible enough and does resort to a semi magical view of the digital world. Not a bad piece of educational propaganda in the light of the Ukraine war.

Welsh waterway revival

I drove to St German's to celebrate Mass with five others this morning. On my way out of church I was accosted by a man who rode into the churchyard on a bike. He begged me to let him use my phone for an urgent call, as he'd run out out credit on his. He started telling me about himself, saying he was a Catholic and showed me the rosary he wore around his neck. Then he lifted up his tee shirt to show me the tattoos on his back, representing two prison sentences for thieving he'd served, and put behind him in an effort to go straight. He made the call to his sister, apparently thanked me, then left.

I reached home at eleven. Clare had gone into school for an INSET session, and arrived home just before midday to be ready for a visit from the British Heart Foundation's furniture collection van, booked to take one of our two lounge sofas away. Three months ago we ordered a couple of armchairs from John Lewis' to replace one of them, as I found it wasn't comfortable enough for someone of my size and weight. The delivery van arrived at one. The crew unpacked and installed the chairs, which fit nicely in the space left by the sofa. They are very comfortable and supportive for the back. After lunch, I sat sown to do my daily Duo Lingo drill, and fell soundly asleep for an hour and a half. A worthwhile purchase indeed.

Then I made a start on composing a reflection for next Thursday's morning prayer, before taking a walk down to the Taff listening to the news on my phone. The rest of the reflection got completed after supper. There was an interesting programme on BBC Wales in the evening hosted by rugby legend Gareth Edwards and his wife Maureen, the last in a series exploring Welsh canals. This one was about canals in the Swansea and Neath Valleys, now undergoing the slow process of restoration after half a century of dereliction and neglect. The Vale of Neath is home territory for them both. Having lived and work in the area for thirty years, both were surprised to discover hidden treasures in a place they thought they knew well. There's some beautiful scenery and even a wetland nature reserve through which a canal runs. There's such potential for leisure and tourism here, and wonderful stories of the industrial history of the region around Swansea. These are places which I'm hoping we can explore in times to come.

Wet Saturday

Back to gray skies and torrential rain again today. We woke up and had our pancake breakfast late, then with nothing better to do, went back to bed for a late, lazy lie-in, until eleven. Clare was keen for me to try out an armchair in John Lewis' as we're thinking of replacing one of our unsatisfactory sofas with separate chairs. So we took the 63 bus into town, all dressed up in our rain-gear, and visited John Lewis' furniture department. Outdoors it was cold and drizzling. In the store on the third floor, it was pretty warm, dressed for the street as we were. 

After a satisfactory inspection of the armchair - fabric colour to be decided next week, we headed for home. Clare caught the bus and I walked along the river. There must have been heavy rain in the Brecon Beacons overnight, as the water level was up about a metre from yesterday, just covering the fish ladder on the weir. Lunch was ready by the time I reached home, curried prawns with rice and Swiss chard.

Earlier in the day, I exchanged messages with Emma who hasn't yet fully recovered from laryngitis which little Ned brought home from nursery. I offered to spare her voice by preaching and reading the Gospel and intercessions if needs be, and she agreed. We'll be at St Luke's together tomorrow. After lunch I wrote the sermon, reflecting on the meaning of the phrase 'Abide in me.' I enjoyed doing that.

Then I took some time out to watch an episode of the second series of stories about the German detective 'Inspector Falke' on More Four. I think I watched the first series about three years ago. As ever, modern crimmies often deal with crimes relating to current social issues. This one was bang up to date, reflecting the rise of the far right in Germany, resentment against immigrants and Brussels also the indifference if not complacency and ignorance of some young people (though not all by any means) about the value of their own citizenship and social responsibility. A script that exposes the vernacular debate about German society, its past and where it's headed. Not too distant from the conditions in this country really, before and after brexit.

I was relieved to hear that Welsh Labour has secured half the seats in the new term of the Senedd, with Mark Drakeford continuing, at least for the rest of this year as First Minister. It's the endorsement which he and the party deserve for carefully steering their own course this past few years, and not succumbing to the misfortunes that English Labour has brought upon itself. Faithfulness to context is everything when it comes to good politics I guess. Despite the array of nay-sayers, Welsh Assembly government has done its best, given the limitations imposed on it by Westminster. I don't think you need to campaign fruitlessly for independence. A viable case for transferring more responsibility and power for self determination can be made that unites more citizens than it divides. I'd love to see Wales prove this point in practice.

