I checked with my weather app this morning when I got up: mostly cloudy - okay! - rain starting in 35 minutes - less that okay! So I got up and got organised to walk to Uppermill. It was fine when I set off. About five minutes up the hill towards Dobcross I felt the first spits and spots of rain. Another fine minutes later I needed to put the hood of my raincoat up as the rain was coming down quite heavily. Between the hood of my hoodie and the hood of my raincoat, I was effectively blinkered. Goodness knows how many people I stomped past without greeting them! I’m not usually so ill-mannered.
I was stomping to Uppermill rather than cycling because I had made arrangements with my daughter. (Mind you, I might well have walked anyway as cycling in the rain, or in the promise of imminent rain, is not my favourite occupation.) 7 year old Granddaughter Number Four was having a play date with her friend Jessica and four year old Grandson Number Two was likely to cause havoc in their carefully arranged games. So he was meeting me and we were going to the park before catching a bus to my house.
The rain stopped and all went well. But the benches and all the play equipment in the park was very wet. On the bus on the way home some time later as the little fellow rang the bell, he looked at me in concern and said, “That man smiled at me as if he wants to eat me!” I reassured him that I had known the gentleman in question for years and that I knew he did not eat children. Someone has been taking fairy stories too much to heart.
And so the day went along, nothing of great importance going on here.
Elsewhere, a block of flats in Dagenham went up in flames yesterday. Fortunately nobody died but it’s another thing that should not have happened. It’s seven years since the Grenfell Tower fire killed 72 people and they’ve been talking about replacing the cladding which burnt so fiercely ever since. Many blocks still have dangerous cladding. Nobody seems able to expedite matters. Ironically this latest block was in the process of having the cladding removed - just too late! Also ironically, when cladding-replacement work is underway the very scaffolding used 2is a further fire risk because of the wooden platforms needed!
There is some discussion about what to do with children as young as 14, or even 12 or 11 years old, who took place in the recent riots. The Prime Minister wants quick justice, to deter further rioting but I’m not sure locking up youngsters is the answer. Surely a sensitive programme of education in social issues would be more productive, maybe having the parents attend as well. At the risk of going on about austerity and such like, I can’t help feeling that the lack of things for young teenagers to do in the csommunity must have some element of blame here.
Further afield, it seems that Israel is now attacking places in the Occupied West Bank, adding to the chaos already existent in Gaza. In Israel itself, family life continues with relative normality, taking children to museum, where small boys accidentally cause havoc. I don’t think I need to point out the contrast between the life of the four year old boy who broke a museum exhibit and that of a four year old in Gaza is very striking.
Life goes on. Say safe and well, everyone!
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