Going to he market. Dealing with the heat. Prime ministers. And still Gaza.

 It was quite pleasant walking out to catch the bus first thing this morning - well, at about twenty to nine! There is supposed to be a bus to Uppermill at 8.59, which can arrive at that time or at any time in the next 5 to 10 minutes. I don’t wait at the bus stop at the crossroads where there is a bus shelter which has largely become a huge litter bin, since they removed the actual litter bin some time ago, and which often smells as though someone thinks it is a public toilet! Instead I walk down the road to the next stop, assuming it isn’t pelting down rain, which is a pleasanter place to wait. 

Until a couple of weeks ago I would consult the Bee Network App on my phone to see when I should expect a bus. Depending on the prognostication I might then walk to the next stop a bit farther along the road. But a couple of weeks ago my app stopped working; I click on it, it pops up and instantly disappears. Granddaughter Number Two, who works for the Bee Network, tells me they have updated the app and it only works on more recent iPhones than mine. She promised me that the network was looking into it, but two weeks down the line it’s still not working. It’s amazing how quickly you can grow used to using a bit of technology in your everyday life. Now I have had to readjust once more: back to guesswork as regards buses whose printed timetable is really a work of fantasy, a rough approximation of when buses should run!

Anyway, it was quite pleasant strolling along to the next stop. By the time I got off the bus in Uppermill it was already warming up. I bought fish and fruit as usual. The fish-man told me that he did not expect to stay beyond 12.00 midday as it would be too hot for an open stall of fish, even with ice beneath the fish and fans working overtime above them. Fair enough!

Before 10.00 I was home, making coffee. 

I read that in Paris they are taking the heatwave very seriously. Yesterday 54 of France’s 96 mainland departments were in vigilance rouge – and the national meteorological service Météo France had confirmed France was experiencing the hottest day since records began in 1947. Parks in Paris will remain open 24 hours so that people can benefit from cool air in the parks in the evening. Presumably they are locked up usually to prevent rough sleepers moving in or young people up to various nefarious activities! The mayor has said that the swimming-permitted section of the River Seine (Paris by the Sea) will open earlier than usual, so that Parisians can cool off in the water. 

The Green presidential hopeful, Marine Tondelier, is calling for a five-day heatwave sabbatical to help people cope with extreme heat. All well and good but people still need to be fed, food needs to be bought, someone needs to work in the kitchen. And presumably bars and restaurants will remain open. A five-day sabbatical sounds very good but would need some organising.

Here in the UK people are advised not to travel and in some places schools have been closed. Years ago a German friend told us about something called Hitzefrei: 

“When the weather outside gets super hot, German schools and workplaces can declare hitzefrei, which literally translates to “heat free”, and send children and employees home to take the rest of the day off to escape the heat. Sounds dreamy, right? It’s a concept that dates all the way back to a ministerial decree issued in Prussia in 1892, according to FAZ. “

So that’s official!   

Neither Phil nor I can remember a single occasion when our schools closed because of hot weather … nor for “snow days” either for that matter. I remember certain teachers who could be badgered into moving the lesson outdoors onto the playing fields. But that, of course, was when schools still had playing fields. My Spanish tea her in particular was a soft touch and could be persuaded to be like Miss Jean Brodie with her girls around her discussing Lorca’s dramatic work! 

Reporting on our changing political scene continues in the newspapers. Here’s a link to an article in which Owen Jones pulls Mr Starmer apart.

And since we have had rather a lot of prime ministers over the last 10 years, here’s a link to an article about the best fictional TV prime ministers.

Out in the wider world war and killing still continue. Here’s a link to an article about a UN inquiry into the Gaza genocide. We mustn’t forget that children are still dying. What a way to demoralise a people!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone.

The heatwave. Dealing with the bank. Hot travel. Brexit revisited. And carelessly losing Prime Ministers.

 When I ran round the village this morning at about 8.30, the temperature was already 22°C. Now, 4.00 pm, my phone tells me it’s 29°. 

In the late morning, I had to go into Oldham to sort something out at our bank. I thought it would be a simple and speedy matter but everything seemed to take ages. As the young lady who sorted things out for me handed me various documents outlining what my rights and their obligations are all about, I was reminded of our time of living in Vigo, Galicia, and having dealings with the bak there that were always accompanied by reams of printed material, far more than the young lady gave me today. So much for a paperless society and saving the planet. 

Bank business and occasional shopping over, I headed homeward. I thought the bus station was uncomfortably hot and then I got on the bus for home - a mobile oven! The situation was possibly made worse because my bus journey coincided with schools finishing for the day and masses of young people catching my bus. It’s amazing how large Year 10 and 11 boys are!

Everywhere in Europe is undergoing the heatwave. Here’s a map:

And here’s a little something from the Guardian anout the situation on France:

“Our European community affairs correspondent, Ashifa Kassam, has filed a report about the 40 people who are reported to have drowned while swimming in unsupervised areas across France in recent days. Here is an extract from her story:

“There is a tragic scourge of drownings,” the French prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, said on Tuesday. “The latest figures we’ve received are 40 deaths since 18 June. Most of the victims are young people.”