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?

Slight progress

The day started, cloudy and slightly damp, but the cloud broke up as the morning went on and the sun shone, warming the air, making it feel like a proper summer day.  A visit to our GP surgery mid morning for a wide ranging blood test, five samples being taken in all, My blood pressure was taken and it's still worryingly high. The doctor came down for a brief consultation me in the treatment room, which was so much better than the phone conversation I'd been waiting for. 

Thankfully the ECG taken a fortnight ago revealed a few minor anomalies, but nothing of concern, similar to when the one I had in Ibiza, no need to refer me for an ultrasound heart scan. I am, however being referred to a hypertension specialist at Llandough. When that'll happen is anybody's guess. Meanwhile my doxazosin dose is doubled. from the original prescription. I hope it makes a difference, as the symptoms I'm experiencing raise anxiety and distract me from doing new things. The first half of the day is worse than the second. I always seem to be feel better after I exercise, and in the evening. It's a puzzle in need of a solution.

I walked into town this afternoon, and visited John Lewis store, which is once more open for business,  so far with few customers, no need to queue outside. Like a kid, I challenged myself to ride the elevator up to the top floor and down again without holding the handrail - insanitary things. Nothing to worry about there, my balance is as good as it needs to be! More customers wearing masks in there than in the SD2 mall next door. 

There are some good tech bargains at the moment especially Chromebooks, but nothing new I really need. There is, however a used Olympus OM-D in the window of Cameraland, half the price of a new one. I'm tempted by this as I'd like to find out what's so special about Olympus Micro Fourth Thirds cameras, often highly praised by enthusiasts, not least for their portability it seems. Well maybe, maybe not. Hard to justify. I wish I could borrow or hire one to try out.

After supper, Clare and I relaxed and watched an episode of 'Vera' together. It doesn't happen that often and it's nice when we do. One or other of us is often busy with some task or other, or we want to watch different things, at the same time. Clare in the lounge, me on the bed on a Chromebook.

The imposition of precautionary quarantine on people returning to UK from countries showing spikes in rates of infection is wreaking economic havoc during this holiday month. Unable to go to Spain, many Brits are going to France instead, but infection rates are rising there again too. It may not be long until France joins the list. I feel for Emma the diocesan locum secretary visiting family in Brittany. In an email last week she said how shocked she was by what seemed to her a total disregard for precautions in the general population where she stays, quite apart from holidaymakers. It's as if people have already forgotten just how frightening the events of recent months were.

 

Leap Year Day

The sunshine returned this morning, but the cold biting wind still persists. After a tasty breakfast of veegan recipe pancakes, I walked to Blackweir Bridge again to see if the Taff had burst its banks in the night, having heard that the river Ely had done. The Taff had indeed burst its banks in the night and floodwater had collected in the field area below the first dyke, but was already draining away. 

The river was still high, lapping the footpath, but it had already dropped by a foot judging by the level of wetness on the concrete pier of the bridge, not yet dried out. The volume and speed of the water flow was truly impressive, seen close up. Last weekend I hadn't been able to walk all the way to the riverbank because of the extent of the footpath flooding. Today it was only a matter of a ten foot stream of water flowing across the path from north to south on the lower level. Last week the footpath on upper as well as lower level was inundated for several dozen yards.

Later, Clare and I returned, crossed over the river and walked through Bute Park, footpaths and grass areas still flooded near the Castle, disrupting walkers and cyclists yet looking lovely and tranquil in the bright sunlight. We had lunch in the Secret Garden cafe, enjoying a very tasty squash and lentil soup. Everything used and sold in the cafe consists of locally sourced organic products, a real little showcase for the Welsh food industry, and a credit to the park estate. 

We continued into town and went to John Lewis' in search of a new Kindle for Clare. We learned that the store no longer sells Amazon products. I guess Amazon has taken away a lot of their trade, so why give its products retail space? They had a few Fire tablets in the stockroom, and we bought one, albeit at the same price as we could have bought it in Currys. Then we realised that the device hardware had a back-lit screen not the front-lit display Clare was hoping to have once again, so we returned it before leaving the store, went to Currys and bought a Paperwhite Kindle there. Much mote expensive, but it fits the bill, and even the existing protective cover, as it's the same size as the old one.

