Very precise weather forecasting. Silly games. Protests. And protest poetry.

I looked at my weather app before going out running this morning and it told me it was going to rain at 9.00. As it wasn’t actually raining at that time, unlike yesterday when I think it rained all day, I put my waterproof on and set off anyway. And, lo and behold, on the dot of 9.00 it started to rain on me. However, it only lasted about 5 minutes. The morning tried to brighten up after that and there was even some blue sky but that didn’t last long. So it goes!

Television seems to abound with game shows these days, none of which really appeal to me. Other people seem to appreciate games though. I came across this story: 

“A football stadium DJ has apologised for playing Last Christmas by Wham!, potentially knocking more than 7,000 people out of cult game Whamageddon.

Players try to avoid George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley's 1984 hit for as long as possible before Christmas Eve and are eliminated once they hear it.

Matt Facer, DJ at Northampton Town, was criticised for playing it at the home game against Portsmouth on 2 December.

"I never knew people took it so seriously," he said.

Whamageddon started about 10 years ago, and has grown in a popularity through social media.

It now has set rules, a dedicated website, and merchandise.

The game's rules state: "While we can't stop you from deliberately sending your friends to Whamhalla, the intention is that this is a survival game. Not a Battle Royale."

Oh boy!

More seriously, yesterday some 100,000 people marched through London in support of Palestine and calling for a ceasefire. There was a group of Jewish people in the march. It seems that police didn’t understand why they were there because I hear that they surrounded the Jewish contingent to “protect them” from the protestors. Oh dear!m

And here’s something about a young woman called Emily Berry, apparently known as Em Berry. She was born in London in 1981 and studied English literature at Leeds University. She is completing a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing at the University of East Anglia. She has published several volumes of poetry and won a number of poetry awards. In 2017, she became editor of Poetry Review, the most widely read poetry magazine in Great Britain. Here is a poem she wrote which has been widely posted without attribution on facebook and other social media in response to the bloodthirsty and murderous attacks on Gaza.

 “Because of Us” 

This morning I learned
The English word gauze
(finely woven medical cloth)
Comes from the Arabic word […] Ghazza
Because Gazans have been skilled weavers for centuries

I wondered then

how many of our wounds
have been dressed
because of them

and how many of theirs
have been left open
because of us

Life goes on. Stay safe and well,everyone!