Time of reckoning

Another bright cold sunny day, but I didn't go out until after lunch. After breakfast I recorded all six of the reflections I've written for next week's Parish WhatsApp group, and then edited them with Audacity. It's good to have this ready to go before the weekend.

I went down to the Taff this afternoon with the long lens attached to my Alpha 68. I got some nice shots of a Mallard mother with four ducklings, and then walking further down the river, saw another Mallard with a brood of eight much smaller chicks. They were harder to photograph, however as their coloration against the clear dark brown riverbed, with a shallow covering of water made them difficult to see let alone focus on. I bumped into Gareth and his wife from church, and we talked about ducklings on the river. He said that Mallards may start with eight ducklings, but it's not unusual to lose half of them to predators in the first weeks of growth.

I had an interesting conversation this afternoon with the Church in Wales Safeguarding Coordinator, who called to put me in touch with former police officer whose mother was a St John's city parishioner which I was Vicar there. He used to bring her to church in her wheelchair, and I took her Communion at home when she could no longer attend, and eventually I officiated at her funeral. We lost touch after I retired, and now he's retired, and is part on the 'White Ribbon' initiative, which works with men prone to violence against women. I suspect that in his years on the force he must have seen enough to motivate him.

This evening we watched the incoming Senedd election results on telly. Welsh labour seems to have done better than its English counterpart, thanks to the steady intelligent moderate leadership shown throughout the pandemic by First Minister Mark Drakeford. The full results won't be in until tomorrow, so we don't yet know if there'll have to be a coalition with a second part for the political status quo to continue.

Fishy story and a movie masterpiece

It's bright sunny weather and not pouring with rain for today's elections for the Welsh Senedd and Crime Commissioner. That might encourage a higher voter turn-out, with added reassurance that polling stations will be run according to covid secure protocols. Just bring your own pencil. Clare and I submitted our postal votes two weeks ago, as we've done for the past twenty years. We probably won't know the result until Saturday. I do hope Mark Drakeford is re-elected, as he's served the nation well during the pandemic, with his clear, sober, measured manner of communication. 

News, as I woke up this morning, of sixty French fishing boats gathering in the waters around the port of St Helier Jersey to protest about the issues relating to the requirement for them hold a license to fish in UK waters around the Channel Islands, as part of the post-Brexit trade deal. Yesterday the French government made threatening noises about cutting of the island's electricity supply if this wasn't resolved - you have to wonder what sort of fools in government are appointed to make inflammatory comments of this kind. The British government is equally capable of such stupidity however. It seems to be a common affliction among people who think they have power and authority to speak out publicly with little thought for the impact - or do reporters fan the flames by confusing off the record gossip with public statement? 

By lunchtime, there were two UK fishery protection vessels monitoring the situation and two French patrol boats, and conversation about the issue was already taking place. The new EU-UK trade deal which was recently announced grants that historic Channel Island fishing rights in UK waters are retained by the neighbouring French fishermen, but they need a license to support this. More paper-work, easy on-line if you have time and back office support to apply, but many of the fishermen are small business operations that may not have that support. Some have applied for licenses but not yet received them. Is the system not working? Not yet fit for purpose? There is another issue, a bit more embarrassing to be faced.

Those applying for licenses have to state the size and type of catch landed annually. This is important for the conservation of fish stocks, something the UK government is trying to be more zealous about. There is a suggestion that more fish is being taken than the conservation quota allows - probably true for both the French and British fleets - the French complain they've not had to give this precise information before, when all was regulated by Brussels. 

Over-fishing has quietly gone on for generations. It's hard enough for small fishermen to make a living at the best of times. The real enemies of marine conservation are large scale trawling enterprises, that scour the seabeds and destroy vital habitat. Their 'productivity' drives down the price of fish. They profit, small businesses suffer from reduced income. It's not fair. If only our proudly 'independent' government would really put some effort into clamping down on those who are doing the damage to our environment, even if it meant the price of fish were to increase significantly 

After breakfast and morning prayer, I walked to St John's and celebrated the Eucharist. Again there were fourteen of us present. Then, back home to cook lunch ready for Clare's arrival from kindergarten. As promised earlier in the week, I booked us a table for Sunday lunch this weekend at Stefano's. It'll be our first restaurant meal this year. I hope it's warm enough on their little patio. It's still unseasonable cold as well as wet, despite promises of hot weather to come.

On my walk down to the Taff after lunch, I spotted the first brood of four Mallard ducklings on the river with their mother. What surprised me was how big they seemed. In previous years, the first ducklings seen have been smaller, and there have been as many as eight of them in a brood. I'm sure I would have noticed them earlier if they'd been out there, as I walk by the river most days. I wonder if the cold wind of the past couple of weeks has had any influence on their late appearance?

This evening we watched the masterpiece movie 'Citizen Kane' by Orson Wells. I think it's the first time I watched it with some understanding. The last time I saw it was about fifty years ago, and then maybe I didn't see the entire movie, and wasn't as visually aware as I have become since I started taking photos forty years ago. I was intrigued at the scene on the night when Kane stands for election as Governor of NYC, his newspaper readies two possible next day front page headlines announcing news of the result: 'Kane Elected Governor' and 'Electoral Fraud!' The movie was made in 1943. Did Trump model himself on Citizen Kane, I wonder?

The movie was followed by a documentary about Orson Wells as an artist as well as film auteur, visiting the many places where he lived and worked, revealing the influences they had on his creations - a lifetime's sketchbooks and paintings as well as movies. It was fascinating, and the narrator didn't talk about Wells, but rather addressed him throughout, as in a eulogy for someone still living. A powerful device which put it on a different level to the average documentary. An inspiring evening of telly - for a change.