Wednesday here and there. The importance of art. The importance of friends.

Today being Wednesday, I had another uneventful cycle ride to the market in Uppermill this morning. I must say I am impressed by the local dog-walkers who almost all take notice of my bell and ensure that their dogs are under control and keep to one side of the path. It’s no fun to be “herded” by an enthusiastic border collie when you’re on your bike. Years ago we were on the Donkey Line bridle path encouraging Granddaughter Number One, then about 8 years old, to gain confidence on her bike. Some dog owners let their small yappy-type dogs run at her bike wheels, causing her to fall off. To this day, almost 20 years on, she has not got back on a bike. And she keeps her own dog under control when out and about! 

May is coming along nicely. It rained a little late this morning but on the whole, apart from Sunday’s thunderstorm, we’re doing quite well weatherwise. Suddenly hawthorn trees are in bloom (we can start “casting clouts”) and the horse chestnuts are full of “candles”, these strange, very upright blossoms those trees produce. 

Here’s some artwork produced by a Palestinian artist, Maisara Baroud, drawing on whatever paper he can get hold of as he moves from one refuge to another. 

He writes:

“Drawing and posting online daily became the only way to reassure my friends, after all communication and social media were cut but later partly restored. My drawings, in which I document the war with all its cruel scenes, have become the message through which I inform friends: “I am still alive.”

The drawings were in the place of a scream and were a call out from the middle of the war demanding a stop to the killing … and that the world notice what is happening in Gaza and its confined universe.

The university at which I work as a lecturer has disappeared and lies in ashes. The war machine has distorted the features of my small city and the occupation has destroyed all the beautiful things in it; so the things that are fixed in my memory now lie distorted under the rubble.”

Images by Maisara Baroud form part of Foreigners in Their Homeland, an exhibition of work by Palestinian artists, organised by Palestine Museum US, at the European Cultural Centre, Palazzo Mora, Venice, until 24 November.

As we try to keep in touch with old friends, scattered about the country, indeed scattered about the world, I think about the importance of those friends and the shared memories. Like that artist, masses of Palestinians have lost touch with those old friends, have no idea whether they are still alive or not. And they continue to be moved around, losing belongings as they go, for in the haste to move on (to be “moved” on) inevitably more and more stuff gets left behind.

These are the words of ten year old Massa al-Arbeed, recently arrived at yet another refugee camp near Khan Younis, moved from Gaza City, with her brother and mother:

“We have had to leave a lot behind because this is perhaps the sixth time we have moved. So I’m just sitting here.

“There are no games or dolls to play with, or even a house to take shelter in, and because we move a lot, I’ve lost touch with all my friends and now I don’t know anything about them.”

Here’s a link to an article about that. 

Recently I heard someone explaining how Generation Z had had their childhood stolen from them. This is the generation brought up surrounded by technology, and often not given the freedom, or not sufficiently encouraged, to play imaginative games outdoors, in direct contact with friends. How much more are the children of this conflict having their childhood stolen?

And I hear that there are appeals to our government, so far unsuccessful, to fast-track applications by Palestinians who wish to be reunited with family already living in the UK, as has apparently been done for Ukrainians. That seems unfair.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone! 

Out and about Loyalty cards. Stopping aid getting through.

 I went out early in the rain this morning. I has to get to my dentist for a check-up at 9.45, which meant I had to catch an early bus into Oldham and then walk down Ashton Road. Because of the early hour I  had to pay for my bus-ride - only £2 now that we have one standard fare throughout Greater Manchester. Bus drivers still have to deal with day savers and other such fancy tickets but on the whole their life must be a lot less complicated than previously. 

On my way I called in at the library to return an overdue book. Iy’s just as well that they no longer fine borrowers for overdue books. Otherwise it would cost me a fortune. I did not have time to stop and look for more interesting stuff to take out and keep too long. Perhaps I could call in on my way back, I thought.

Afterwards I walked back into town, called in at Sainsbury’s to replenish our supplies of Boddingtons beer … and digestive biscuits and other odds and ends not available for some reason at the local co-op store. I decided not to go back to the library, instead heading into the Spindles Shopping Centre, where the escalator was not working (!) in order to go to Boots. I restricted my purchases there as I had forgotten my Boots loyalty card - I am aware I could add the points from my receipt using the computer but I know from experience that I always forget to do so. The quite expensive (and therefore a good source of loyalty points) skincare products I planned to buy will have to wait until I go into Manchester next week for lunch with friends. 

