For the first time in several weeks I got on my bike this morning and cycled to the market. My daughter had sent me a text message at 8.00 in the morning warning me to be careful out and about as it was very gusty. So I went out prepared to be blown off my bike, perhaps! But in fact it was not all that windy and certainly less cold than it has been over the last few days. (The wind did get stronger as the day went on and some nasty weather is forecast for the next few days!)
Jenny the Biscuit, the lady who has the cheese and biscuit (and other odds and ends like bread rolls and fancy jars of jam) stall, must have been warned about high winds forecast. Her place in the market was empty. Ever since her husband died last year she has difficulty setting up her stall if the weather is bad. There will be complaints in my household: week three without her oat biscuits or her treacle biscuits! Whatever will we do? Plain digestives will not cut the mustard. Traditions, once established, must be maintained.
On the subject of traditions, I read about an odd one concerning bridges. The Millennium Bridge in London needs some repairs. It seems to me that it has always been something of a problem. Did it not bounce alarmingly as people walked across it when it was first opened? Anyway, some part of it has started to degrade and something or other needs to be replaced. They plan to work 24 hours a day to complete the repairs quickly. (London’s five major Thames crossing are apparently looked after by a charity, the City Bridge Foundation. Maybe that’s why the work is being done so promptly. Apparently the Coty Bridge Foundation is a 900 year old charity and is London’s biggest independent charity funder. There you go! I wonder if they would care to come and mend the wooden bridge around here that crosses the river Tame and connects the park to the garden centre. It’s been closed for at least two yeas, maybe more, making a longish detour necessary.)
Anyway, according to the Port of London Thames Byelaws, clause 36.2: “When the headroom of an arch or span of a bridge is reduced from its usual limits, but that arch or span is not closed to navigation, the person in control of the bridge must suspend from the centre of that arch or span by day a bundle of straw large enough to be conspicuous and by night a white light.”
And that’s what they are doing: hanging bales of hay from the Millennium Bridge. “This is one of those quirky traditions London is famous for, but it also does serve a practical purpose, to warn shipping when the headroom under a bridge span is reduced,” said a City Bridge Foundation spokesperson.
Here’s another bit of odd Britishness: an artist who paints tiny pictures on discarded chewing gum has pleaded for his works to be saved after being told most of them will be removed during the works on the bridge. Maybe they can be sold for charity!
And here is a link to an article about another good old tradition: accusing people on benefits of spending the money they receive on trivial items, while pleading poverty. It used to be things like colour television sets, cigarette, going out for a drink. Now it seems to be having a mobile phone contract, according to Tory candidate Andrew Cooper, who was so enraged he swore about it!
And on a more serious, international note, we are witnessing the ritual blaming of the other side after a hospital in Palestine was destroyed in the ongoing conflict. It’s time for a ceasefire and some peace talks.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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