It was early evening by the time I got around to writing and completing my sermon for tomorrow, late in the week for me, but I've had other things on my mind. All done and printed out in time to watch the third episode of the Cymru Noir crimmie 'Hidden' - very sinister and creepy. I shall miss the rest, as iPlayer doesn't work abroad, unless you use a VPN link, which I won't.

  

Sale bargain Chromebook

Clare was afflicted with a sore throat and cough over the weekend, and I followed suit yesterday. It meant we both spent the day lying low, foregoing an invitation to a Friends tea Party at RWCMD, to welcome the new College Principal. Even so, I made an effort to go out and walk as usual, aiming to increase my daily distance from four to five. 

Despite the onset of the virus, I managed five and three quarter miles, down to the Bay Wetland area to take a few bird photos. I walked part of the way back from the Millennium Centre, rather than stand around waiting for a bus, then picked up a number six bus, half way along Lloyd George Avenue to Central station, and a perfectly timed 61 bus from Westgate Street. I didn't feel exhausted after, which says something good about my general state of health, as the wound continues to dry out. I just wish my surgeon could see this, as it doesn't reflect what the MRI scan of nearly two months ago reported. I still haven't heard anything. It's as if I don't exist, a repeat performance of what happened before operation number two.

I celebrated the Eucharist with five others at St Catherine's this morning. After lunch I went into town and bought a new high spec Asus C302CA Chromebook, discounted from its original £450 to £300, in the John Lewis summer sale. It is, to my mind worth paying for something with a 10-12 hour battery life, HD touch screen and superior back-lit keyboard. What's so super about Chromebooks is being able to log into your Google account, and within minutes be looking at a clone of your familiar customised display layout. Plus, the newest devices run Android apps, so those you have installed on your Android phone can also be installed, if wish, on your laptop. Dull sameness for some people maybe, but for others desirable convenience and consistency. I wish I could persuade my sister June to give Chromebook a go. There's nothing new or unfamiliar needing to be learned.

Pleased with myself for walking over six miles today. I noticed, passing by the station that a large sign saying 'BBC Wales' has been mounted on the top right hand corner of Number 3 Central Square the Beeb's new HQ, currently being kitted out and moved into by Llandaff based staff. Official opening is in September. The last time I took a picture of the building end of February, there was no sign, so when this happened is a mystery. Curiously it doesn't show up in the media coverage I have so far googled.

Purchase pondered

I hadn't arranged any weekend appointments, but had an unexpected visit from another member of the District Nurse team this morning. I learned that the team are treating a notable number of people with fistula wounds at the moment. I wonder why? I had a restful night, woke up refreshed, and have had little pain or discomfort again today, and that's great, even if it's not going to improve until I've had the operation. It's nice to know they are on my case.

We walked into town late in the afternoon, and looked at dishwashers in John Lewis' store, as we're thinking about buying a new one. Ours is sixteen years old, and its internal fitments are wearing out with age. We may still be able to get replacements for a long discontinued model, but we've no idea how long the heater or pump will last, even if we're successful. The maintenance people advise us to get a new one. It's something to think about while there are special offers in the New Year sales.

While we were there, I had a quick look at the tech' sale offers on pocketable superzoom cameras, as over the last month my Sony HX50 has begun to malfunction at startup time, requiring several tries switching on and off to work properly. I think there may be particles preventing the lens mechanism from opening cleanly and then generating an electronic malfunction. On odd occasional last year the images produced contained minor blemishes intermittently over a periods of time, symptomatic of dust penetrating internally. Nothing I suspect a good clean wouldn't cure, if I could do it. The cost of an expert repair could well be half the cost of a new camera.

I bought this February 2014, to take with me on duty to Fuengirola. I think I've taken around ten thousand photos with it since then. (Must check my archives!) I could buy a replacement at perhaps half the price I paid then, but the temptation is to buy the upgraded improved version - the HX95 - for much the same original price. Well, maybe. Let's see if what I can do about a cleanup first.

This evening, there was nothing much on telly that interested me or Clare, so I watched two episodes of Dr Who on BBC iPlayer catch-up instead. Interesting to note the high moral tone taken by the Doctor, interacting with all kinds of fearsomely dangerous alien life forms, even if the plots are mostly bizarre gobbledegook.
  

Shots in the dark

It was Rachel's 45th birthday today. Clare and I recorded ourselves singing her a 'Happy Birthday' on WhatsApp after breakfast, and sent it to her so she'd receive it when she woke up some eight hours later in Arizona. We were spoke to her in the late evening just before we went to bed, and she was setting out to collect Jasmine from school. A small consolation for being so far away. It's at times like this you really regret such a distance between you and your nearest and dearest. 

