Weather. Measures to cope with the energy crisis. (Mis)Interpreting songs and (mis)using them.

 We managed to get out for a walk in the mid-afternoon yesterday, in a lull in the rainstorms. The rain came back again later but today has been dry so far. I even managed to take the small boy for a walk at the end of the morning. The river is getting full again, well, fuller; it has a long way to go to get back to its bouncing best.

With the energy crisis and the possibility of energy blackouts this winter in the news we’ve been checking that we still have a supply candles just in case we need them this winter. For some reason we have boxes of candles dating back to a period years and years ago when we had a lot of power cuts. Now we need to decide whether we really need to rummage about in the shed to seek out the old camping gas stove from the days when summer holidays consisted of loading the car and heading off to Brittany for a few weeks under canvas. It may yet come to that!

The Conservative Party has come to an end. Reaction, even from Conservatives, seems to have been mixed. Liz Truss walked out to make her speech to M People's song but M People don't seem to happy about it. And a number or people have been eager to point our that maybe she never really listened  to the lyrics....

Although,

You’ve done me wrong, your time is up,

You took a sip from the devils cup.

You broke my heart, there’s no way back,

Move right out of here, baby, go in pack your bags…

M People’s Michael Pickering has tweeted: 

“So apparently we can’t stop Truss walking out to our song, very weird! So sad it got used by this shower of a government. BTW Truss, Labour used it with our permission back in the 90s. I don’t want my song being the soundtrack to lies.”

So maybe the Labour Party didn’t read the lyrics either back in the 90s. The chorus about “moving on up” is all both parties were interested in, obviously. M People are not the first and no doubt will not be the last to have their songs used without permission and without any understanding of the song. Donald Trump tried to use Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA”, without even realising it was a protest song. 

I don’t know how it is in the USA but it seems that here in the UK an artist can prevent a venue using their song without permission, provided they know in advance, but they can’t actually prevent an individual from using it as Ms Truss did.

Today Ms Truss has whizzed off to Prague, I think, for a meeting with other European leaders. Some are taking this as a sign of reconciliation with Europe. We’ll see! Initially she wasn’t planning to go. Maybe she has decided it’s better to talk to other country’s leaders than with her own MPs.

Getting back to possible power cuts this winter, a friend of mine obviously has a very pessimistic view of what conditions will be like. She posted a series of photos on Facebook with the caption: “I took some photos of some of my house plants in case they don't survive the dark season...”

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!