I had two other missions: vitamins and other health stuff from Holland and Barrett and fruit, especially “good” oranges, from the fruit stall in the indoor market. As I was approximately half way between both of these places I tossed an imaginary coin to decide where to go first. H & B won. I stocked up with vitamins and nuts and dried fruit. By then I was close to the bus station and my various shopping bags were growing heavy. So the fruit and veg stall missed out today. Tomorrow I shall seek “good” oranges from the Italian fruttivendolo in Uppermill - probably more expensive than the fruit and veg stall on Oldham market but I am due for a 10% discount from my loyalty card there. Loyalty cards seem to rule my life. I had a similar discount from Holland and Barrett! 

And that was my morning adventure! I could do with going for a snooze now!

In Gaza an aid convoy has been attacked today by Israeli settlers, the food and other supplies thrown onto the road and the vehicles set alight. Police do not appear to have intervened, though four people including a minor were later reported to have been arrested.

This is not the first time that settlers have tried to stop the flow of aid to Gaza, which is already only a fraction of that needed by the population of the embattled territory.

Last week, Israeli demonstrators blocked a road near the desert town of Mitzpe Ramon to protest against the delivery of aid trucks into the strip. The protesters – who say the aid is helping Hamas and want to block its passage until all Israeli hostages are freed – formed a sit-in protest as they scattered rocks across the road to prevent vehicles from passing, creating standstill traffic.

It will do little to help solve the problems. 

Here is Michael Rosen’s “comment”:

“‘I'm hearing reports that the people are starving,' said the King.

'Whose reports?' said the King's tutor.

'Reports from various people,' said the King.

'That's where you're making a mistake,' said the tutor. 'You're going on about people starving when you should be going on about the kind of people who say that the people are starving.'

'Really?' said the King.

'Of course,' said the tutor. 'Ask yourself, what kind of people would say such terrible things about you. What kind of people would say that people in your country are starving?'

'Yes, I see,' said the King, 'they would be terrible people.'

'Indeed,' said the tutor, 'and I hope you put out an announcement telling people that.'

'Like, 'I'm horrified to learn that people are saying that people are starving'?' said the King.

'Good, but not good enough,' said the tutor. 'It would be better if you made no mention of the 'starving' bit.'

'Right,' said the King, 'how about this: 'I'm horrified to learn that people are saying terrible things about us.'

'Excellent,' said the tutor, 'you've got it.'

'Good,' said the King.”

Facebook from time to time throws up “memories” for me to share with various friends, random odds and ends. Today’s offering included this post I must have copied from someone called Rachel Shabi back on May 14th 1922: 

“How could Israeli forces first kill an acclaimed Palestinian-American journalist and then brutally police her funeral today?

Because they can. Because there are no consequences for doing so. Because the international community does not demand accountability.”

That’s from two years ago. Perhaps if the international community had demanded accountability for that and other such deeds, we might not have the current situation. Just a thought!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Sunny days and stormy evening. Various crises going on at present.

 Today my weather app offers me “sunny intervals and a moderate breeze”. So far the sunny interval has lasted all morning and the moderate breeze is blowing the trees and bushes around quite a bit. That should dry the towels I put in the washing machine earlier and hung out in the garden, the towels my daughter left behind after the children played in the paddling pool during yesterday afternoon. The paddling pool was left behind as well.

Yesterday’s weather forecast changed as the day progressed. We began with mostly cloudy and a strong chance of rain, maybe even thundery rain at about 4.00pm. The sun came out, the temperature rose and the threat of thundery rain retreated into the evening. 

My daughter arrived with the small people, complete with paddling pool  and swim suits. They had thought they were booked in for swimming lessons earlier in the afternoon but there was a mix-up with the booking and the swimming lessons don’t start until next week. To make up for the disappointment they brought the paddling pool so that they could get wet in our garden instead. We sat in the garden and drank coffee while the children splashed about.

It was so fine and warm that we kept putting off eating as late as possible. Eventually everyone moved inside. We noticed the dark clouds moving in and brought all the garden stuff indoors as well. But the rain and storm held off until the children were in the bath, washing off the garden stuff before going home to bed. At that point the thunder and lightning started, followed by torrential rain. More like a late summer storm than a spring storm. 

Presumably this is part of the climate change crisis, which we are not talking about much at the moment. We have other crises on our minds just at present. But we mustn’t forget about global warming and the odd effects on our weather. 

