It’s supposedly midsummer’s day today but it’s blustery and wet. I lay in bed listening to the rain on the skylight windows and considered staying there all morning. When it eased off somewhat I gave in and got up and got ready to run round the village. I needed to go to the cash machine in the co-op. So I ran in the drizzle, which wasn’t too bad. I’ve run in worse weather. But it was all in vain as the ATM was faulty and couldn’t give me any cash after all. Maybe I’ll try again later, or even elsewhere.
The reason I wanted to get cash is that tomorrow I plan to go and visit a friend in a hospice on the other side of Manchester. This will involve a bus to Oldham, a tram to central Manchester, another tram to Eccles and then a taxi. My journey planner, Granddaughter Number Two, assures me I could catch a bus from the Eccles interchange to Little Hulton Precinct and do a five minute walk from there to the hospice. But as I don’t know the area, there is a strong possibility of my wandering around getting lost. Granddaughter Number Two suggests using Google Maps at that point. She forgets who she is dealing with; I love a paper map but Google Maps usually defeat me. So I’ll catch a taxi from the interchange to the hospice. Hence the need to make sure I have enough cash.
And before anyone tells me to get an Uber, which will be linked to my credit card, I’ve explored that possibility before now. My iPhone is too old a version to support the Uber App. I think I am becoming even more of a technophobe than I was before! So it goes!
I’ve been reading about valuable objects being damaged or lost. In the Uffizi gallery in Florence a 300 year old painting was torn at the weekend when a visitor fell backwards into it while trying to take a photo of himself in front of the painting. He was trying the “make a meme”, apparently. I do not know what the difference is between a selfie and a meme. I did consider googling it but, really, is it worth it?
Earlier this month, in a similar situation, a tourist damaged an artwork in the Palazzo Maffei in Verona. It was a crystal-encrusted chair by artist Nicola Bolla. The person taking a selfie, or perhaps making a meme, ended up sort of sitting on it and it shattered. Oops!
I can understand taking photos of works of art. I’ve done so myself, although some galleries don’t even like you doing that. But I fail to understand the urge to include your own image along with the work of art. Is it some way of proving that you are a cultured person? Without the selfie, is there no proof that you were actually there?
Then there is this report of a 280-year-old violin that a musician took to a restaurant with him. Someone walked off with it. It is worth £150,000! Not the sort of thing you want to prop up next to your chair while you have your meal, especially when it’s not even yours but on loan from a kindly benefactor! At the very least, if you absolutely have to take it with you, you would ask if you could put it in a safe place while you eat! Did the thief know what he was stealing?
On a more serious note, things are still topsy-turvy in the Middle East. Mr Trump seems to think he has “brokered” (I believe that’s the term) a cease-fire, but the parties concerned either aren’t aware of this or are ignoring it. Mr Trump is getting rather cross and shouty about it.
In this country there are moves afoot to have the protest group Palestine Action declared a terrorist organisation. Jeremy Corbyn, Independent MP for Islington North, had this to say about it:
“The government’s proposal to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation is as absurd as it is authoritarian.
It represents a draconian assault on the democratic right to protest - and is a disgraceful attempt to hide the real meaning of violence: the mass murder of Palestinians.
The UK government is complicit in genocide, and we see the latest move for what it is: an a to of desperation from a government trying to shield itself from accountability.
We will keep on campaigning for an end to military cooperation with Israel, and we will not rest until we have brought about the only path to peace: freedom and justice for the Palestinian people.”
There is no more to be said.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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