Oddities of the modern world.

I continue to be worried by the promised EU referendum in the UK. I am not the only one by all accounts. People of other nationalities have also expressed their concern. The Polish Secretary of State for European affairs has been warning that British people would almost certainly not be able to travel as freely within Europe as they do now, nor to work and buy homes in other EU countries. UK businesses would find themselves facing new problems as the country would no longer be able to influence the rules of the internal market. 

I wish someone would make this absolutely clear to the great British public who might just vote us out of the EU and into a very minor role on the world stage. There is rather too much burying of heads in sand going on. 

On less serious matters, I have come across a comment by Angela Merkel about Facebook (as opposed to ON Facebook - I am not a friend or follower of the lady). She is reported to have said, 'It's nice to have it, like it's nice to have a decent washing machine'. Obviously a practical lady who does not get carried away. A good person to be in charge of a country? 

In this she differs from Malaysian authorities who arrested a foreign national on Tuesday for allegedly stripping naked to pose for pictures on the country’s highest peak, Mount Kinabalu, an act some Malaysians have said angered the spirits of the mountain and caused an earthquake. I am amazed that in the 21st century such beliefs continue to be adhered to and that people can be arrested for it. Once again I find myself wondering if those who believe in ancient rituals use the trappings of the 21st century in their everyday life. If so, how do they reconcile the two parts of their life. I thought of this again when I read Richard Feynman describing staying in a room in a Jewish seminary, where young men were training to be rabbis. Getting in the lift one Saturday he asked the man who got in with him which floor he wanted to go to. The man stopped him from pressing any buttons, explaining that was his job. On the Sabbath the young trainee rabbis were not permitted to press the buttons but he, a non-Jew, did it for them. I am just surprised they were allowed to use the lift! 

And now for some thing completely different. A woman in Devon arrived home to find that her garden was full of gnomes,107 gnomes to be precise, all carefully arranged in her front garden. She reported the matter to the police. “Someone has taken quite a bit of time and effort to place them there,” a police spokesman said. “It has unsettled the homeowner, who has no idea why there were put in her front garden at night. We are seeking to establish where the gnomes have come from." 

 Now, he said it unsettled her but in fact she said she found it hilarious, one of the funniest things she has seen in a long time. The police took them away and are trying to discover who they belong to. Have they been stolen from other folk's gardens or stolen en masse from a garden centre. The house owner has been told that she can have them back if nobody claims them within 28 days. Amazing! 

Her final comment: “It’s the best, most bizarre thing that has ever happened to me. I don’t know who did it but I would love to know. I would love to shake their hand and say: ‘Well done, you made me laugh.’” 

Wonderful reaction!