Monday morning moans!

 This morning I didn’t go for a run but I actually got up earlier than usual. We went out after breakfast looking for a dental technician’s place, supposedly situated on a small industrial complex round the corner from home. A noticeboard said it was in unit 13. Unit 13 did not exist. We were told it was in another section of the complex, a few hundred yards down the road. Off we went. No dental technician! Further enquiries sent us another few hundred yards down the road into yet another section. There it was. How do three apparently separate complexes all call themselves by the same name? Very confusing! 

One consequence was that I did get something of a run after all, scuttling along the road trying to keep up with Phil who was striding out at top speed! Not quite how I planned to start the week.

On more than on occasion I have moaned and groaned about security measures which come into force when I try to access messages on the NHS app on my phone. Jumping through technological hoops to read a message that, for example, the GPs’ surgery is closed on such and such a day for training is one of life’s bugbears. However, I am aware that we need security measures.

So here’s a headline from this morning’s paper:

“Starmer says government will legislate if tech companies don't stop children using phones to take naked images”

The item went on to say that Keir Starmer has announced that tech companies must stop children from sending or receiving naked images of themselves. An admirable aim! 

In his speech, he said:

“One issue is the ability for children with phones to send and receive nude images.

For too long, people have been told that is simply the price of modern tech, that nothing can be done, that government is powerless, that parents just have to accept it.

I reject that completely, because tech should adapt to the needs of society, not the other way around.

That is why today I am calling on tech companies operating in this country to introduce device controls that prevent children from sending and receiving sexually explicit images.”

Various groups, such as Big Brother Watch, the civil liberties and privacy campaign group, are expressing concern and outrage at the UK possible ending up with he ‘one of the most auhoritatian internet regimes in the world’. “Protecting children online is vital, but these are outrageous plans that will fail to address the underlying causes of online harm. This will only result in population-wide ID checks for all of us to use our phones, tablets and laptops.

Put simply, the Labour Government is threatening ID checks for the internet. No one in a democracy should need to show their passport just to get online.”

Which brings me back to my moaning and groaning. A solution to the mobile phone and children has to be found, of course, but there’s a bit of me fears that this genie can’t be put back in the bottle. Some of those whom such a measure is intended to protect are precisely the ones who know how to circumvent the security checks. It’s the likes of me, and so many of my generation who will continue to have difficulty recognising the traffic lights on the grid intended to prove I’m not a robot!

Still on technology, I read that actors have been complaining about mobile phones and other such devices in theatres. Rosamund Pike got more than a little cross with someone sending text messages during her performance. Other actors have paused performances to remonstrate with people texting, massaging, taking photos and filming. Journalists have written about visits to the cinema or theatre spoilt by others in the audience chatting and seemingly having a party in the seats behind them. It’s all part of the odd modern phenomenon that says it’s normal to eat and drink through a film. It’s rather different from the days when ice-creams were sold dung the interval by an usherette with a tray suspended from their shoulders! Even watching a film on TV at home, my grandchildren expect popcorn! 

Such is the modern world!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Running in the rain … or not. Blossoms in their prime. Pics of the Paris of my youth. Mogging.

I ran in the rain this morning. Well, to be strictly truthful, I ran mostly in thin sunshine and only had a couple of occasions when I was rained on. A fairly typical June morning around here.

Out walking yesterday, we realised that by going off to Portugal for a couple of weeks we missed the full glory of the hawthorn trees and bushes in bloom. They were just getting into their prime as we left but now completely gone.the same applies to the wisteria, which grows in great profusion all over the exterior of a building close to the centre of the village. Here’s a photo from a few weeks ago.

Poppies are a different story. Like the buttercups they are everywhere. Here in Delph, as I have commented before we seem to have only yellow and orange ones but I spotted red ones in Greenfield, not too far away, yesterday.

That’s enough horticultural stuff.