I walked into town mid afternoon and met Ashley for a cuppa and a chat in John Lewis' top floor restaurant. It was dusk when we parted company and the traffic was moving slowly, so I walked back along the largely unlit riverside path, busy with pedestrians and bike commuters armed with dazzlingly bright LED lights. It made me wonder how many collisions occur at winter evening rush hour.

I took with me my trusty seven year old Lumix LX5, handy for photographing townscapes. Nearly all my Central Square photos over the past three and a half years have been taken with it, but on this occasion, the natural light was waning by the time I arrived.  I took a few on the path along the Taff walking home, by way of an experiment, so see what Google Photos web editing tools could make of them. Maybe if I'd used the camera's ability to take uncompressed RAW format images to edit, I would have had more better results, but I've only ever worked with JPEG images, whose quality in low light on a camera of this age isn't good anyway. Three of the five I took were keepers, for interest's sake. Next time I'm out with it in the dark, I'll experiment.

 

Musicians to be proud of

Yesterday morning I celebrated the Eucharist with half a dozen others at St Catherines. Afterwards, Clare and I went into town to visit the John Lewis bedding department for me to select a new single mattress to replace the less than satisfactory one on which I currently sleep when I'm in a single bed. Eventually we'll get one to suit Clare, and pair them up on the double bed, which is due to be replaced in the next year or so. These things have a shorter comfort life than we realise. 

Certainly as we get older sleeping comfort seems more essential, because poor mattress support can have a bad impact on body posture in waking life. It's something I've experienced in the course of my locum tours of duty, as I get to sleep in several different beds for extended period through the year. We get less flexible and adaptable, muscles stiffen and take longer to warm up as we age, no matter how much regular exercise we take. Good quality relaxed comfortable sleep, benefits soul and body, regardless of how many times you need to get up in the night and go to the loo.

This morning I celebrated the Eucharist at St John's and bought some home made marmalade and apple chutney to add to our stock. I had a call from Fr Phelim about covering a funeral in two weeks time at St German's, when he has duties which take him away from the Parish. He's also booked me for the first Sunday in October to cover his half term break. So far no autumn european locum duty requests have come up, so there's no reason not to be available for local duties if needed. Variety in ministry is still one of the pleasures of retirement.

If nothing comes up, a trip to Sta Pola to stay in Anto's apartment will be in possible. Missing life in Spain is already a feature of my life, despite summer temperatures here equal to those on the Costas. It's not so much about the weather as the environmental mix of sea, sierras and urban life which I enjoy.

This afternoon we went to a concert given by nine final year piano students at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. They played a wide variety of music from Scarlatti to Schoenberg plus improvisations based on pieces by Hector Villa-Lobos and Chet Baker. What gifted group of musicians, not just in terms of technical prowess but also emotional maturity in their performances. We came away moved and inspired. This truly is a world class conservatoire. So proud that this is a major cultural institution in Cardiff and for Wales. Plus, it's only half an hour's walk from home on the other side of the Taff.
  

Midsummer tech sales

Wednesday, I celebrated the St Catherine's midweek Eucharist, did some domestic errands, and not much else. We have warmer weather now, making life more comfortable and relaxing. I didn't get out and walk, as I should have done as curiosity led me to explore how best to take a good crisp close up photo of a piece of silver jewellery created by Clare from pieces of scrap silver fused together. She'd posted a rather blurry picture of her latest oeuvre on Instagram, using her phone, and I wondered if I could do better. It was less than easy, whatever camera or lens I used as I don't have a macro lens for this purpose. Although the closeup range of the cameras I have is fairly good, the ability to focus on a small object below 10cm reduces with a conventional lens. 

I settled for using my prime lens on the Alpha 68. I need to make more of an effort to use it and learn more about what it does best. Without any zooming capacity I find it rather narrow and restrictive for anything except portraiture, but then the majority of my photo interest is landscapes, urban and rural. Adjusting lighting helped to bring up the detail, but pinpoint accuracy while focusing hand-held with manual or auto focus, was elusive. Another time I must try mounting the camera on a tripod, and use a timer setting to hold on to the optimum sharp focus and distance.