I hear that the pope is urging everyone to have more children. (Italy is one of the countries with the lowest birthrates at the moment.) Environmental scientists disagree with him. “I had the hormonal urges,” said Prof Camille Parmesan, a leading climate scientist based in France. “Oh my gosh, it was very strong. But it was: ‘Do I really want to bring a child into this world that we’re creating?’ Even 30 years ago, it was very clear the world was going to hell in a handbasket. I’m 62 now and I’m actually really glad I did not have children.”

Parmesan is not alone. An exclusive Guardian survey has found that almost a fifth of the female climate experts who responded have chosen to have no children, or fewer children, due to the environmental crises afflicting the world.

Here’s a link to the article that quotation comes from.

Add to the environmental problems the matter of war going on here and there and it’s understandable that people are reluctant to bring more children into world. But still we have crazy people like American Senator Lyndsey Graham advocating using nuclear bombs to end the conflict in Gaza. After all, the USA did it in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He seems unaware that we now know a lot more about the side effects of using nuclear bombs! There are crazy people running countries! 

Meanwhile, as we have been gazing at the sky in search of celestial displays, here’s cartoon which says quote a lot. Nicola Jennings on looking up at the night sky in Britain, Ukraine and Gaza – cartoon: 

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Things I didn’t see yesterday. Eurovision. Catching bumble bees.

 Yesterday in the late afternoon / early evening I sat outside in the garden, talking about this and that with the neighbours. We wondered about our chances of getting to see the northern lights over our houses. On Friday the immediate next door neighbours had been out in the garden late at night getting very excited about the celestial display. I didn’t hear anything but the neighbour on the other side of them had already told me about the fuss. Apparently they had considered knocking on both our doors to tell us to come and look but, perhaps out of mistaken respect for our advanced age, they chose not to, in case we had already gone to bed. Such are the stereotypes! 

Anyway, we worked out that last night we had a chance to see the lights at around 10.30. I duly looked out, even went into the garden, at 10.30. Not a thing! Just a rather damp mist in the air and a little sliver of waning moon. So that’s another celestial event I’ve missed. 

This morning several of my nodding acquaintances around the village have commented on not having seen the light display either. Granddaughter Number Two went out specially in York on the same mission and also failed miserably. According to my daughter there were traffic jams late last night as people drove around looking for a goos spot to see the lights, the result of all the publicity it was given yesterday.

The other thing I didn’t see yesterday was the Eurovision Song Contest, which has become very political. I have long wondered how Israel managed to be part of Europe and therefore take part in the competition. This year there were protests because of Gaza. Israel had to change the lyrics of their entry. Some people were banned. Flag waving, which last year was encouraged if it was a Ukrainian flag, was banned this year if it was a Palestinian flag. Our entrant was criticised for not refusing to take part in protest. And apparently the Israeli competitor has had a lot of hate mail and has need security. I could almost feel sorry for her. It must be hard to be 20 and have the eyes of the world on you, not for your talent but because your country is disregarding the criticism of the world. 

When I was in my mid-teens I enjoyed the Eurovision Song Contest, mostly because I enjoyed hearing songs in foreign languages and discovering that I could understand what they were singing about. It seems to have become a kind of circus of the absurd and outrageous nowadays. I long ago stopped watching. 

Today is cooler than it has been over the last few days. This may be the consequence of Granddaughter Number Two having declared that it was time to break out the sundresses and sandals. Also, there is the fact that Phil has cut the grass, despite advice to wait until June or July in order to allow the bees to benefit from the dandelions. Another contributing factor is my having hunted out the bead curtain we hang in the doorway when we leave the back door open. This is a perhaps vain attempt to discourage wasps and bees and other insects from flying into the kitchen. On Friday I rescued two huge bumble bees who had bumbled into the kitchen and seemed unable to find their way out. 

Catching bees is not easy. I use the same techniques as I do for spiders: pop a glass over the beastie, slide a card underneath, ideally without breaking their legs, and then taken them to the bottom of the garden to release them. Popping a glass over a bumble bee is quite hard because they will refuse to remain still on a suitable surface. So it goes.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Celestial events. Rafah. Rednecks. A bit of history.

 Apparently I missed seeing the northern lights last night. I didn’t know we were expecting them. My son sent a photo of the view from his garden in Buckinghamshire. I wasn’t aware you could see them so far south. It’s all to do with solar activity and storms in space, or so I have been told. I’ll look out tonight and see if there is anything of note. I might have to look out of the attic window, just to get a bit of height. We shall see! But as a rule it’s hard to see celestial phenomena from our house, either because we are too low down or because the cloud has moved in. Today is fine and sunny so we are in with a chance. 

