Monday closures

We all got up late after the the intensity of yesterday's musical experiences. The weather promised to be a mixture of sunshine and showers. Before going for a walk and lunch in Porthkerry Country Park, I made a bereavement call about the funeral I've been asked to take a week Tuesday

We intended to eat there at Mrs Marco's café, but found it was closed on a Monday. We walked for an hour in Cwm Ciddy woods and found the remnants of the ancient grain mill on the banks of the stream that runs down the valley, then drove to Cold Knap in Barry, where the Romilly's Coffee shop was open. We had a snack there in a pleasant eaterie, next to Mr Villa's fish restaurant which we thought might be open, but wasn't. Fortunately it didn't start to rain until we started out for home. We drove to the Bay Barrage at the Cardiff Marina end, to book a table for tomorrow's birthday lunch for Clare at la Marina. The receptionist said all booking was now done on-line, but helpfully produced his laptop and made a booking in situ. 

When we got home, I slept for half an hour, then went to Tesco's for a birthday card for Clare and some ingredients needed for the paella I cooked for supper. While cooking I also worked on next Sunday's Patronal Festival sermon for St German's, before settling down for a couple of hours in front of the telly with 'Secrets of the Museum' and this week's new episode of NCIS.

Driving around today, it took me a while to realise that some of the petrol stations I noticed had their fuel price displays set to zero, a sign they had no fuel to sell, even if they were open for other reasons. Fortunately I filled up last week before the new media began to report on the occasional fuel station that had to close for lack of delivery. This reportage sparked a round of panic fuel buying. exacerbating the recent fuel delivery problem prompted by delivery driver shortages. 

This crisis, in my opinion, has been stoked up by media reports, and pushed the government into doing what it should have done several weeks ago, to recognise the urgent need for temporary visas for drivers resident in the EU to return and work here until new ones can be trained, having been de-motivated by brexit to stay here and work as they have done for decades. A populist government, driven by mostly right wing media moguls. And this is modern democracy?

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.

Getting ahead

I think yesterday must have drained my energy reserves more than I realised. I got up and had breakfast late and then returned to bed and slept again until noon. More than ten hours sleep and thirteen in bed seems to have helped remedy the imbalance. Maybe I need to accept that being older means that I need more sleep that I expect, if I am to remain as physically active and work as much I can enjoy taking on.

After lunch, I completed work on this week's Thursday Morning Prayer and uploaded to YouTube. Getting this done early removes the pressure of a deadline to meet. I don't cope so well with pressure any more and take more time to prepare everything well in advance. I walked for an hour and a half, and met Fran and Mark while I was in Thompson's Park. She's delighted with the silver pendant which Clare made for her on Mark's commission, for her birthday.

I drove to St German's to celebrate a vigil Mass of St German's Day at six. I went on my usual route around the south side of the city centre and ran into a lengthy traffic queue at the junction of Tudor Street and Clare Road. Tudor Street is going to be one way for a year, and there's a new arrangement with traffic lights reset and causing queues on north south and east west routes. A fifteen minute journey yesterday was a half hour journey today. Just as well I gave myself three quarters of an hour to get there, just in case. I will try another route when I return to St German's on Wednesday.

After supper, I watched an interesting programme on BBC Four about the art and architecture of Baku in Azerbajan. the world's first oil producing country in the mid 19th century. The this week's new episode on NCIS, and another half hour walk in the dark before turning in for the night. Who knows? Maybe for another long night's sleep?

Freedom or more chaos?

I enjoyed a long and relaxed night's sleep without a duvet as the air temperature was a comfortable 23C and it wasn't too humid. Under the bright morning sun, the temperature went up to about 30C again. For me the sensation was just like being back in Malaga, and awakened memories of beautiful days under the sun. It's going to be a good while before I can return there with shifting sands of pandemic management and new viral variant threats making the future uncertain, except for the rich and crazy people determined to travel no matter what the cost to themselves and others. 

Today, the other side of Offa's Dyke, all legal covid restrictions are removed as covid delta variant infections continue to soar. What was made obligatory in similar conditions a year ago becomes optional, relying entirely on the numbers vaccinated to mitigate the impact. The Prime Minister and two cabinet ministers are now in quarantine, having realised that those in Downing Street 'pinged' by the track 'n trace app cannot get away with being infection tested daily, when hundreds of thousands around the country have to stop work and self isolate for the same reason, whether infected or not. 

Previews of an interview with Boris' former advisor Dominic Cummings released ahead of tomorrow night's broadcast give an impression of the chaotic reaction by Boris and his cabinet cronies at the beginning of the pandemic, when denial at the seriousness of the situation seemed to be the initial reaction, people reluctant to believe it was as bad as the scientific advisors said it was. But how many of them have any proper medical or scientific training in anything? Cummings is on a mission of vengeful boat rocking. The trouble is, his personal credibility was ruined by his own behaviour. Even if he tells the truth, he'll be doubted because of his motives, even if the evidence he presents vindicates him. It's as good as any political soap opera we've seen on telly in the past quarter century.

I took a trip to Tesco's before cooking lunch, uploaded photos and wrote a few things before Clare and I walked for an hour along the Taff, as much in the shade as possible. Clare doesn't enjoy the heat like I do. After supper, another episode of Iolo Williams's wildlife programme series on Pembrokeshire with some stunning photos of Kingfishers and their two fledgling chicks. So inspiring. Then I squeezed in a second episode of 'Baptiste', available in full on BBC iPlayer, before this week's new episode of NCIS series 17. Another guest appearance of Cote de Pablo as Ziva in a rather confusing (or was it just too fast moving for me?) part two follow through from last week's episode, before she mysteriously disappears again. I didn't find this reprise of an old story worth the effort that undoubtedly went into providing fans with closure. It felt tired, and un-glamorous.