Breakfast. Austerity consequences. Expensive footwear. Wild youth.

I was contemplating getting up and going for a run this morning when my phone rang. Granddaughter Number Two was letting me know that she, her mother and Granddaughter Number One were going for breakfast at her favourite cafe. Would I like to join them? Well  going out for breakfast isn’t really my thing but I’ve not seen Granddaughter Number Two for a while and so I changed my plans, quickly found some clothes other than running gear, sorted myself out and by 9.00 I was at the bus-stop at the crossroads. 

Of course, an invitation to join them for breakfast, or lunch for that matter,  usually means an invitation to pay for whatever is consumed but that doesn’t bother me. It’s not as if we go to really expensive places.

After breakfast, the rest of the gang went off to view yet another house for Granddaughter Number One to consider. No doubt I’ll get a report back at some point. I considered popping into Tesco for a couple of items and then walking home but I realised I was just in time for a bus home. So I caught the bus home instead. 

Scanning the newspapers I found an article that tells me this:-

“British children who grew up during the years of austerity of are shorter than their peers in Bulgaria, Montenegro and Lithuania, a study has found.

In 1985, British boys and girls ranked 69 out of 200 countries for average height aged five. At the time they were on average 111.4cm and 111cm tall respectively.

Now, British boys are 102nd and girls 96th, with the average five-year-old boy measuring 112.5cm and the average girl, 111.7cm. In Bulgaria, the average height for a five-year-old boy is 121cm and a girl, 118cm.”

I was reminded of things I read years ago about how much taller the Americans were than the British in the postwar years, largely because of how much better fed they were. We seem to have gone back in time. From other sources I know that more and more schools are organising breakfast clubs to ensure that children have had something to eat before they begin the school day. It’s hard to concentrate when your stomach is rumbling. 

And here’s Polly Toynbee on the same topic. 

I also read an article about the French actress Isabelle Huppert (sorry, I refuse to call her an ‘actor’ - do the French call her an ‘acteur’ [masculine] or an ‘actrice’ [feminine]? I wonder). Among other stuff, what struck me was this bit about her footwear: 

“On the red carpet at Cannes last month, she raised eyebrows with her choice of footwear: a pair of Balenciaga Anatomico heels, whose tips are moulded to look like human toes. It seemed like quintessential Huppert: an arch joke about the furore over the festival’s insistence on heels for women at events, rising above the idiotic dictate and the barefoot rebels who have recently flouted it.

Except apparently I’m overthinking it: “People were looking at my shoes?” asks the actor, in her soigné tones, on the phone from Paris. Yes, those weird ones with toes. “No, I wasn’t making any statement. Though they were very comfortable, so I was able to climb the steps very pleasantly.” She probably has that nonplussed expression she does so well. It seems very Huppert to deny everything, too.”

I looked up the footwear. It sells for about £850 a pair. Not austerity footwear then! 

And finally, here’s a link to revelations about Kier Starmer’s wild youthful student days, apparently illegally selling ice-cream on the French Riviera. Hard to image but perhaps I am doing him a disservice. As the closing paragraph of the article says:

“The anecdote from Starmer’s student days is a rare insight into a less buttoned-up side to the Labour leader. It is also a sign that as the country gets closer to next year’s election, scrutiny of his personal life and his past is likely to increase.”

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!