Oversleeping. Late nights after chess. Storks nesting. Tony Blair. Fiesta time in Delph, Saddleworth.

 So this morning I switched my alarm off and went back to sleep. It’s probably only thanks to my bladder that I woke up again in time for us to have breakfast. The hotel stops serving breakfast at 10.00. They’re quite punctual about it too. Yesterday we fancied a second cup of coffee as we reached the end of breakfast. No chance! The coffee machine was switched off!

So today I have not had my usual morning constitutional. I’ll maybe stroll out to the market for some good oranges later. 

I think we’re both feeling a little sleep-deprived. The games at the tournament start at 7.30 in the evening. Now, chess games can be quite lengthy. Phil has been getting back to the hotel at 11.30 or later. On more than one occasion I have ordered beer from the bar before he gets back, as the bar closes, again with great punctuality, at midnight! Cinderella, eat your heart out!

The local chess club puts photos of the tournament on their Facebook page. Yesterday it featured Phil at the tournament, just right of centre, leaning on his elbows, deep in thought, with another player contemplating his game - which he unfortunately lost! So it goes!

As I strolled home I took another look at the storks nest on the dead palm. Mrs Stork + babies were there for all to see. Rather impressive.

I’ve commented on Tony Blair and his criticism of the current version of the Labour Party. Even NewsThump has commented: “Tony Blair still a thing, apparently”.  Well, here’s a comment on Facebook from Nick Cohen of The London Economic:

“You cannot work for Donald Trump and call yourself a “radical centrist” or any type of centrist. tony Blair indulges a far right president who attacks democracy at home and abroad. It’s about time his admirers faced reality.”

Back home in Delph, today is Whit Friday Band Contest Day. Bands from all lver he region, from other parts of England and even other countries will go from Saddleworth village to Saddlweowrth village playing their brass instruments. It’s the closes we have to carnival. As a rule it rains but people turn out anyway. Today the forecast suggests some sunshine! Of course we’re not there to witness it. But hurrah all the same! May the best band win!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Castles and earthquakes. Politicians and climate change and the food crisis. Stuff about dogs.

 Another fine day out and about in Silves. 

I’ve still not yet found the energy to walk up to the castle this year. I don’t suppose it has changed much since last year. I got into conversation with someone yesterday evening who told me that the castle originally had several outer defence walls, at stages down the hill from the main fort, aimed at deterring attackers. In the great Portugal earthquake of 1755, the one that almost destroyed Lisbon, 

these wall collapsed, as did buildings around the castle. The castle survived but my informant told me that there were only 14 families left in Silves. It seems to have revived since then. 

However, a Welshman involved in that conversation declared that the town needs more organised tourist information and the restaurants need better notices in English about their menus. Mind you, he also said he didn’t particularly like fish, which is a disadvantage when you are looking for tasty food! 

On the subject of food, this article tells us that the UK is heading for a food crisis. After a dry spring and the current hot weather, farmers are not able to provide as large crops as usual. And their animals are suffering from the heat. I know that our milkman will be complaing that his ‘girls’ do not like the heat.

But apparently Tony Blair is denying the climate crisis, the food crisis and all sorts of modern problems. Caroline Lucas posted this about him:

“Whatever world Tony Blair inhabits appears to be one without climate change & where the UK temperature record for May has not just been smashed by over 2°C. How else explain his extraordinary dismissal of net zero and his erroneous claim that fossil fuels are cheaper than renewables?”

He has been criticising Andy Burnham and others in the Labour Party. In turn they have criticised him:

“Wes Streeting and Andy Burnham have criticised Tony Blair’s “striking weakness” in failing to engage with inequality, as senior party figures hit back at the former prime minister’s castigation of the Labour party.

Blair has published a lengthy critique of Labour’s time in office under Keir Starmer, arguing for the government to crack down on welfare spending, abandon restrictions on oil and gas production, and smooth relations with Donald Trump.”

However, judging by this photo of Mr Blair, I almost get the impression he would like to emulate Mr Trump.

I came across this post on social media about dogs:

“You'll never walk alone...

How times change. As a kid back in the 50's we had a family dog, a Heinz 57 type mongrel called Spot. We would open the front door in the morning and off he'd trot, returning around mid afternoon after having spent an enjoyable day around the area. We found out later he would visit all the local schools in turn and the dinner ladies would each give him a free lunch, it was no wonder he was always that bit rotund.

