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!

Early morning running. The local market. Trump and Farage. Women’s ‘softer’ brains!!

 Running first thing in the morning is a good idea. Already at 8.00 the temperature was around 20° so running much later would be uncomfortable to say the least.

The hotel pool looks very inviting too at that time of day.

Yesterday I went to the market, the Mercado Municipal de Silves. Doing a bit of research I discovered that the building was constructed back in 1922. Designed by architect Francisco dos Santos da Silva Dias, it is described as reflecting traditional Portuguese architecture with hints of Moorish influence – a nod to Silves’ rich historical past under Moorish rule during medieval times. There you go.

Outside the main entrance a sort of ‘tree of life’ is portrayed in those cobbles which pave so many streets here.

Inside it’s quite small but very colourful with what I assume is local produce. 

The honey stall makes a sort of nod to tourism, I suppose, calling itself ‘Grannys Flavour’. 

I might complain at the lack of apostrophe but it occurs in England all the time, especially in names of pubs, such as The Weavers Arms. So it goes.

There are craft stall too, which I neglected to photograph (maybe another day) selling artisan lacework and jewellery.

And the whole thing spills out into the neighbouring side streets, with stalls selling all sorts of produce. More photos another day.

 Over in the USA there seems to have been another attempt to assassinate Mr Trump - well, a gunman attacking the securitybguards at the white house. Here’s a link to a report of the incident. It could be sympathy-gatheringm of course, but rather hard on the chap who was killed. 

In the UK news I keep hearing about ReformUK councillors resigning for one reason or another. So muc for their mich vaunted success in local elections. And here’s a link to a report that Mr Farage and his team were not welcome in a community cafe in Makerfield where campaigning is going on for the election in which Andy Burnham is trying to get back into parliament.

Now, here’s an odd fact, a rather dubious fact! I have long wondered why women want to play rugby, a sport thatvseems to knvolve a lot of headbanging. But it seems women make up 25% of the world’s rugbybplayers, how odd. A research project is underway, investigating how to improve protective gear for women rugbybplayers. 

Dr Peter Theobald, the project’s lead researcher, said: “Women’s sports research is historically underrepresented, and with most research we can look 10, 15, 20 years into the past for data, but not with women’s rugby; it hardly existed.

“The female brain is softer and more vulnerable to concussion … what we don’t know yet is whether that translates to a greater risk of the effects of subconcussive brain injury.”

The goal of the study is not to dissuade women and girls from taking up rugby, Theobald added, but to “shed light on the risks so people can make an informed decision”.

Hmm! I’m all in favour of protecting those women who want to play daft sports but can it really be true that the “female brain is softer and more vulnerable to concussion”? It sounds like something from a bygone time when it was felt that woken should not be ‘over-educated’ as our brains could not cope with it! 

Interesting!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Not a Roman bridge. Eating out. The perils of big cats for pets.

 I ran past the so-called Roman bridge this morning,

The Romans were certainly here. They called the place Ossonoba. The Moors came along and ousted them in the 8th century. They called it Xelb. Then along came King Sancho in the 12th century. There”s a lot of history here.

The current stone bridge, as we largely see it today, is widely attributed to medieval reconstruction, likely in the 15th century, possibly incorporating older foundations. This rebuilding effort would have been necessary after centuries of use and conflict, cementing its importance as Silves transitioned from Moorish to Christian rule.

It seems to be undergoing work at the moment. 

And it looks better from the other side where yup can’t see the building works. The boat we can see moored on the rivet Arade is called Psicologo. I suppose a boar on the river is as good a destresser as a session with a psychologist.

Yesterday we lunched at the Marisqueira, sea food restaurant.i sampled the sopa de peixe, a fish soup almost but not quite up to th estandard of the Caçarola restaurant in Figueira da Foz.

We also had salada mista and salmon grelhado. Very good. Here are before and after pictures.

When I was growing up in Southport, at the time when Southport had a small zoo, located firghteningly close to the fairground, which must have been rather disturbing for the animals, the owner of the zoo was known to walk a lion on a leash along Lord Street. Here’s a link to a story about somoene in Germany who kept a tiger in an enclosure on her garden. It got out and terrorised the local allotment holders. In the end it was shot dead, because the police had no tranquilliser darts! I read somewhere that lions can be  quite placid, so long as they are well fed. So they can make good pets. There are stories of lions released into the wild recognising the person who rearsd them from cubs and having emotional reunions. Tigers pn the other hand are much more unpredictable. 

Regular readers know I am not a particular fan of domestic animals at the best of times. So I find it hard to understand anyone having big cats as pets.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Kites and storks. Restaurants. Thinking about mass shootings.

When we visit our son in Buckinghamshire I marvel at the red kites soaring on thermals above his house. Here in Silves I watch storks. Large birds are amazing!

It’s another fine morning here in Silves.

Yesterday we investigated the Nova Mesquite restaurant at lunchtime: another place worth a second visit or more. The photo shows it after lunch. It was full earlier of people I did not really want on my photo.

Phil had baby squid, while I had a rather copious salada rustica, with a huge amount of goats’ cheese! Very tasty!

I was reading about yet another mass shooting in the USA. It seems that two teenage boys attacked an Islamic centre in San Diego, “fully armored” with handguns and rifles, authorities said. According to the FBI the teenagers were “radicalised” online. They both died of self inflicted gunshot wounds. What a waste of young lives! 

The weapons were apparently registered to their parents, but the young men clearly had access to them. Investigators found 30 firearms and a crossbow after searching two residences in connection with the investigation. Remily said agents also seized tactical gear, ammunition and electronics.so maybe they managed to acquire more stuff online. But what are parents doing keeping dangerous weapons where their children can access them.

And the parents, or atvleast the mother of one of them, knew that their son was  disturbed and up to no good. “On Monday, the mother of one of the shooters alerted police soon before the shooting occurred that her son, a 17-year-old high school student, was suicidal and potentially armed. Officers were looking for the 17-year-old and his 18-year-old friend in a neighborhood near the mosque as they opened fire.”

Something needs to be done about gun culture in the USA.

Just another aspect of the madness of the modern world.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!