Sunshine. Walks. Odds and ends from social media.

Today has been one of those blue sky early winter days, which amazingly didn’t cloud over by midday. So I ran round the village first thing. Last year at this time we had snow, not a lot but snow nonetheless. No snow today!

Later in the day we walked up the hill to Dobcross, admiring the holly en route. And coming back down the hill we ran into old friends we’ve not seen for years. The sunshine brings everyone out.

 

I’m still ignoring the football in Qatar. A friend of mine, the one who said she was boycotting the whole business is still watching everything and getting quite excited. 

Still on football, a friend of mine posted some stuff on social media about Manchester United, stuff I didn’t know but which Phil assures me is well known by everyone : 

“When Newton Heath FC changed its name to Manchester United in 1902, a grand flag and a very large image of the team captain Harry Stafford graced the club’s headquarters at the Imperial Hotel, Piccadilly. Harry Stafford was later to become the pub’s landlord.

Five years later, the pub was the venue for the establishment of the Association Football Players' and Trainers' Union in 1907, which was convened by City/United legend Billy Meredith and United's Charlie Roberts. The organisation continues to this day as the Professional Footballers' Association, the world's oldest professional sport trade union, with over 5,000 members.

The fantastically styled old building was sadly demolished in 1997 for the new Hotel Malmaison development.  There's a Starbucks on the site now.”

Starbucks doesn’t seem like much of a replacement, in my opinion.

Here’s MP Zarah Sultana on social media: 

“Jeff Bezos could give every Amazon worker a £90,000 bonus and he'd still be as rich as he was at the start of the pandemic.

But instead workers are facing a massive pay cut.

That's why I joined Coventry workers on Friday as they head towards the first strike at an Amazon UK site ✊🏽

GMB Union GMB Midlands”

It makes me wonder just how much money a person really needs!

I bought a Christmas present for our small grandson (dinosaurs, of course) from a local toyshop, rather than ordering it more cheaply perhaps from Amazon! I’m lucky to be able to afford to do that.

I was reflecting on the amount of targeted advertising we all receive when I saw this: 

“Women trying for a baby are being targeted by formula milk companies on social media even before they have become pregnant, a World Health Organization scientist has said.

Formula milk brands use online shopping and search data to detect when someone is planning a baby, said Dr Nigel Rollins, of the department of maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health at the WHO.

Direct advertising of formula milk to parents of babies under six months old is prohibited in the UK but loopholes mean companies can provide advice to pregnant women and new parents under their own logos.”

Here’s a link to the full article.

From articles I read, it seems to be more stressful nowadays to be a new mother than 40+ years ago when I was doing it. I had a couple of books and a bunch of friends from the National Childbirth Trust. Nowadays they are bombarded with information from all sides apparently. 

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!