Thursday, the longest day, no locum duty, so I took a walk with my Lumix LX5 camera to capture progress on the Central Square development. The pavements immediately surrounding the the BBC HQ are still being laid. There's been some activity on the bus station site next door, although I am not sure that and ground breaking work is yet under way, presuming that foundations will need to be dug to support the frame of the apartment building above. The steel skeleton of the HMRC building is nearing completion. It's an impressive sight.

I then visited the CBS office to catch up on the current difficult situation confronting the business, and on my way out og town, called into John Lewis store, whose electronic clearance sale has started. Not that there's anything I really need, or could make a case for buying, but just for interest. I met another old geezer just like me, ogling the hardware on offer and contemplating a purchase he knew he didn't really need. An extravert Chinese lady accosted me with questions about some of the low cost bargains, as she and her husband needed a device to Skype her son in Hong Kong. She know nothing about why there was such a range of bargain prices or the reason for it. I wondered how she'd get on with a Windows 10 machine once she got it home and working. But, I helped her to make a decision on a bargain 15" HP device, before she started chatted up the sales assistant and obtaining a further mark down on the already discounted kit.

There was one very recent and expensive Chromebook on display which I fancied, but now that I've discovered I can get a replacement battery for my immaculate Toshiba Chromebook CR104, whose battery life now is a third of what it was when I bought it two years ago, it's hardly worth considering a replacement for my everyday workhorse. It's far superior to any Windows 10 machine. There were several really cheap Windows 10 netbooks on offer, which could be run more efficiently with Linux instead. Indeed I have a laptop which I consider converting every time it annoys me by taking an age to open and update. But again, it is worth the effort?

Thanks to a cloudless sky it's been light this evening almost until bedtime. Summer delight.

  

Silver lining

We were out of the house be eight fifteen this morning to drive to Llandough Hospital, where Clare had an appointment with an orthopaedic specialist about her shoulder injury at nine, After an initial x-ray had been taken, we were ushered into a consulting room where Clare was given a scrupulous examination by a physiotherapist skilled in diagnosis, to confirm what the x-ray and previous scans of the injury had revealed. Then the surgeon appeared and very quickly pronounced his willingness to perform keyhole surgery to fix a ripped tendon. 

This came as a complete surprise, as others involved had suggested the injury might not be treatable due to her age and she might have to live with some painful limitations for the rest of her life.. The physiotherapist, however, observed how fit Clare is and unusually mobile and flexible because she's a eurythmist, dedicated to the art of movement, and thus more likely to respond well to treatment, as well as needing it to continue her vocation. With a wait time of two to three months, this could be an unexpected Christmas gift. The treatment will leave her arm immobile for a month, so she'll need a lot of looking after. It'll be a while before we have a date, and hopefully it'll be around the time I return from Costa Azahar. Just in case there's an overlap, Rachel has expressed her keenness to arrive early from Arizona for Christmas to be number one nurse. Every cloud has a silver lining.

At half past ten we were on our way to Dyffryn House and gardens for a walk around, to inspect their historic dahlia collection, 35 varieties, 6000 in various flower beds, now somewhat past their glorious best, yet still a riot of colour against the trees tinged with autumnal gold. Several new rooms, partly renovated, have now been opened to visitors -one has been made into a library, another furnished with a history on the Cory family who owned and developed Dyffryn House as the family residence. They were very rich, both from ownership of coal mines, but also from shipping coal to ports up and down both sides of the Atlantic seaboard. They were also philanthropically minded, and as a result house and grounds were much used and enjoyed. Indeed, they were eventually given to Glamorgan County Council and used as an education centre, before finally being taken on three years ago by the National Trust for a major restoration project, with lots of volunteer engaged in looking after house and gardens. A visit is a must-do thing for us now, all the year round.

We had a pleasant lunch there, and then I went into town to do some more money moving, and spent an hour in the office, to fit in a couple of urgent tasks while I could. Things aren't easy just now, as Julie our administrator is off sick, but we muddle through. Afterwards, Clare joined me and we spent an hour at John Lewis' having tea and indifferent chocolate cake and then looking at their selection of curtains for our front room makeover. News came through today of the delivery of our new sofas,  next week, ordered back in August on our way home from East Anglia. I'll have to content myself with viewing them on Skype.

All too soon, it seems, I was hunting down all my bits and pieces, spread around the house, packing the rucksack ready to travel, and off to bed early, for an eight o'clock airport bus trip, wondering how soon it'll be before Clare hears about her surgical appointment.