In today’s paper there was an article about a collection of Photos of Paris in 1970:

“Paris frozen in time in May 1970 – in pictures

In March 1970, Paris announced an amateur photography competition C’était Paris en 1970 to create an archive of a city undergoing a proliferation of large-scale urban development projects. A grid system divided the city into 1,755 squares and a photographer was charged with documenting each square during May 1970. Some of the 91,655 photographs taken are on displaybat the Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris until 7 October 2026”

Most of the pictures really are frozen in time. Just look at the petrol pumps and the cars, not to mention the clothes.

But this one of children playing on a slide could have been taken yesterday, in my opinion anyway.

I came across a new word yesterday: “mogging”. Apparently it means to outdomor outshine someone. Ot is a word from the “manosphere” and began as a verb derived from the acronym for “alpha male of the group: “Amog”. In misogynistic forums in the 2010s, to “mog” came to mean to outdo someone in terms of sexual desirability and more recently has been adopted by “looksmaxxing” male influencers who encourage men to try to alter their looks – sometimes in extreme ways – to increase their “sexual market value”. (Really?)

What a strange world we live in where people of all genders are encouraged to alter their looks to such an extent. Of course, fashion and make-up and styling have all been part of manufacturing your “look” but nowadays more permanent changes are all the rage - not always for the best!

But now it seems that “mogging” means “besting” (another annoying word) others at basically anything. The gold medal Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu said in an interview last year that her main competition strategy was “to mog”, and it is possible to do “walk-mogging” when you overtake people on the street. 

I wonder what Mr Rees Mogg feels about his name being used in that fashion!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Beautiful tree. Good people. Interfering US politicians. And not protecting the environment. .

 When I run round the village in the morning, I go past a horse chestnut tree of quite spectacular beauty. Back in January I decided to post a photo of the tree every month of this year, usually on the first day of the month. My June picture has been delayed because we were in Portugal when June crept in. I could have taken a picture yesterday but the smallest grandchildren were spending the morning with us and Grandson Number Two, six years old and bossily determined, didn’t want to go for a walk. Besides it was threatening rain and the small people amazingly did not have waterproofs with them. So here is today’s photo.

Today rain has been forecast again but I have managed to dry several loads of washing in the garden. One of the downsides of going on holiday is having to wash clothes that your took with you. 

 

Yesterday was the birthday of the Spanish poet Federico García Lorca. Born in 1898, he was killed in 1936, possibly on August 19th, but records of such executions during the Spanish Civil War were not really kept. Nobody knows what became of his body. But his poetry and his plays outlived the regime that killed him. I wonder what he would have to say about modern times. 

Here’s one of the many pictures that have been posted on social media in tribute to Marjan Satrapi.who died this week. 

We need to remember the good people of the world.

Meanwhile, it seems that US Vice President J.D. Vance has been tweeting about the death of young Henry Nowak. Apparently it’s a consequence of the mass immigration into the country which we have allowed, accepting people who are opposed to the western way of life. Despite Henry Nowak’s parents’ insisting that they do not want his death to be politicised, it is being used as a way for the US to poke its nose into how we run our country. Here’s a link to an article about our Mr Starmer’s reaction to that. 

Here’s something else I came across about the USA:

“The Trumo Administration plans to dismantle a $368m deep-sea observation system that has for more than a decade provided crucial data on ocean systems and climate change.

In a notice, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced that it had “initiated descoping of the Ocean Observatories Initiative” (OOI), a vast ocean observation network comprising more than 900 instruments that collect data on ocean health, including current patterns, climate variability and marine biodiversity.

The notice, issued on 21 May, came just days after Trump fired all members of the independent board that oversees the NSF. It outlined plans to remove all in-water infrastructure from observation sites off the coasts of North Carolina, Oregon, Washington and Alaska, as well as from the Irminger Sea, a marginal sea between Greenland and Iceland.”

Of course, it may not be necessary to work at environmental stuff if Mr Trump and co manage to destroy the world through wars here and there. 

