Tentative cause for optimism

Eight days after the op, and I'm feeling the benefit of the surgical work done, even if it wasn't the hoped for final round. I slept comfortably enough to wake up only twice in the night; three spells of two and a half hours sleep instead of five or six spells of up to an hour and a half to go to the toilet. Relaxed, like being on holiday, and waking up feeling fresh!

A morning of clouds and sunshine, and a walk to St John's for the midweek Eucharist. There were eight of us today. Just after I got back the heavens opened and Clare had to rush out and rescue a life full of damp towels before they got soaked through. It didn't last long, and she was able to put them out again to dry under a bright blue almost cloudless sky. Even so, it's been cold all day, five degrees C after sunset. Walking in the chill clear air after lunch was very invigorating, I had the energy to walk further than my daily quota but decided not to over-stretch myself. It'll take time to build up lasting stamina.

It's pleasing to hear that the third covid-19 vaccine, developed in Oxford not only has a 95% success rate but is as effective in people our age as it is with people half our age. The experts are still entertaining us guesses about how long it'll take to vaccinate most of the planet's population of neediest people, and how family Christmas gatherings are going to be possible without dramatically increasing infection rates, as it will be the middle of next year before vaccination will impact on the statistics.

After supper I worked on the last chapter of my novel for an hour. I've had to wait a week for inspiration to propel me nearer to closure. Still not there, but satisfied with what I wrote. Then Clare and I watched the second half of 1948 rom-com movie musical 'Easter Parade' starring Freda Astaire and Judy Garland with music by Irving Berlin, part of a classic season of old movies on BBC Four this autumn.

Much of the movie is set on a vaudeville stage with spectacular solo and ensemble dance set pieces with artistically crafted stage backdrops, a Technicolour feast for the eyes in every sense. It had songs in it that I half remembered from hearing them in childhood. Lots of fun, cheerful escapist nostalgia for a chilly night in covid times, and not a face mask in sight anywhere on screen with all that dancing cheek to cheek,

Celebrating yesteryear

Watching Angela's funeral on-line yesterday meant missing the first Eucharist at St Catherine since the restrictions were lifted, so I went to St John's this morning and joined a dozen others for the service. It's over a month since I was able to go there and so lovely to be welcomed back by the regulars. 

Afterwards, I bought some flowers for Clare before going home to cook lunch. She's still busy recording videos of her self for the Carnival Band community choir contribution to their virtual concert. When I copied the trial files from her phone on to her laptop, the sound quality of some of the videos was poor as if a fault is developing. It may mean she needs a new phone, but in the meanwhile, mine can be put to use, when she makes another attempt tomorrow.

She drove to Llanrumney for a hairdo appointment with Chris after an early lunch. I intended to go out early for a walk, but fell asleep and lost an hour. At four we were due to watch another on-line interview arranged by the WNO Partners programme, so I only had three quarters of an hour to walk to Blackweir Bridge and back, but that was enough to meet my current exercise target of the day. The conversation was about theatrical staging in the different genres, theatre, musical theatre and opera. Quite fascinating to hear what creative interpreters of text and libertto have to take into account with different performers and productions.

I see from the news feeds that Trump's lawyers are encountering strong criticism as well as dismissal of of his claims of electoral fraud, as there is no supporting evidence beyond hearsay. One postal worker who did claim to be witness to a fraud has since recanted, saying his story was false. Trump's inner circle are said to be trying to persuade him to admit defeat but so far he hasn't conceded victory. He is however talking about a possible future in broadcasting aiming at destroying Fox news, once his number one fan base, and now among his critics. His immediate future occupation is most likely to be determined by the criminal lawsuits which will be brought against him when he steps down. His billion dollar empire may well come crashing down around him as a result. A guy who has always been a winner and never a loser in the end will pay for the mistakes he refused to admit or learn from.

After supper BBC Four showed the 1949 musical 'On the Town' with a very young looking Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly, with some superb set piece song and dance routines, shot in glorious 'technicolor' and a few location shots of New York. The music is by Leonard Bernstein, and you can hear melodic traces and harmonic suggestions of his later masterpiece 'West Side Story' in the score. Like old colour photographs colour movies of this era have a natural quality about them. They are gentler on the eye than modern digital colour rendering. I can understand why there's a resurgence interest in using colour film for photography and then digitizing the result, and why more sophisticated digital cameras have settings which emulate the look of images taken yesteryear. 

The movie was followed by a historical documentary on the Queen Mary liner, now residing in Long Beach California and used as a hotel and museum, a major tourist attraction. Its classic twentieth century high quality interior design evokes the era of leisurely travel in days before high speed air travel for the masses became routine. The pandemic has decimated the new holiday for the masses cruise industry and many ships have been retired early and sent for scrapping, while scores of others wait at anchor offshore until their future can be determined. But it's not only the pandemic that casts a cloud over their future. It is now being noticed what huge carbon footprint cruise lines with several thousand passengers generates. Is a sustainable future possible without returning to the drawing board? Time will tell.