Thanks KwikFit

Last night I, as we set out for the Millennium Centre, our car, which had started fine in the morning, failed to start. The battery is losing charge, and is at least four maybe five years old, therefore probably dying. This damp and rainy morning, I hooked it up to our battery charger for several hours, and succeeded in getting the car to start. I drove straight to our nearest KwikFit centre on Cowbridge Road, and was delighted they could deal with it immediately. The manager loaned me an umbrella, so I could walk home and have lunch while I waited for the job to be done, alternator health check, battery health check, and replacement. By the time I returned, the job was done, a great relief as I resume Sunday duties tomorrow. 

We went for an afternoon walk into town and back in the rain for tea in John Lewis'. Down the Poncanna side of the Taff, we saw a flock of starlings feeding in the wet grass under the trees alongside the avenue. We were serenaded by a wren and a blackbird, oblivious to the depressing dampness of the hour. As we crossed the footbridge, scores of swifts swarmed over the river, darting in every direction feeding on midges in the air as they flew. Sometimes on this walk you're lucky to see a handful of crows and pidgeons, and then the mood of dull day can be a handful of surprises. 

The city centre was in festive mood, with a live soul band playing in the drizzle outside the Castle, and tens of thousands of good humoured rugby fans making their ways into the Millennium Stadium for the Heineken Cup final. As the match was under way, streets were quiet when we made our way home after a look around the store and tea. The second instalment of 'Wallander' was on BBC4, portraying the detective as growing increasingly forgetful about ordinary things, attributable to his profound concentration on the case in hand, but shades of things to come, as the series moves to his end.

  

Boxing Day fever

Having a bad back prevented me from joining the daughters and grand-daughters on the Winter Wonderland ice rink this morning. I stayed behind to re-charge Rachel's phone so she would have it for later when she was out visiting friends, then walked into town to meet up with them all at the end of the session. There was no alternative. The bus stop information panels were operating but were non committal about the nature of the service on offer, just saying that buses were operating on major routes only, without defining what a major route is. The display advised people to look at the Cardiff Bus website. Oops too late - out of the house already. No wifi, dodgy 3G signal, or else no phone/tablet or laptop to hand for a significant number of erstwhile bus travellers. More thought about functional communication on non routine travel days wouldn't go amiss.

We made a foray into the city centre, crowded with shoppers, even though the main attraction, John Lewis' store, was still shut. We had coffee and a bite to eat in M&S instead, sitting in the balcony extension to their first floor restaurant, with blue skies overhead and sun shining during a break in an otherwise rainy day. We then parted in order to head for different shopping destinations. Clare and I wandered aimlessly for a while then returned home. Window shopping in such busy crowds isn't much of a pleasure.

Bargain hunt continues

Eddie and Ann set off for Felixstowe in Monday rain after a long slow breakfast together, and we made a hesitant start to our week. Mid afternoon we travelled into town together - me to bank a cheque and Clare to meet Owain over an exchange of birthday present. 

Duty done, I made my way to John Lewis' store only to see Clare descending the escalator as I was ascending on a bargain hunt. Having landed two great bargains here recently, I can't resist looking for a third when there's nothing better to do. I found just what I was after, a big HP desktop PC running Windows 7 for the office at forty percent discount, to replace Ashley's big laptop, designed with gamers in mind in late 2008, running Windows Vista. It was, in its day, the most expensive piece of equipment we had, and the only one to have failed requiring a visit from a Dell service engineer to sort out the RAID array and re-install the OS, with corresponding data loss. 

Unfortunately, I was in Spain at the time, helpless to intervene with caution in this emergency - probably out cycling somewhere out of 'phone signal range. Getting all the necessary software back up to required standard was one of the first jobs I did when I returned. There was minimal real data loss. A little email data was lost because British Telecom re-jigged their email servers in the same month of misfortune, so missing stuff couldn't be downloaded again. Nothing critical to Company business was lost, due to an obsessive dispersed back-up policy for which there is no need to apologise.. Tomorrow is dedicated to setting up the new machine ready for Ashley to use when he gets back into action after a retail crime conference in London the day after.

Having delivered the new PC to the CBS office, I headed for home. Passing St John's church, I noticed that the contractors shutters around the tower arches had been removed, revealing the new glass door and wall panels which have just been installed. It gave me great pleasure to see this as it was a project close to my heart. I took a few unsatisfactory photos using my Blackberry phone camera. Here's the best of a mediocre bunch.

