We never got the thunderstorms yesterday. In fact, the late afternoon and evening were the best part of the day. The cloud cleared, the sun came out and the air freshened. Phil had an early evening zoom meeting but we went for an evening stroll after his meeting was over.
And here are some photos of sunset through trees. We don’t see much of sunsets from here as there is a rather large hill which gets in the way.
This is not a new activity. On Sunday we walked up Lark Hill again, quite late in the evening. Still no butterflies on the buddleia!
We have resolved to make the best of these evenings. They’ll be gone before we know it.
I’ve already discussed with the next door neighbour the question of getting the gutters cleared before the winter rains get here. We have a veritable prairie in the gutters. Last year it was a sycamore sapling forest so I suppose grass is not too bad.
In Italy they’ve been putting cities on red alert, meaning it is expected even healthy people could be at risk from the heat! The heat is not deterring tourists, with the number of foreign visitors to Italy estimated to be 2.5% higher than in 2023. Italians themselves are seeking escape from the heat either in the mountains or on the coast but even the sea is hotter than usual.
Here’s a link to an article about the people Beckenham in South London, who raised about £3000 to pay for a holiday for a street cleaner who has been keeping their streets clean for years and years. His employers say he can’t accept it because the organisation “does not permit our staff to accept any moneys or incentives outside agreed pay structures”.
Goodness! We can’t have corrupt street cleaners out there, can we?
Here’s a poem by Michael Rosen:
PROMISED LAND
A family arrived and said they had papers
to prove that his house was theirs.
No, no, said the man, my people have always lived here,
my father, grandfather .... and look, the garden,
my great-grandfather planted that.
No, no, said the family, look at the documents.
There was a stack of them.
Where do I start? said the man.
No need to read the beginning, they said,
turn to the page marked ‘Promised Land’.
Are they legal? he said, who wrote them?
God, they said, God wrote them, look -
Here come His tanks.
And here’s a link to a long article by Omer Bartov, a historian and former IDF soldier who has been disturbed by a recent visit to Israel.
Here’s a short extract:
“Since I returned from my visit, I have been trying to place my experiences there into a larger context. The reality on the ground is so devastating, and the future appears so bleak, that I have allowed myself to indulge in some counter-factual history and to entertain some hopeful speculations about a different future. I ask myself, what would have happened had the newly created state of Israel fulfilled its commitment to enact a constitution based on its Declaration of Independence? That same declaration which stated that Israel “will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations”.
And this:
“During the few hopeful years of the Oslo peace process, people in Israel began speaking of making it into a “state of all its citizens”, Jews and Palestinians alike. The assassination of prime minister Rabin in 1995 put an end to that dream. Will it ever be possible for Israel to discard the violent, exclusionary, militant and increasingly racist aspects of its vision as it is embraced there now by so many of its Jewish citizens? Will it ever be able to reimagine itself as its founders had so eloquently envisioned it – as a nation based on freedom, justice and peace?”
Food for thought.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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