It was a very pleasant ride to Uppermill market this morning - another blue sky and sunshine day! The queue for the fishman was exceedingly long. Fortunately I had fish from last week in the freezer and so I decided not to wait around.
My daughter sent a message to say she has driven past me as I rode home. She was on her way to a friend’s house. It’s a good job she did not pip her horn at me; I might have fallen off my bike in surprise!
Apart from the queue at the fishman’s van, the market was fairly quiet. There was, however, a huge queue outside one of the cafes. Presumably people were breakfasting out, taking advantage of the fine weather and our freedom to go and have breakfast out again.
Discussion continues, however, about the wisdom or otherwise of lifting all Coronavirus restrictions on June 21st, and I suppose the wisdom of eating breakfast in a cafe. Cases are still rising faster in Greater Manchester than we would like, not as alarming as on previous occasions but still worrying. Virus variants are being renamed to avoid racial or even racist implications of naming them like “the India Variant”. We still don’t know how effective the vaccines are against the new variants. We’re just muddling along!
In rural northern California + thankfully a long way away from here - they are seeing a more troubling rise in Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations, an alarming trend that comes as residents and businesses continue to protest against safety measures and vaccinations – with one Mendocino cafe threatening to charge customers $5 for wearing a mask. Around here pubs and cafes have large notices saying masks must be worn except when seated at your designated table. That sounds sensible! In Mendocino they also threaten to charge people for bragging about having been vaccinated!
Crazy people!
There seem to be too many extremes of behaviour on the other side of the pond. Also in California, a gunman recently killed nine of his co-workers, possibly a revenge attack as he appeared to target certain individuals and leave others alone. It turns out he had stockpiled weapons and ammunition at his home, including 12 guns and 22,000 rounds of ammunition, authorities said on Friday. The gun he used for the shootings was legal. Was that the case for the other weapons he owns. What goes through the minds of people who stockpile weapons in such a way? How is someone allowed to purchase so many?
As I said already, crazy people!
Here in the UK Brexit rumbles away in the background, rather like a dormant volcano - not forgotten but not top of our worry list at the moment. Here’s a comment I appreciated on social media:-
“I love it.
France has closed its borders to non-EU citizens, and people who voted for Brexit are complaining that they now cannot get on Eurostar in London and travel to Paris, proclaiming that it's because the French have it in for "us" because of Brexit.
You could not make it up.
We are being treated exactly the same as the Americans, Australians, Canadians, Indians, the Japanese etc.
The irony.
If only we were in the same club as the one that 27 countries are in, then these Brexiters would be free today to travel to Paris.”
Travel companies continue to advertise holidays. Government advice suggests we should stay at home, muddling along!
We’ve been watching Fargo, the series, not the film which we saw many years ago. In series 2, on a couple of occasions, once in the middle of a rather noisy and violent shoot-out, spaceships appear, shining a spotlight on the scene. I have not quite worked out what that was supposed to add to the storyline, apart from adding to the weirdness and maybe underlining the aline qualities of some of the protagonist. But anyway, here’s a link to an article about someone trying to warn the Pentagon about a possible attack by UFOs and getting upset about a campaign to make him appear crazy! I wonder why they might think him crazy!
UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) now appear to have become UAPs (unidentified aerial phenomena). I suppose this may be so that it can be used in reference to drones and the like. Or it may be to stop reporters seeming too crazy! But there it is!
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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