Urdd Rugby fiesta comes Taffside

The symptoms may be milder than yesterday's, fading away apart from the woolly head, but the covid test is still positive on this sixth day since I tested positive. Exclusion from all normal activity continues. So frustrating and disappointing. 

An hour's walk before lunch helped to clear my head somewhat. Yesterday afternoon, Pontcanna Fields was being quietly kitted out ready for an Urdd rugby tournament, sponsored by the Wales Rugby Union, with twenty football pitches marked and extension poles fitted to convert soccer goalposts for use in rugby matches. Today, dozens of games were in progress, many of them between girls' teams. It was a wonder to behold. 

Just think, a thousand boys and girls in groups shouting and cheering, many involved in robust physical interactions, yet with no need for external intervention. I'm not even sure if there was a police van on site, let alone any officers on patrol. An amazing tribute to the quality of youth work for which Urdd Gobaith Cymru - the Welsh League of Youth, is famed for. Credit to the WRU for nurturing sporting enthusiasm and participation. Even though team sports don't interest me much, I'm so proud to be Welsh, 

The tide of indignation against the atrocities of Putin and his gang continues, but who can break the power their lies hold over a hundred million citizens with no access to alternatives to Kremlin propaganda? Already there have been fourteen hundred Ukrainian civilian deaths due to the criminal conduct of this war. What happened in Aleppo and Grosny is being repeated. Previously, the reaction was no more than reproach, and the evil just carry on doing evil if the good stand by and do nothing.

Military strategists are of the opinion that Russia cannot win a long war for lack of trained experienced personnel, let alone equipment. They say Putin must not win for any chance of regime change to arrive as an eventual outcome. What actions can effect a necessary change, apart from economic sanctions and pouring more armaments into Ukraine?  Talk about banning coal and oil trade with Russia is a measure which, if undertaken, could cause suffering for tens of millions across Europe. Would masses of people outraged by what they are learning be willing enough to suffer deprivation voluntarily to achieve this objective?

The most disturbing photograph I caught sight of today on line, showed Putin naked to the waist standing in the baptismal pool of an Orthodox church. I have seen him crossing himself publicly and presumed it was what his granny taught him when he was young. The photo shows him aligning himself politically socially as well as religiously with traditional Russian culture and its aspirations. He claims to have been secretly brought to baptism as an child by his Christian mother, and maybe the photo was of an Epiphany baptismal renewal ceremony. If his faith is important to him, how can he condone the perpetration of such violence in the name of Christ, let alone Holy Russia?

Just before the five o'clock news we had a power blackout. Clare called Western Power Distributors, and learned that, not for the first time, a squirrel had cooked itself on the transformer of the local electricity sub-station. It was all over in fifteen minutes. Quite a quick response, fortunately.

I spent the evening editing the Good Friday Vigil liturgy I've been constructing, getting it down to one hour, with a break to watch this week's new NCIS episode.

Bleak Sunday covid down-time

I slept OK but woke up bleeding from an operation scar. Eighteen hours a day flat on my back for three days with no exercise, and the sheer physical compression on the old wound is unavoidable. Something I won't find easy to get used to. Covid symptoms are diminished however. My body no longer feels like lead, muzzy head is clearing and fewer aches, pains and shivers. I didn't bother with a self-test as I doubt if I would test negative today. Tomorrow perhaps.

Another Sunday without being able to say Mass or attend church, having to settle for praying on my own. It reminds me of being back in Ibiza living with the limited horizon of estadio de alarma restrictions. Al least it's nothing now to get used to.

The BBC's tireless courageous reporter in Ukraine, Jeremy Bowen gave a disturbing eyewitness report of the trail of murder and destruction left by retreating Russian forces in the suburbs of Kyiv. Dead bodies left in the streets where they were killed weeks ago, Victims with hands tied together. Clear evidence of war crimes. Hundred are said to have been killed. According to Putin, all this is 'fake news'. I wonder if Trump will dare to dismiss revelations against him in future using that phrase. If we does will anyone trust him?

President Zelensky spoke of genocide. Ninety years ago under Stalin millions of Ukrainians, were starved to death during the forcible collectivisation of agriculture, the region punished further by being deprived of a fair share of its produce. If there was shortage, it was blamed on farmers, for whom managed, imposed collectivisation didn't work. Most of the produce was exported to feed the industrial workers of Russia. The Ukrainian's don't forget the Soviet attempt to keep their land subjected by deliberate policy. Using the word 'genocide' is no exaggeration. They've been here before. Expressions of outrage have been voiced around the world all day, even the Israeli government, which has tried to stay on the fence, because of its security interests in Syria relying on Russian complicity. Pope Francis is talking about a pastoral visit to Kyiv. 

Archbishop Rowan was on the Radio adding his voice to the call to suspend the Russian Orthodox state church from membership of the WCC for speaking of the country's mission as holy war. The question is, will Orthodox Bishops around the world make the case for regarding such talk as heresy? Sadly, in both scripture and Christian poetry there is widespread used of bloodthirsty martial imagery. Its impact is deflected into religious rhetoric about spiritual warfare, but there are no concrete safeguards to protect the unspiritual and the gullible from taking this all literally. Back in the Vietnam war, US marines with evangelical religion behind them talked about 'killing a gook for God'. It's blasphemy, just as is any talk of holy war. Time for all Christians to take stock about this kind of abuse of scripture

Both before and after lunch I went out and walked for forty minutes each with a mask on and aimed for parts of the park where there was little human traffic. I wanted to test my strength and stamina carefully. All is well, thank God. Clare, on the other hand is still suffering from the trapped nerve in her back. Her Wednesday appointment has been moved to Tuesday, thanks to a cancellation.

This evening there were two great programmes on BBC Four, one about the food history of Florence, the other, the latest Royal Shakespeare Company's Stratford production of Much Ado about Nothing. It had a majority cast of brilliant mostly young black actors and was vibrant with colour, energetic music and movement; very hip and funky, but it didn't seem contrived, as a modern setting might do. It worked as a showcase for the immortal comedic dialogue of the Bard, funny as any classic farce of intrigue and confused identities. A breath of fresh air. One up for multi-cultural diversity. It's what we need in a world where aggressive nationalism has been made into a demonic idol that consumes its own kind.