Of course to see a dog walking on its own these days is cause for it to be broadcast across Facebook... and 'who has lost their dog'!

This is 'You'll never walk alone', my tribute to all those freedom loving dogs from the 50's.”

Lots of comments supported this view. I too remember dogs roaming the streets, sometimes rather frightening fo children playing out. There did  ot seem to be so many dogs bred for ferocity back then though. Nor were there lots of fashionable doggy clothes or specialist foods such as Granddaughter Number One spends a lot of money on. What we did have was a lot of dog-dirt on streets. No need to go back to those dog-days.

Incidentally, as I walked back from the chess tournament venue yesterday evening I saw no fewer than three dog buggies with dog owners maybe replacing babies with dogs! Granted on was for an old dog who might not have managed a long walk. One was transporting three chihuahuas - presumably their little legs get tired. And we have to take into account that hot pavements are not good for dogs’ feet … or so Granddaughter Number one tells me. Someone is making money out of this aspect of canine care though!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Life as a chess widow. Things I see in Silves. Hot weather stuff. And Palestinian suffering.

 The games at the chess tournament begin at 7.30 in the evening, possibly hoping it will be cooler for playing. 

They have organised a shuttle bus to take players from the hotel to the venue. So we travel in style to the game and I stroll back, looking out for interesting things. 

On Monday I spotted a group of people doing some kind of yoga class on the grass near the river.  It was definitely not tai chi, which I have seen in parks and on beaches all over the place. They were in a circle, all of them on their back with their legs on the air. A good time of day to exercise gently, I suppose, but I prefer my run in the relative cool of the early morning.  

Yesterday evening it was a stork’s nest on top of an old palm. Their nests are very straggly and untidy but they seem to maintain them. I read that they like to return to the same nest year on year. Sensible birds!

  

Waiting in the hotel lounge for Phil to return from his chess game, so that we could have a beer together, I got into conversation with a Belgian couple. Possibly a mistake as the wife was very negative about so many things: the hotel room is clean enough but there are cobwebs behind the curtain; their room is on the lower ground floor (as is ours) and as she likes to sleep late in the morning, she is worried that there might be noise as people go to the pool: there is no fridge in the room; and so on. Fortunately the coffee machine was working properly in the breakfast room today, which it wasn’t yesterday morning! This could have been another soirce of complaint!

The river here is tidal. When the tide goes out the water level in the river falls. This morning when I ran I saw storks fishing in the mudflats.

The hot weather continues here and in the UK, where they seem to have been having sticky nights. We are fortunate her that the nights are cool enough for sleeping not to be a problem. Down at the pool lots of people still work on their suntan while I sit in the shade. Here is a cartoon about the British heatwave.

On a more serious note, this is a post from social media yesterday from someone called Mosab Agu Toha:

“A Palestinian hostage has died today in Israeli concentration camp. His name is Mohammed Ahmad al-Halabi.

Israel,had held him hostage since 1991.

(Note: in December 2022, Israel murdered his som Ahmad.A month before that, Israel,killed his sister, her husband, and their entire family.)

35 years abducted by Israel. 1991 - 2026”

But of course, there are those who say this stuff has only been going on since October 7th 2023!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Hot weather in the UK too - is it our fault? Cheese rolling. Pilgrims. And the inevitable continuing chaos.

 A friend of mine posted on social media yesterday that at 7.45 in the evening the temperature was 32°. This was South Manchester not the South of France or the Spanish Costas! 

The Guardian reports that yesterday was hottest day ever recorded in May with temperatures reaching 34.8°. The previous all-time May peak stood at 32.8C, reached in 1922 and 1944. Today temperatures above 36° are predicted. 

“In the past, heatwaves built and built and built and built over days and days and days, these now just develop so quickly,” the Met Office senior forecaster Greg Dewhurst said on Monday, adding that the climate crisis was boosting the heat. And still some people think we don’t have a climate crisis!

One reason for the heatwave in the UK is that Phil and I have flown to Portugal for a holiday with chess (this kind of holiday happens quite often). Sod’s Law sends the UK good weather when we are out of the country. The first time we experienced this was in the much talked about summer of 1976. We went camping in Brittany where it was so hot I got sunstroke - serious stuff, collapsing with the heat, swollen ankles, dehydration but not serious enough to need hospital treatment. When we returned home with our tales of continental heat, we were pooh-poohed! It had been equally hot in Manchester and indeed continued to be hot and dry until September. And that was before we knew about global warming!