Lecornu was preparing to chair a crisis meeting with ministers to address the ferocious early summer heatwave that has left parts of western France bracing for temperatures of up to 43C (109F).

“We’re experiencing an episode of exceptional intensity,” Lecornu said. “Every day and every night, local and national temperature records are being broken.””

Phil and I are lucky to have a house with a very cool basement.

It’s ten years since Brexit. Lots of people have been going on about it. Here’s a link to an article about it. When we get a new Prime Minister, will he turn out to be pro-Europe? We shall see!

Meanwhile, here is a cartoon about the UK’s  record for getting rid of Prime Ministers over recent years.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Leadership stuff. Banning things. Frida Kahlo.

 Well, Kier Starmer has given in to pressure and resigned as Prime Minister and leader of the Labour Party. 

“When I leave the biggest job in the country, I shall spend more time on the most important job, being the best husband I can to my fantastic wife, Vic, who has been a rock by my side through good times and bad, and being the best dad I can to my beautiful children, who are my pride and my joy,” he said.

I think there’s also the matter of a retiring prime minister’s pension, but we don’t talk about that.

It looks as though Andy Burnham might be about to take over.!  We’ll see how that goes. Jeremy Corbyn doesn’t seem to think there will be much difference. Wes Streeting has apparently decided not to stand against Andy Burnham - possibly in exchange for a cabinet post

It was already warm at about 8.30 this morning, forecast to get hotter today and even hotter as the week progresses. Some parts of the country are being pit on red alert for heat, an unusual even apparently. However, we’re not as hot as part of mainland Europe. Three elderly people have died in France, supposedly because of the heat. They expect temperatures heading towards 40° - rather too hot for me. 

Nowadays sunshine seems to mean men taking their shirts off. In this article Emma Beddington declares her admiration for men going topless, an indication that summer has arrived. She writes about places in France that have banned men going topless through the streets, or indeed anyone strolling around in swimsuits. Quite so! Many Spanish resorts have similar restrictions. We used to be much more restrained when I was young. Was it because of having been to sunnier climes that English men felt the need to shed their shirts on the streets? 

Here’s another proposed restriction: the nation of Palau has now tasked the WHO expert committee on drug dependence reviewing nicotine, which will lead to a UN vote – likely to be in 2028 – on banning it worldwide. It has long been said that if nicotine were discovered today it would be classed as a dangerous drug. Maybe the same should be said of vaping! Which is a recent invention and tempts a lot more teenagers than smoking behind the bike shed ever did. Strangely fruit flavoured and sweet vapes are probably more dangerous than a sneaky packet of cigarettes! 

Something I personally might ban is oddly flavoured coffee! Coffee should taste of coffee not caramel or vanilla or other adulterations!

I need to go to London in the second half of this year to see the Frida Kahlo exhibition at the Tate Modern - tickets from £49!! Here are some pictures of inside her Casa Azul in Mexico.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Midsummer gardening. Manchester history. And a cartoon.

 Today is the summer solstice - the longest day of the year. Here’s a photo of sunrise at Stonehenge in celebration. 

Midsummer’s day here has been suitably warm and sunny. Our daughter dropped Grandson Number Two at our house in the late morning. His older sister was visiting a friend. His own friends were not available so he opted to play with Grandma. We trimmed overhanging bushes in the garden, carefully using secateurs and shears. The six year old assured me he could use such dangerous implements. “I’ve even used a chain saw,” he told me proudly. Goodness knows where he did that! We managed to do our gardening without anyone losing even a part of a finger.

We moved on to making bug houses. A satisfactory afternoon’s work.

A couple of weeks ago Phil and I listened to a podcast about the history of Manchester, how it survived the bombs of the Second World War and the bomb planted by the IRA, how the city changed and grew. Quite fascinating but there was no mention of one of my favourite monuments in the city centre: Saint Ann’s Church  in Saint Ann’s Square, one of the nicest pedestrian places in the city centre. So here’s something that popped up on my social media this morning:

“For most of history, Manchester was a small market town which didn't even cover the area of the present-day city centre. To modern eyes it would have looked like an extended village, with narrow, winding streets and lanes, small open-front shops, workshops and timber-framed houses with vegetable gardens and open fields right behind.  The little town had only one church, St. Mary's, which was where the Cathedral is now. 

Just a stone's throw from the town's main market place, there was a field known as “Acres Field”. Every year, for about 500 years, the townspeople held their local fair on the field.  And it was on Acres Field that a second Manchester church was built: St. Ann’s Church.

Lady Ann Bland, a wealthy local lady, paid for most of the building, which made use of the local red Collyhurst sandstone (though much of the original stone has since been replaced over the years). St. Ann’s Church was consecrated on 17th June, 1712. 

Lady Ann supported more simple churches and ceremonies and the style of St. Ann’s Church still reflects this today.

Surveyors once used the church tower as a platform to measure distances from Manchester to other local areas, making the church, in effect, an unofficial centre point of the growing city. Their benchmark remains visible at the tower door.

The interior of the church was remodelled in the 1880s by Alfred Waterhouse, the same architect who'd designed the Town Hall. The original Communion Table, a gift from Lady Ann Bland, was put into the new Lady Chapel. The organ dates from 1730, though has been modified.