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Coming home. Travellers’ woes - suitcase sizes; airport parking! Marjane Satrapi. The Bayeux tapestry.

Back in the UK, where it’s considerably warmer! Well, milder, than when we set off a couple of weeks ago. 

Everyone tells us we missed the summer here. We also missed most of our small front garden’s moment of glory when it was full aquilegia flowers in a lovely range of colours, as it does every year. We have returned to a garden overgrown with tall buttercups, aquilegia gone to seed, a fern that has gown exponentially and pampas grass which has spread everywhere. There are roses in profusion as well but I need to release them from the surrounding mayhem as soon as I can raise the energy to do some gardening.

I had a small argument with RyanAir staff in Faro airport. We regularly travel on “priority booking”, which allows you take a cabin-suitable suitcase, of specific dimensions and weight, which can go in the overhead locker, and a smaller second bag, also or their specific dimensions, which must go under the seat in front of yours.we are very careful with our suitcase, even using a handy gadget to check the weight. In the aairport, at the gate was a young man demanding to see proof of priority booking and selecting suitcases to check in a RyanAir device. Phil’s new hard shell case was passed at a glance. My now rather ancient Ikea spotty case, originally bought for it budget airlines dimensions, was selected for measuring. The young man put it in at an angle and declared it too big. I remonstrated and insisted he put it in correctly. Grudgingly he let it pass. I had read that some employees were being offered a budget for every case they rejected in hold luggage with, of course, an extra charge. Not to mention the hassle of waiting at the carousel for your suitcase to emerge.

A small victory! Stand up for your rights! 

We flew back from Faro to Leeds- Bradford airport yesterday. It’s the first to e we have flown to that rather confusing airport. Our daughter volunteered to collect us and drive us home. We emerged into a largely un-signposted area, headed for an exit and called her. She had parked in the pick-up carpark  she told us, but was now inside the airport looking for us. We failed, however,  to meet inside the terminal. So we agreed to head for the carpark and meet there. Fortunately it was not raining. We found each other eventually. She had been unable to find a “meet and greet” area or anything specifically labelled “arrivals”. We headed out and the carpark charged her £14.  Various quite well-hidden signposts indicated that there was a free carpark for up to an hour but we were unable to locate it. Our verdict: could do better! 

I read that the Iranian-French artist and filmmaker Marjane Satrapi has died at the age of 56. Known for her graphic novel ‘Persepolis,’ Satrapi spoke out on exile and women's freedom. Her family says she died of ‘sadness’ after the death of her husband. Marjane Satrapi, author of the autobiographical graphic novel Persepolis, recounting growing up during the Iranian Revolution and challenging stereotypes about Iran and its people, died yesterday. She was only 56. Her family said she died of sadness, her husband having died a year ago. Do people really die of sadness? Apparently so. 

While wars continue to wage in various places, despite claims about peace talks and agreements being bandied about, the pictorial record of another war is getting set to travel from France to the UK: the Bayeux tapestry. Some people think it should bot be a,lowed to leave France,for historical-sentimental reasons also out of fear that we will just keep it. However, Lord Peter Ricketts, the former British ambassador to France and UK special envoy, has told French politicians, officials and specialists, “Yes, of course we will give the tapestry back, safe and sound.”

It seems the French have perhaps agreed to the loan only because the tapestry’s permanent home in the northern French town of Bayeux in Normandy closed for renovations and for a new building dedicated to the artefact to be completed. 

France and England have been enemies on and off throughout history. It’s reflected in aspects of the two languages. If you go absent without permission we English say you ”take French leave” while the French use the expression “filer à l’anglaise”. There are other examples but they are perhaps too rude to include here. Despite longstanding rivalry and enmity, Catherine Pégard, the French minister of culture, said she understood that the loan would  “allow the English people to contemplate on their own soil the act that was the birth of their nation”. More than an entente cordiale, it was an entente amicale – an act of friendship “marking 1,000 years of shared history … and occasional rivalry”, she said. 

