Fog! Buses! International diplomacy! Telling tales!

Fog is funny stuff. Awful to drive around in, from indoors it gives the world a strangely muffled feeling. As the snow gave way to rain and the very cold temperatures disappeared, the world went back to being pretty grey. Monday morning dawned crisp and bright, less cold than the weekend had been, perfect for a long walk, especially as we had spent most of the weekend inside.

So I persuaded Phil to finish off the various bits of chess organising he absolutely had to do and go out for a walk, maybe even catch a little sunshine. The sun was still shining as we put our boots on. By the time we stepped put of the door, the cloud had come down and the day was closing in. We went for a walk anyway but it was all rather damp! And that is how it has been since then.

Yesterday I thought I was being really efficient. I needed to pick up Christmas gifts for a couple of people who will undoubtedly call in before the weekend with gifts for us. So I set off for the village with a stack of postcards (finally written and stamped) to post, and a smaller stack going to Europe, involving a visit to the post office to make sure they had the correct stamps for the various destination countries. It was easier to do this before catching the bus to Oldham as the central post office there is so large that you wait for ages in a queue.

These tasks done, I hopped on a bus just before 1.00 heading for the town centre. A quick visit to the local market, where there is an excellent fruit and veg stall, into Thornton’s chocolate shop for stocking filler bags of goodies, into a card shop for yet more Christmas cards so that Phil does not moan that I have used all the good ones and only left ones he REALLY dislikes, into the big store for the two gifts that had prompted the trip to town in the first place, and I was back at the bus stop in time for the 2.00 bus for home.


And it did not arrive!!

The problem with a situation like that is that you wait around for a while incase it is just going to be very late. At that point it is too late to go and visit another shop in case you are too late for the next bus. Except that the next bus was almost ten minutes late. That meant that I stood for forty minutes waiting for a bus!

Less than impressed, when I finally got on I found it full of people grumbling about the fact that the previous bus had been omitted. As it filled even more, something which seemed barely possible, with people laden with parcels and one young woman with her baby buggy full of shopping and her toddler toddling beside her, the lady on the seat next to mine was heard to mutter, “I bloody hate Christmas!!!” Great! Season of peace and joy!

Then, two stops further along, the bus paused for another five or ten minutes to change drivers! Further along the route, an elderly lady I know got on the bus opposite the large Tesco supermarket. Chilled to the bine she had been waiting there for almost an hour!!! Such is the local scene.

Now, on a different tack, here is an interesting approach to international cooperation:-

“The US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, has warned UN members she will be “taking names” of countries that vote to reject Donald Trump’s recognition os Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

In a letter seen by the Guardian, Haley told countries – including European delegations – that she will report back to the US president with the names of those who support a draft resolution rejecting the US move at the UN general assembly on Thursday, adding that Trump took the issue personally. 

Haley writes: “As you consider your vote, I encourage you to know the president and the US take this vote personally. “The president will be watching this vote carefully and has requested I report back on those who voted against us,” she continued.”

 The “headmaster” effect!

I wonder if I can get him to take note of the name of my bus company!