In the 2nd World War, St Ann’s Church narrowly escaped damage during the Manchester Blitz and still has a burnt-out incendiary bomb which fell on the roof. The 1996 IRA bomb caused the upper church windows to be blown in on one side and out on the other. Luckily, the organ had been removed for renovation and so was preserved.

After more than 300 years, St Ann’s is still a place of worship, prayer and quiet reflection in the heart of Manchester.”

Here’s a cartoon I’ve been saving, commenting on banning social media. 

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone.

Sunny summer morning activities. Crazy politicians. A summer holiday cartoon.

 Almost the first thing I did this morning was put some bedding in the washing machine. By the time I had run round the village, come home and showered, it was ready to hang out in the garden. Another load went in the machine as we had breakfast. A third went in later. This is what happens when the weather turns warm and sunny. By mid afternoon it was almost all bone dry.

It’s very still and calm out therein the garden.  ‘England’s green and pleasant land” weather.i need to sit out there in a big sunhat with my sketchbook and capture the moment for posterity!

Over breakfast I heard a strange news report about US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee. Later I looked it up on the internet to confirm that I had not dreamt it. I found this:

“U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee countered President Donald Trump's Monday statement that there would be no Israel without the actions he's taken to protect the country.

Huckabee, a former Baptist preacher, disagreed.

Speaking at the International Conference on Israeli Heritage in Judea and Samaria Tuesday, Huckabee said, "It is your heritage, without a doubt, but it is also the heritage of the United States. Without Israel, without the Jewish foundation, there would not be America. We owe our very existence to what happened in this land," according to The Jerusalem Post.

On Monday, Trump said during a bilateral meeting with the Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in France, "Without me, there would be no Israel -- because no other president was willing to do what I did."

The president's comments came in the context of voicing his frustration with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for launching retaliatory strikes against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon while Trump seeks to sign a peace treaty with Iran.”

I believe that Mr Huckabee’s degree is in religion. Maybe it included no history at all, but surely even he knows that the USA existed before the state of Israel. 

And Mr Trump gives himself a lot of importance too!

Maybe politicians need to be crazy one way or another.

Here are some photos of people standing for election wearing fancy dress - a rather longstanding British tradition. It used to be just the Monster Raving Loony but nowadays lots of would be politicians dress up.

Some of the candidates are not in fancy dress, by the way.

As we seem to having summer weather, here’s a cartoon by Christopher Harry on the dangers of seaside holidays.

I’m going to sit in the garden now.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

By-election. Deals. Trees.

 Andy Burnham has won the Makerfield by-election. Some people are speculating on how soon he will be prime minister. Kier Starmer says he will not back down. Wes Streeting lurks on the edges. Any more for a leadership contest? And we need a new mayor for Greater Manchester. Interesting times!

Elsewhere Donald Trump has signed a peace agreement between Iran and the US but further talks seem to have broken down because Lebanon is still being targeted.:

“At least 16 killed in Israeli strikes, says Lebanese media

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency has said at least 16 people have been killed in the Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon, which Israel’s military said were ongoing, while Hezbollah said there was intense fighting in the area.

The fighting poses a threat to the new US-Iran agreement on ending the war, which calls for an immediate halt of military operations “on all fronts, including in Lebanon”.

The deal also calls for ensuring the “territorial integrity and sovereignty” of Lebanon, where Israel has been battling the Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out any immediate withdrawal from southern Lebanon, saying Israeli forces will stay there “for as long as necessary”.

As just mentioned, Donald Trump said on Thursday the US expected “a ⁠complete ceasefire on all fronts, including ⁠Lebanon, Hezbollah and Israel”, also encouraging “everyone ‌in the ‌Middle East region to maintain their commitment to allowing our negotiations ‌to beautifully unfold”.

 Here’s a cartoon about the deal:

And Mr Trump claims wider responsibility also:

“Trump: 'If it weren’t for me, Israel would not exist today'

Donald Trump has repeated his view that if it weren’t for him “Israel would not exist today”.

He made the remarks to American news outlet Axios, which has released snippets of a 45-minute interview with the US president that has yet to be broadcast.

“If it weren’t for me, Israel would not exist today,” Trump said, adding that his relationship with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “good, but we have to keep him a little bit sane”.”

There you go.

Here’s a piece of sentimental, sad news:

“The Major oak, one of Europe’s oldest, largest and most celebrated ancient trees, has died.

The huge tree, which has grown in Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire, England, for at least 1,000 years, failed to produce any leaves this year, after becoming stressed by a series of hot, dry summers.

Thousands of visitors admire the oak each year, with its great age, enormous 11-metre girth and 28-metre canopy inspiring a forest of folklore. Although the oak would not have been hollow in Robin Hood’s day, it was said to have provided a sanctuary for the outlaw and his gang when fleeing the tyrannical Sheriff of Nottingham.”

We get very sentimental about trees.

We have a similar dead tree not far from our house. Not an oak tree, just a tree that failed to grow new leaf last year. I labeled it “the tree that nature forgot”.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!