I ordered some items from Boots the Chemist the other day. As usually happens when you order stuff online, I started to receive messages saying, “your order has left the warehouse”, “your order is with the delivery people” and things like that. It’s supposed to reassure you that your order has not disappeared into the ether. Well, that’s one theory. Yesterday’s message said, “Your order will be delivered tomorrow between 9.10 am and 1.10 pm.” So precise, not between 9.00 and 1.00 but between 9.10 and 1.10!!
So I made sure this morning that I did not snooze my alarm but actually got up in time to run round the village and be back home before delivery time began. Hopefully I could shower before delivery but I could always open the door in my dressing gown. Half way through the morning another message came: “Your order will be delivered today before 7.30 pm”. “Before 7.30 pm”!! That gives them a lot of leeway. Am I supposed to stay in all day? We shall see…
Here in Saddleworth we have cloud. And occasional sunshine. But no real rain to speak of. Other parts of the country, indeed other parts of Greater Manchester, have had some quite torrential downpours but we’ve had no more than a couple of feeble showers and what we used to call “spitting with rain”. I think we might be able to ignore flood alerts here! And maybe I should continue to water the flower pots.
It’s hot in New York. So new Yorkers have been told not to worry if they find squirrels spreadeagled on stone pavements in the shade. It doesn’t mean they are sick. Apparently it’s a way of keeping cool, known as “splooting”. Squirrels’ bellies have less fur than other parts of their bodies, so splooting helps them cool down, says Dan Blumstein, a professor in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology at UCLA. It’s a popular trick among mammals, including the marmots he studies, which “on hot days will lie on rocks as it gets hot, because the boulders are still cooler”, he says.
But until recently, he says, he didn’t know the term “splooting”. “I always called it ‘doing the rug’,” he says.
Other animals also “sploot”, such as some breeds of dogs, especially corgis, and even polar bears in zoos have been known to do so. Who knew!
And now, here is a bit of karma, as reported in The London Economic:
“Michael Gove has found himself stuck in Brexit-related travel chaos at an airport in Athens.
Twitter user Candida Jones shared a picture of the prominent Brexiteer in the queue at the airport, revealing that the EasyJet flight he was on had been delayed by “almost 30 hours.”
This was because of “a lack of staff due to the pandemic compounded, in the case of the UK, by Brexit.”
In the replies to the tweet, Candida confirmed that the flight was from Athens to Gatwick, and that Gove was indeed flying with EasyJet.
Candida also confronted the former education secretary over what opportunities Brexit had provided to her daughter.
When someone asked Candida what the Secretary of State for Levelling Up had to say to justify leaving the EU, she replied: “He thanked me for the opportunity of hearing that my daughter’s opportunities have been diminished by Brexit.””
I doubt it will change his views on Brexit though.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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