For weeks of people have been visiting on a Wednesday and then foul weather has been putting me off getting on my bike. So I was determined to cycle to the market this morning. After all, the weather forecast for this week has been mostly good: light cloud and light winds, my weather app promised me this morning. I looked out of the window, saw that the trees were blowing about rather a lot and selected another layer to protect me from the cold.
When I got outside I realised that the air was damp, but by then I was out and about. Besides, a little damp wasn’t going to hurt me. However, the further along the road I got, the more the “damp” turned into drizzle and then fine rain, not enough to soak you instantly but enough to be unpleasant to cycle in.
So much for light winds and light cloud!
At the market, the shoe and slipper man was frantically covering his ware with plastic sheeting. He doesn’t have an awning, just a low table. “Jenny Biscuit” was a no-show. Either she has extended her Christmas & New Year holiday or she was put off by the blusteriness. I bought fruit from the fruit and veg man, who is still selling Cox’s orange pippins. I wanted fishcakes but the fishman had none so I bought sea bream fillets instead. As I prepared to set off for home the fruit and veg man called out to me and approached with 4 more Cox’s orange pippins in his hand. “I think the apples you bought might be frost damaged. I’ve just cut into one to eat it and it is obviously affected by the cold. So here are some extra apples just case.” Protecting his reputation maybe, not wanting me to complain about his selling me faulty apples, but still a good gesture.
The day has improved as we’ve moved into the afternoon but it isn’t a patch on yesterday which was a perfect day for a long walk along the canal towpaths to Tesco in Greenfield. On my way out I did my good deed for the day. Close to the crossroads, I encountered a woman looking lost. She asked if I could tell her where to catch a bus to Uppermill, and then explained that she wanted to go to Saddleworth School, which has now moved to Diggle. Somehow she had been told to get off a bus which had driven into the industrial estate but nobody had told her where to go from there.
So I accompanied her to the bus shelter and explained about our complicated buses - it’s easy to get onto a 350 bus going in the wrong direction as buses to both Oldham and Ashton call at the same stop. I also wanted to check when there might be a bus to Diggle (number 356) - not for almost an hour. Checking that she knew what she was doing - in fluent but heavily accented English she told me she knew Uppermill but not our bit of Saddleworth - I set off on my way.
As a consequence, when I had finished my bit of shopping at Tesco I missed the bus home by about two minutes! Fortunately I didn’t have much to carry, and so I walked to Uppermill where I waited for the next one. So much for good deeds!
It was at that point that I remembered that I should have been at home waiting for a parcel to be delivered between 3 and 4pm. (Phil was out and about elsewhere.) When I arrived home I checked to see if there was a card from the deliveryman, and looked in the box outside the door in case he had left it there. Nothing! Later Phil had a text message saying they had attempted delivery at 4.05. Really? I was home at that time. It must have been another case of a deliveryman who does not know how to use a doorbell but taps gently on the door and gives up! They are supposed to be trying again in the same time frame today. We shall see!
Now for some more serious stuff. Here’s another of those posts about Israel and Gaza:
"Israeli politician Nissim Vaturi has reiterated his call for Gaza to be burned down, saying “there are no innocents there.”
Vaturi, a member of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Like party, had said in November that Israel had to do “no less than burn Gaza” and “we have to crush Gaza, Gaza is Hamas.”
A deputy speaker in the Knesset, the Times of Israel quotes him today telling Hakol Baramah radio he had no regrets and stood by his words, adding “It is better to burn down buildings rather than have soldiers harmed. There are no innocents there.”
Referring to Palestinians still in northern Gaza after repeated orders from the Israeli military for them to flee, Vaturi said “One hundred thousand remain. I have no mercy for those who are still there. We need to eliminate them.”
The statement comes a day before this week’s hearings at the international court of justice, where South Africa has accused Israel of genocide in Gaza."
(Guardian update 10:08)
The end doesn’t seem near.
However, even those living/surviving in Gaza still seem able to see the funny side of life, as this extract from Riad’s Gaza Diary shows:
From Gaza Diary entry No. 40:
“On our way, Ahmad’s friend sees two guys he met recently after they evacuated to his area. I discovered later that one of them comes from a very wealthy family. They owned a building that was levelled to the ground.
They are laughing. The guy tells us the story: “So, all I have left – I mean had – were two pairs of trousers, two T-shirts, three pairs of underwear and three pairs of socks. I woke up this morning and could not find my clothes. I washed them last night and hung them out to dry. This morning, they were gone. After hours of searching, we reached the market, and I found out that someone had stolen my clothes and was selling them.”
I told him: “Well, that is good, you got your clothes back.”
“No, I did not,” he said, laughing. “The thief was a woman. So, when I wanted to go talk to her, my father stopped me, and he told me that this woman might be in a dire need to steal clothes and sell them. So we agreed to do something I never thought in my life I would do. I decided to buy my clothes back.”
The other guy was laughing so hard I thought he would have a heart attack.
“But guess what?” he says. “By the time we reached her, another man had bought most of the stuff. But I was able to buy something.”
By now, the other guy was literally on the ground laughing.
“I bought back my boxers. My used, worn boxer briefs. For twice their original price.”
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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