Handing over Sway

A day without rain with occasional glimpses of the sun. Paula came after breakfast for another session to familiarize herself with the workings of Sway and Mailchimp. We managed to cover all the key elements get her laptop logged in to the church office Mailchimp account, editing the covering email containing this week's link to Sway and sending it to recipients. For the first time since I took on the job at the end of last August, the job has been completed on a computer not my own. Paul will prepare next week's edition and we'll have a similar session side by side, going through the mailshot routine in case there are queries of any kind. I was determined that there would be a proper relaxed handover. I wouldn't wish anyone to go through my introduction to Sway and Mailchimp. Our parish e-newsletter will be in good hands hereafter.

Clare cooked lunch while we worked. We had tofu with veg for a change, with millet instead of spuds, rice or couscous. It has a very palatable texture and mild flavour that would be good to go with different sauces. I think we should eat this cooked grain more often than we have done up to now.

After lunch while Clare was having a siesta I recorded Maundy Thursday's Morning Prayer and Reflection then edited it, made the video slideshow and uploaded it to YouTube in just over two and a half hours of relaxed work without distraction. It's a sign of being under less stress, thanks both to gall bladder removal and the end of the clergy vacancy and its attendant worries. An email arrived from Fr Stewart after his meeting with Fr Jarel before his licensing to take charge of St German's. He's happy for me to baptize Basma. Details now to be arranged!

I enjoyed a brisk two hour walk, during which a caught sight of a jay up in a tree in an area where I've not seen one before. I stopped and stalked it with a camera for five minutes, and more by luck and persistence than anything else, I got a decent shot, adding to my pleasure.

After supper, I spent an hour going through my photos stored on portable had drives in search of one that I took of a huge dead tree near the playground entrance to Pontcanna Fields. The one I found dated back to the year it died. No new leaves, branches drying out but twigs not yet dry and brittle enough to blow off in a strong wind. As the twigs were stripped, the dried out bark dropped off, leaving a bare silver skeleton, imposing, dramatically beautiful, flanked by two live trees. I thought I'd taken a photo of it in its final state before it was felled, but it seems not, unless it was filed somewhere incorrectly. What a shame!

Quite by chance, checking to see what was on telly tonight, I found that More Four is just starting to show series three episodes of Astrid: Murders in Paris, just twenty minutes before it began. It's the same mixture of comedy, problem solving and drama, showcasing gifted autistic savants exercising their special gifts. Its light hearted feelgood ethos is a casual cloak for serious current issues on the criminal front. 

Tonight's episode was about a manipulative conspiracy theorist with an anti government strategy to foment protest and social disorder. Russian fake news campaigning was cited, but turned out to be a false lead. This was about a journalist making a film documentary about an astronomer and editing his footage to distort the truth. The astronomer is killed after realising he's been deceived and about to go public. It reflects the way in which someone whose sources go un-checked can lead many astray and sow chaos. This scenario was documented recently in real life cases by John Ronson, in a radio series called 'Things fell apart'. The story would have been harder to follow if I hadn't listened to his investigation before seeing this tonight.

Crime scene for real

We learned from the neighbourhood WhatsApp group this morning that the son of a Meadow Street resident was mugged in the lane at the end of the street last night. We've had burglaries before, but for a young man to be threatened by a knife wielding assailant is out of the ordinary for this quiet neighbourhood. The lane is poorly lit with a few places where someone could conceal themselves beforehand. 

It may be a one-off, someone using the lane as a short cut, desperate for money for a fix. Drug dealing does occur on the streets around here, I've glimpsed exchanges happening between young adults in hoodies occasionally. It remains to be seen now if there's a repeat performance, but after this exchange of messages, neighbours will be on the alert.

I celebrated the Eucharist at St Catherine's with six others this morning. Then I fetched this week's veggie bag, and cooked us lunch. After an afternoon walk in the park, I started work on Morning Prayer and next week's biblical reflection. I was interrupted by a Police constable making routine enquiries after the crime, She was clad in black, with long blond hair in a plait, reminding me of a character in a British telly crime drama.

For a change, I watched Channel 4's evening news this evening, featuring a reporter with Ukrainian troops in the region of Donetsk. It's the first time I've heard mention of military hardware in use donated by NATO countries. There have been more Russian missile strikes against the railway network, aiming to hinder deployment of imported weapons. A Ukrainian commander spoke of Russian soldiers making  repeated attacks without variation in tactics, men used unimaginatively as cannon fodder in the faint hope of overwhelming opponents who know their ground and what they are fighting for. 

One report I read today stated that Russia is losing 400 soldiers a day. The tabloid media alleges that the Russian campaign failure is causing concern among senior military figures. Russian social media is said to be rife with speculation about a military coup brewing against Putin's regime. But can tabloid media be trusted not to make up stories, even if they tout optimistic propaganda? No reports of this kind have been issued by radio or TV news broadcasts so far. We can but pray.