After supper, I drove out to Cowbridge Holy Cross to join a two hundred strong congregation for the licensing and welcome of Fr Edward Dowland-Owen, the Benefice's new Team Vicar. It was an enjoyable experience, sitting in the congregation with lay people I normally lead in worship, feeling part of this 'community of communities' that calls itself 'church' in this area. Apart from attending summer Evensong at Llanfrynach, this is the first big Benefice event I've taken part it. It gave me a sense of belonging that, if I'm honest, I've missed since retirement. It makes me feel blessed.

  

Down with the shed. Enter the Chromebook

Finally, it was time to take down our garden bike shed, in preparation for the arrival of one larger shed to hold the bikes, mower and gardening tools. After a late breakfast I set to, with same power screwdriver I used to erect it three and a half years ago, I carefully dismantled it, and Clare bagged up the screws and labelled the components. It's due to go to the Steiner school playground for another life as an equipment store. Apart from one panel water damaged because rainwater accumulated at that corner of its concrete base, it's still in remarkably good condition, with a good number of years of life left in it. The little tool shed is quite ruinous, but it has been there since we bought the house twenty years ago, so it's hardly surprising.

 

It only took us an hour, then we both returned to preparing things - lesson plans for Clare and two funeral services for me. It was four by the time we left the house for a walk into town and then a bus down to the Millennium Centre to book tickets for a show at half term when Rhiannon comes to stay. We decided to catch the bus back to the centre for a cup of tea at John Lewis', open until six for refreshments and seven for purchases. I had my usual nose around in the electronics department and came away with a Samsung Chromebook at  nearly twenty percent discount. My sister June has been saying for some time that she'd like a small light computer she can use on her lap, to look things up when she's watching TV (as I and many others do these days), so I thought I'd buy one and set it up with her account details for a try-out.

I spent an hour after supper before my weekly episode of 'Young Montalbano' familiarising myself with the machine and configuring it with June's favourites. Then, when I deliver it, the only thing remaining to do will be to upload all her data to Google Drive, and show her how to use it.  I wonder how easily she'll adjust to the change of habitual usage?

I found the Samsung a pleasure to use: good keyboard, bright sharp easy to read screen, quick to start up, not to mention long battery life. Thinking of what my sister uses a computer for - browsing, emails, the occasional document and photo management - it's adequate for her needs, and easier to live with than any Windows operating system with its endless notifications, and different ways of achieving the same task. I'd find its narrow simplicity constraining if it was my only computer, but as several computer journalists have observed in the last year, it's possible to work on it for days at a time before you need to use a tool or a program that is more powerful or versatile.

 

Transformer death

Yesterday, after Eucharist, breakfast and conversations in College, I spent the rest of the morning preparing a sermon for Sunday. Then, after lunch I went down to the CBS office for a few hours of 'tech support' before returning for Evensong, at which Caroline Downes was the preacher. She made superb work of 'Renunciation' in our Lenten series, and clearly relished giving a serious message with occasional flashes of gentle humour. As it was Valentine's day, I walked home via the Llandaff Village Spar mini-market, to buy some flowers for Clare. For once I didn't have to rush home before going out again as I had no Tai Chi class. I was glad of the night in to recover. 

Ashley called me to say his new Asus Transformer Infinity had died since last using it earlier in the week. He thought that battery had drained and that it would no longer re-charge. Hooked up to the mains and switched on, it displayed the Asus logo but nothing more. Another job to do tomorrow.

We slept in, and rose an hour later than usual, all in the name of redressing the sleep deficit, and I went to the CBS office after lunch to meet Ashley and inspect the Asus. Sure enough, the boot up routine began with the logo displayed brightly for a few seconds, giving way to a black screen. No other sign of life. Charging circuit failure? Maybe not, given the brightness of the brief logo show. Maybe not a motherboard failure, as that would rule out the slightest sign of life. A solid state hard disk failure seems likely, so it couldn't load its Android operating system. Such a disappointment.

When I was due to leave for home we went across the road to the John Lewis Store and exchanged it for a refund, since for the moment supplies of this model are rather scanty. We'd still like to have one, as it seems the best choice for our working needs.

It was my turn to cook, and I made an experimental dish with black eyed beans, veg and quinoa. Clare rang to say she was bringing Leila, one of the Steiner teachers, home for supper. They've been working on preparing class rooms for the re-start of school on Monday, following the premises move over half term. We had just the right amount and I was pleased with how my new dish tasted and the approval it got.