If only our politicians could be as diplomatic!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Leaving. Caves and art. Rosen-Mogg.

 So today we say goodbye to Silves … until next year when we are quite likely to return, all being well. Preferably without such a heatwave!

Here’s a link to an article about the caves at Altamira in Spain, with its fabulous cave paintings. For decades the caves have been closed to the public because their exposure to the air and to the carbon dioxide people breathe out caused the paintings to deteriorate. Pablo Picasso is said to have visited, or at least looked at some photos, and the quote attributed to him is possibly apocryphal, but an appraisal for the ages nonetheless: “After Altamira, all is decadence.” 

We have a print of Picasso’s lithograph “Taureaux’ in our house. His bulls bear a strong resemblance to those in the Altamira caves.

For the first time in ages, here is a Michael Rosen “Dear Mogg” post. 

“Dear Mogg

I see Blair has written an essay. I should have thought of doing this, as I am the true descendant of Cicero, Seneca, Purina, Bonio and Paxo. My essay of today would range from Ukraine to cricket, as Sinatra sang, 'I can see clearly now'.  

Brillo pad in playtex 

Boris”

That’s all for today. We are going into town for a light lunch and then a taxi will take us to the airport. I think we are due for a rainy return to Manchester. Somit goes.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Last day. Favourite restaurants. Sad stories and self-publicising politicians.

 This is our last full day in Silves, a last chance to go up the hill to the castle, which I suspect we won’t bother doing, even though it’s less hot than earlIer in our stay here. Tomorrow we should just about manage a last lunch at one of our favourite restaurants before a taxi arrives to take us to the airport.

In one of those favourite restaurants we have established a nodding acquaintance with an elderly lady who lunches there every day, sitting at “her” table in the corner.

The restaurant is decorated with a mix of traditional agricultural equipment, 

ancient carpentry tools (the sort my father and his father used to use), 

mariachi-style hats and curious musical instruments.

I have just discovered “disappearing messages”, which seems to be something that you can add to your WhatsApp so that your messages conveniently self-destruct after a set time. I came across this as I was reading about the Mandelson vetting business; it seems that it’s hard to establish exactly what communication went on between Starmer and Mandelson because of “disappearing messages”. I suppose it was inevitable that such a facility would eventually be available in this modern age where your posts on all kinds of social media can be scrutinised and used against you. I wouldn’t be surprised however to discover that those disappeared messages are still floating about somewhere in the ether, in a version of the cloud, just waiting for a clover bod to publish the scandal they contain.

Here’s something else I have just learnt. Marina Hyde began an article (about the Starmer - Mandelson stuff if I remember correctly) with the statement: “We are in the TL;DR days of Keir Starmer’s government

 

So I had to look up TL;DR. This is what I found:

“TL;DR stands for "too long; didn't read," and it is commonly used to introduce a brief summary of a longer piece of content or to indicate that a text was too lengthy to read in full.”

Which just goes to show that there is always something ew to learn.

Here’s some more serious stuff. Following the murder of a young man, Henry Nowak, by a Sikh man (a sad, mixed-up story involving racism, police mishandling of the whole business, the right to carry ceremonial knives - all in all a nasty mess), Nigel Farage has been finding another way of publicising himself, organising a broadcast to “address the nation”. Here’s a link to an article about that.

The estimable John Crace comments on that beginning like this:

“The email invitation arrived shortly after 7am. Nigel Farage would be making an “address to the nation” an hour later. The grandiosity. The self-importance. An address to the nation is something usually delivered by the monarch or the prime minister during an emergency. Not from a leader of a political party with just eight MPs.”

Thank you John Crace. We need more reminders that Refirm UK has ONLY EIGHT MPs. Instead of going on about Farage possible being a future prime minister, someone should organise huge posters all over the country declaring in large, brightly coloured letters that

HE ONLY HAS EIGHT MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT!!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!