Today is wet. It shows little sign of getting any drier. I don’t know if they still have drought conditions in the south east of the country but here it’s wet. The rain barrel in my garden has filled up nicely again and I would like to take a walk round Dovestone reservoir to see if that too has filled up nicely again … once we have a dry enough day to do so.
Actually I exaggerate. We’ve really had plenty of fine weather, often in the afternoon after a very dull start in the morning. I just felt like having a bit of a moan about today’s wetness!
Here’s a little something from John Stevens, originally on Twitter but Yorkshire Bylines copied it onto Facebook:
“In 48 hours as PM, Rishi Sunak has :
- Pulled out of attending Cop27in Egypt.
- Removed Cop president Alok Sharma from Cabinet.
- Removed climate minister Graham Stuart from Cabinet.”
Unless King Charles decides to go, we apparently won’t have any representation at Cop27. So much for our concern for the environment!
And here’s something I copied from somewhere but don’t seem to have made a note of the source. I suspect it’s NewsThump:
“Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is to use his fiscal statement on 17th November to introduce an innovative approach to the country’s housing crisis – a Thunderdome in which young people do battle for an affordable home.
The Thunderdome, which will be built on the outskirts of Chelmsford in Essex, will be governed by one simple rule – ‘two men enter, one man leaves… with a lovely semi on the outskirts of a major dormitory town’.
It is expected that Channel 5 will secure the rights to broadcast live Thunderdome contests and also a lucrative Saturday night highlights package.
“Well there is nothing I like more than watching young folk batter each other into submission for my entertainment,” said apparently legitimate Home Secretary Suella Braverman.
“If this also provides a boost to the housing market then all the better.”
Young people themselves were dubious of the plan.”
An interesting possible solution to one of our problems!
When we took Granddaughter Number Two back to her university residence on Thursday evening, she showed off her Hallowe’en costume, a black (of course) off the shoulder affair, with a fairly tight bodice, lacy sleeves and a frothy skirt. She even had fingerless black lace gloves, much to the delight of her six year old sister. As Hallowe’en itself is actually Monday, it seems that rather a lot of young people plan to make an extended weekend-long celebration. I really don’t know of Granddaughter Number Two plans on doing this as she is the sort of young person who really loves her bed.
Here’s Tim Dowling, who was surprised as an American by how little fuss we made about Hallowe’en when first he came to live in the UK, writing about Hallowe’en. Things have changed since then. Largely it’s been commandeered by the money-makers who saw another opportunity to commercialise something. The same thing happened to St Patrick’s Day, which also was not celebrated all over the UK when I was a student. Now, just as everyone supposedly has to go full-on ghoul for Hallowe’en, it is necessary to wear a silly green hat and get rather drunk on St Patrick’s Day. I await the commercialisation of St David’s Day, although it’s hard to imagine everyone dressed up as leeks. But no doubt, given half a chance, the card manufacturers could persuade us to wish everyone a Happy Saint David’s Day.
I find it interesting that Tim Dowling says that how you feel about Halloween seems to depend on how old you are, and where you grew up. Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland seem just to accept it as something that happens, just another holiday occasion. Maybe it’s the Celtic connection! England has been a bit more puritanical about it in the past but we seem to have got over it. Especially interesting, in my opinion anyway, was a certain Anna who commented, “I’m Irish, so Halloween is bigger than Christmas!”. Really? Bigger than Christmas?
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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