I read this morning (well, I spotted the headline) that Jane Birkin’s original Hermes bag had sold at auction for a record-breaking £7.4 million. Wow! I thought, that”s a lot of money for a second-hand bag. Especially as this original one is a bit messy because Jane Birkin used to stick stickers on it, announcing the various causes she supported. I suppose it’s another aspect of the modern version of collecting saints’ holy relics.
Apparently such bags are all handmade and there’s a waiting list to purchase one. Even the rich have to queue! A new one costs around £7,400. Victoria Beckham is said to have more than 100 of them. Goodness! I thought I had a lot of bags, different colours and styles according to my outfit. But 100 extremely expensive bags is a little excessive!
I am told that the rich in the UK have had to downsize their establishments because of Labour’s tax policy. They are having to do without butlers! This is a bit harsh for the butlers. Will their training in “butlering” stand them in good stead when they seek new jobs?
In 2007 it seems there were an estimated 5,000 butlers in the UK. By 2014 the estimate had doubled to 1,000. Back in the 1980s there were only about 100. Why did the numbers go up? Are some of these butlers just personal assistants with a fancy title? Do the rich want to emulate the nobility?
All of this just underlines the difference between ordinary folk and those with more money than they know what to do with.
In Italy, I hear that they are having problems with flamingoes. Ferrara province, between Venice and Ravenna grows risotto rice. Flamingos have recently moved into the area of the paddy fields and are stirring up the mud. The birds aren’t targeting the rice seedlings but use their webbed feet to stir up the soil and snatch molluscs, algae or insects from the shallow water. The rice is collateral damage.
Now farmers have started patrolling day and night in an effort to scare the birds away from their rice crops. The farmers honk truck horns, bang barrels and even fire small gas cannon that make thunderous booms. However, the noise mostly just sends the flamingoes flying to another nearby paddy to trample it underfoot. This seems to be another consequence of climate change. The birds seem to have gone from North Africa to Southern Spain, escaping drought, and now northern Italy. More details in this article.
It’s certainly hot and dry again here. Coming home on the bus from the supermarket I had to change seats because I was growing tired of hearing the couple behind me repeating over and over the mantra “It’s too hot to do anything!” It’s excellent weather for getting your washing dry. I am tempted to go round the house looking for more stuff to wash!
It will be another hot ride for the cyclists in the Tour!
Here’s a detail from the Bayeux Tapestry, which I mentioned in yesterday’s post. This particular section reminds us that the Normans back in the eleventh century were still only a couple of generations away from the Vikings they used to be.
I wrote recently about Netanyahu’s supposed proposal that Donald Trump deserved the Nobel Peace Prize. Well, apparently the same suggestion was made about a certain Adolf Hitler! Echoes of the past!
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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