A lack of stuff in the news.

Granddaughter Number Two had to go into Manchester yesterday morning to return her work laptop to the GMPT office, as she has now officially stopped working for them. She returned telling us that you can barely move in Manchester city centre without falling over or bumping into pictures of the queen. It’s only to be expected, I suppose. 

As I ran round the village this morning I noticed that the Delph well-dressing society has been busy. We still don't have a well but they prop it against a tree. They must have been wondering what theme to represent this year. 

Isabel DIaz Ayuso, president of the Comunidad de Madrid, has apparently declared three days of mourning in her region and the Real Casa de Correos, seat of regional government will be illuminated with the colours of the Union Jack. So is the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and possibly the Eiffel Tower. Some take this as an indication of which countries are friends of the UK. 

Henry Bolton, UKIP leader, has jumped on the occasion to get a bit patriotic and has tweeted: “It’s apparent that most British schools no longer teach their pupils the National Anthem, or fly the Union Flag. I ask @truss.liz and @kitmalthouse to issue an instruction to all schools to rectify this omission, and to do so prior to Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral.”

Oh boy! 

And now it’s all official. They’ve had the ceremony this morning declaring Charles no longer prince but king. William becomes Prince of Wales and Harry’s children can now be given the titles Prince and Princess. So all’s right with the world. 

There certainly seems to be nothing else happening anywhere to judge to the radio news broadcast I just listened to. 

It’s very odd to hear references to the queen and realise they are talking about Camilla. That’s quite a transition: from scarlet woman earlier in her life to queen of England!

It has been agreed that the day of the late queen’s funeral will be a bank holiday. If that turns out to be Monday 19th, as predicted, will my Italian online class, first of this academic year, go ahead? I wonder! Presumably this bank holiday will not involve everyone heading for the seaside in a charabanc but sitting at home watching the state funeral on the telly. 

Newsthump remains as unforgiving and disrespectful of convention, as ready to comment on social situations as usual. Here are a couple of their headlines: 

“The 96-year-old woman tragically passed away after waiting several hours for an ambulance from the underfunded and overstretched NHS.”

“Energy crisis forces 73-year-old London man to take on new full-time job.”

That”s enough of that. There are a few other things to be read in the newspapers online. 

Hadley Freeman, mostly a fashion writer but occasional commentator on other things, writes about someone I’ve never heard of, a certain Patrick Cox, once shoemaker to the rich and famous, such as Elton John. Apparently she is personally acquainted with the former cobbler. Here’s a bit of her article: 

“Then suddenly, he seemed to disappear. Out of the blue, he emailed me this summer and wrote that he’s working on a documentary about his new life as a toad facilitator. “A toad what?!” Cox himself would have once replied. A toad facilitator is someone who helps people while they smoke toad poison, also known as 5-MeO‑DMT, the strongest hallucinogen known to man.

“I know, it’s such a cliche: ‘Patrick moves to Ibiza and becomes a shaman.’ But I am not a shaman and never will be. I just want to be part of something that is helping people,” he says.

Helping them to smoke toad poison?

“I am aware of how ridiculous it can seem, but I don’t care.””

Well! Who knew that smoking toad venom was even a thing? Not me certainly, but I’m not well up on hallucinogenic stuff.

On the subject of Elton John (more or less, after a fashion), my daughter and family are all excited today about the arrival and entry into their family of a rescue puppy whose current name is Elton - his brother is called John would you believe!. This is a rescue puppy, being flown in from Cyprus, I think. The family had to be interviewed for their suitability to receive the puppy, who travel they then paid for! Once in the family his name will be changed to Rocket - inspired by Elton John’s song Rocket Man. Quite why she needs to further complicate her busy life is a mystery to me but there it is!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!