Stuff I have learnt from today’s paper.

According to today’s newspaper, the putting the clocks forward thing tonight might be happening for the last time. The EU has proposed stopping it and if that is agreed it would apply to the UK during any kind of Brexit transition period. Personally I am not bothered about at all about the whole question but I can imagine the hard line we-don’t-want-to-be-ruled-by-Europe brigade getting quite hot under the collar about it.

I have never fully understood the fear that we are ruled by Europe. Following the third rejection of Theresa May’s deal (how many times does she need telling?) I heard someone on the radio, on the Any Answers programme, ranting on about our being governed by an unelected group of politicians. I wonder what he thinks voting for MEPs was all about! 

It seems to be a story that will run and run!

A here is a story about stolen art works which reminded me of The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, which features art thieves and the sale of stolen paintings in the Dutch capital. Is Amsterdam really a hotbed of stolen pieces of artwork?

Gwyneth Paltrow’s daughter, the rather unfortunately named Apple Martin, has criticised her mother for posting a picture of her online without her permission. It used to be that mothers got out albums of baby photos to show off and the embarrass their offspring when the said offspring brought home a prospective marriage partner. Nowadays, children are more photographed than ever before. It’s so easy to snap a picture on your phone without having to worry about where you put the camera and whether you can afford to get the film developed. Very often, if not in fact usually, pregnancy is announced by posting the first scan picture online.

So there are online pics from pre+birth. But probably no actual photo albums, which is rather a pity. How often, I wonder, do people go back and look at the myriad pictures online, up there in the “cloud”? Albums also spend a lot of time neglected but as a rule they come out from time to time.

Besides, if you have no childhood photo albums, where are you going to find all the embarrassing childhood photos to pass on to your offspring’s friends when they want to set up a really funny display for the offspring’s thirtieth birthday?

Housing developments in London obliged to have some parts designated social housing have tried to keep play areas for children separate. Rich children should not play with poor children! Goodness knows what might happen in the sandpit or on the slide! Considering that one of the mothers of poor children said she pays £1200 per month, I don’t know where you draw the line. Social housing, known as council housing when I was a kid, never used to be so expensive. Anyway, the mothers in one London estate have protested and got the right for their children to play together.

Direct action!

And finally, did you know about the mystery of “les téléphones Garfield”? No? Neither did I. But according to this article bits of yellow Garfield telephones have been appearing on a beach in Brittany for the last 35 years. Now they have located a container stuck in a cave, probably still containing even more Garfield telephones. Mind you, nobody knows which container ship it fell off. Maybe they can make a film about it, along the lines of Whiskey Galore!

It’s reassuring to know that (some) mysteries have solutions, even if only partial.