Further to my ramblings about gollies yesterday, today I read that the pub in question has been vandalised. This despite the fact that the landlady stated: ““We’ve had loads and loads of support. When people started complaining in 2018, I was sent more gollies in the post. Three have come in the last few days and there are two more in the post.”
Now, that’s something that wasn’t in the original reporting. People were complaining five years ago!! So it’s not a new development!
There’s also this:
“The couple have denied they are racist. When asked about her husband being photographed in a T-shirt from the far-right group Britain First, Benice Ryley said: “I don’t think Chris is a supporter of Britain First, he was just wearing that shirt because it was convenient at the time.”
Chris Ryley, who has used Facebook to express far-right views and anti-immigrant sentiment, has made a 2016 post in which he apparently joked about Mississippi lynching alongside a photo of the racist dolls.
Ryley shared a photo of two dolls hanging from a bar shelf, captioned: “We have our golliwogs, yaay.” In the comments, Benice Ryley wrote: Are you sure this is legal. lol.” Chris Ryley responded: “They used to hang them in Mississippi years ago.”
Hmm! Not such an innocent display of harmless dolls!
People have been arrested for protesting about the Grand National. Maybe they were right to protest. After all horses died in the race. As we listened to news about this we wondered why the race is called a “steeplechase”. Obviously the origin must have something to do with church steeples. So I looked it up and found this:
steeplechase (n.)
1793 (earlier steeplehunt, 1772), from steeple + chase (n.). Originally an open-country horse race with a visible church steeple as a goal.
There you go. Goodness knows why they have to jump over fences, apart from making it more exciting for spectators. I did find out that the course over which the Grand National is run features much larger fences than those found on conventional National Hunt tracks. That must be what makes it so dangerous for the horses.
Our Italian conversation group reconvenes today. We were sent stuff about Easter Monday in Italy to look at Somehow I thought that Easter Monday was a singularly British public holiday but it seems Italy does it too. They call it Lunedì dell’Angelo - Angel’s Monday - in memory of the angel who appeared at the empty sepulchre of Christ to reassure the confused women. Italians go out, weather permitting, and have picnics and barbecues.
I have mixed feelings about barbecues. No, I just don’t appreciate barbecues. Maybe it’s because I’m not a fan of charred meat. It always seems like a chance for some men to show off their fire-lighting skills. Around here we have often had problems with peat bogs (dried out in summer weather) catching fire because of abandoned disposable barbecues.
i read this warning notice somewhere online: “Signs have been spotted close to FormbyBeach informing visitors of a £400 fine if they are spotted using a disposable barbeque. The beach, held in the highest regard whenever the sun appears, attracts thousands of visitors every year and people will be sure to descend on the tourist hotspot for the Easter bank holiday weekend.”
We know and enjoy Formby beach - indeed for many years trekking through the red squirrel reserve and going over the dunes to the beach was a favourite activity of ours.
In the coop store the other day Coop Radio was reminding people to ensure that their disposable barbecues were properly extinguished, to avoid fire risk of course. I found myself wanting to shout at the radio to tell people to take their used disposable barbecues away with them and put them in their own dustbins, instead of littering beauty spots!
Today I am clearly in touch with my inner grumpy person.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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