Because it has been the May Bank Holiday weekend in the UK, silly events like cheese rolling in Gloucestershire have taken place. Not so much cheese-rolling as such, which was how I imagined it, but more or a race down a steep hill chasing after a wheel of cheese which the winner receives as his prize!  Even stranger and definitely more hazardous than an egg and spoon race, cheese-rolling has become so popular that the BBC broadcast this year’s event on iPlayer. The corporation had three reporters on the scene and two editing its live blog.

I suppose cheese-rolling gets people out in the countryside, which is good for you. According to this article half of UK adults spend less than 3 hours a week in nature. Now, I am not really surprised to hear that. Phil and I are fortunate to live in a place where we can step,out into a country walk on our very doorstep. But people who live in city centres don’t have that possibility. And as many people are working hard to earn enough to keep up with the cost of living, three hours is a big chunk of time out. So it goes. 

Our friend Colin frequently writes in his blog about “caminantes”, people walking the Camino de Santiago. Here’s a link ,

Elsewhere they make special pilgrimages where Virgen del Rocío is brought out to bestow blessings in the crowds. Thousands of devotees gather around the Virgin of Rocío during the traditional procession in Almonte, Huelva, southwest Spain. The pilgrimage is one of the most important traditions in the region

Elsewhere in the world chaos continues. Talks are supposedly going on but the US has launched further attacks on Iran.

Experts in such matters say that Nigel Farage’s claims about Russian interference in his life are all unsubstantiated nonsense. I can’t say I am surprised!

Federal officials in the USA have taken subpoenaed Hassan Piker and CodePink founder Medea Benjamin uber an aid mission to Cuba. Apparent.y the Treasury Department is investigating whether the activists violated US sanctions during their trip to Cuba. So much for the land of the free.

Hey ho!

And here’s a link to an article about women in Gaza. They're still suffering.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Running. Bird watching. Eating out. Singers and politics. Free concerts? Politicians and money.

 Another fine day in Silves. A cool run along the river.

Sitting on my hotel balcony watching the storks, I wonder about them. Some fly with purpose, straight as an arrow, often with some nesting material in their beak. (Surely nesting season is over? But then, I suppose if you have an untidy, straggly nest full of fledglings on top of a telegraph pole or electricity pylon, it must need regular maintenance) but others just soar, as if for the sheer joy of being able to do so. And why not?

I’ve not managed to catch a photo of them, but here are a couple of stray swallows on the electricity wire. 

We went out early for lunch yesterday, bearing in mind that it was Sunday and that places could get busy. Two of our favourite eateries were closed, much to our surprise. So we went back to the Marisqueira. A notice outside said that robalo - sea bass - was a very reasonable €14. The fish that arrived was huge. So we should not have been surprised to find that the sign outside was misleading and that this cost rather more! Fortunately we did not order one each. As we often do, I had ordered a mixed salad - its cheapness offsetting the expense of the huge fish - and shared some of the fish. This system usually works well and neither of us overeats.

Between us we made short work of the large robalo.

It seems that rich and famous singers are speaking out against Mr Trump at concerts in the USA. The Boss has been singing his anti-Vietnam War anthem among other things. “The E Street Band is here tonight,” he told concert goers in Brooklyn,  in celebration and defense of the American ideals and values that have sustained our country for 250 years. We call upon the righteous power or art, of music, of rock’n’roll in these dangerous times.”

President Trump says the Boss is a “total loser” and “not a talented guy”. There you go!

In his article about Springsteen’s resistance concerts, he says; “I wish that Springsteen would give dozens of free, outdoor concerts across the US over the next year or two or three, but that might be too complicated and expensive to pull off. I don’t doubt that those concerts would attract hundreds of thousands of people each, and that might help turn the tide further against Trump, the most corrupt authoritarian president in US history.”

I can’t help feeling that perhaps he could afford to do some freebies though. Just a thought! 

Now picture this: you are an MP and receive a £5million donation from a rich sponsor. You don’t declare it, despite parliamentary rules. Oops! The press reveal it. How do you distract attention. Blame the Russians! According to this article Mr Farage reckons his phone and bank records were hacked by Russians, evidence of a serious threat to the security of our country. Ofcourse, he could just follow procedure and declare his income sources according to the rules! 

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!