Taking advantage of the warm and sunny weather, we have tidied up the garden, Phil has cut the grass and I have done loads of washing which has dried extra fast in the sunshine! 

Out in the wider world Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected US pressure to hold off an attack on Rafah, saying that Hamas has based most of its top leaders and remaining forces there. And so residents of neighbourhoods in central Rafah have been told to evacuate. Here are a couple more Michael Rosen posts on this: 

“'You seem worried,' said the King to his tutor.

'Yes,' said the tutor.

'Can I help? What's troubling you?' said the King.

'Oh, nothing you can help me with,' said the tutor.

'Is it the news about the enemy?' said the King.

'Not directly,' said the tutor.

'Ah, let me guess,' said the King, 'you're worried that we've gone too far this time. We've overdone the scorched earth thing?'

'Not exactly,' said the tutor.

'I give up,' said the King, 'I can't think what it is.'

'I'm very worried that what we're doing is a very bad look,' said the tutor.

'What? The death and destruction, you mean?' said the King.

'Yes,' said the tutor.

'So you're not worried about what we've done,' said the King, 'you're worried about what it looks like?'

'Exactly,' said the tutor.

'Well you're the clever one round here,' said the King, 'I'm sure if you concentrate you'll find a way of making it all look better.'

'Good point, sir,' said the tutor, 'so long as we can carry on what we're actually doing.'

'The scorched earth stuff, you mean?' said the King.

'Yes,' said the tutor.

'Oh yes we have to do that,' said the King.

'That's what I thought,' said the tutor. 'And if I may say so, sir, you're being very astute today.'

'Thank you, tutor,' said the King.”

“'Now here's an interesting point, tutor,' said the King, 'in years to come, people will wonder whether it was a matter of 'the world couldn't do anything about it', or 'the world wouldn't do anything about it'.

'Yes, that is a very interesting point,' said the King's tutor.

'And do you think this in itself is an interesting intellectual point?' said the King, 'Or is it something that really matters right now?'

'Well,' said the tutor, 'certainly if we can have people walking about wondering about such things, it means there are fewer people trying to stop us.'

'I'm guessing there, tutor,' said the King, 'you're trying to say something about actions matter more than words.'

'Well, if the actions are happening right now, then it really doesn't matter what words are being argued over again and again and again, does it?' said the tutor.

'Well why do people do it, then?' said the King, 'I mean we're doing it right now.'

'Exactly,' said the tutor, 'and all the time we're getting on with the actions.'

'Jolly good,' said the King.”

No further comment.

I’m reading “Demon Copperhead” by Barbara Kingsolver, a sort of reworking of “David Copperfield”. One of the things I like about Barbara Kingsolver is her inclusion of interesting facts from real-life history in her novels.nIn this book it’s an explanation of the term “rednecks”, a term I’ve always known as a derogatory term for poor, and poorly educated, white people in the southern state of the USA, as in Randy Newman’s song. They were so called, I understood, because of their sunburned necks from working the fields. 

In this novel, a teacher tells his high school students that it refers to red bandanas worn by striking mineworkers in the Battle of Blair Mountain in August 1921. Here’s some information:-

“The Battle of Blair Mountain saw 10,000 West Virginia coal miners march in protest of perilous work conditions, squalid housing and low wages, among other grievances. They set out from the small hamlet of Marmet, with the goal of advancing upon Mingo County, a few days’ travels away to meet the coal companies on their own turf and demand redress. They would not reach their goal; the marchers instead faced opposition from deputized townspeople and businesspeople who opposed their union organizing, and more importantly, from local and federal law enforcement that brutally shut down the burgeoning movement. The opposing sides clashed near Blair Mountain, a 2,000-foot peak in southwestern Logan County, giving the battle its name.

The miners never made it past the mountain, and while experts don’t have a definitive death toll, estimates say about 16 miners died in the fighting, although many more were displaced by evictions and violence. Despite the seemingly low death toll, the Battle of Blair Mountain still looms large in the minds of today’s Appalachian activists and organizers as a time when working class and impoverished Americans came together to fight for their rights. For some advocating for labor rights today, the battle also is a reminder of what poor Appalachians are capable of.

Miners then often lived in company towns, paying rent for company-owned shacks and buying groceries from the company-owned store with “scrip.” Scrip wasn’t accepted as U.S. currency, yet that’s how the miners were paid. For years, miners had organized through unions including the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), leading protests and strikes..”

There’s more than one explanation for most things. 

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone.