We were tidying up the garden yesterday when Grandson Number One turned up unexpectedly on his bike. I hesitate to say we were gardening as that would imply some serious planning and weeding and planting. The across-the-road neighbours do that sort of gardening, always putting in some new variety of small flowering plants and keeping the place looking bright and colourful. What we do is keep the rough grass in the side garden quite short, pull up the most egregious weedy stuff from the front garden - the dried out remains of the aquilegia that flowers so nicely earlier in the year and the pampas-type tall grass that spreads like wildfire - and cut back the rose briars. So at the moment it’s mostly green with a flowering bush in the middle and a few orange and yellow poppies here and there.
Anyway, we were busy doing that when a cyclist stopped by the gate. Once he took off his sunglasses and cycle helmet we realised it was Grandson Number One who has just spent rather a lot of money on a smart new bike. He’s very proud of it and is rediscovering the love of cycling that he had when he was a small boy. So we stopped what were doing, convinced him that it was not a good idea to leave his beautiful bike by the front gate and went into the back garden for a rest and a snack. He seemed to have ridden halfway round the town! That’s what you can do when you’re 20!
All this prompted Phil to get his bike out of the shed so that they could compare bikes and swop ideas and hints on bike maintenance. A bit of grandfather - grandson bonding!
This morning I ran round the village in the drizzle. I had heard it raining earlier and was reluctant to go out in it but eventually it turned from proper rain to drizzle and I decided I should brave the August damp.by early afternoon the day had brightened considerably. It’s also reasonably warm, hardly a baking hot August day but quite acceptable.
I read that there have been unusual numbers of jellyfish in the UK’s seas this summer so far. It seems they follow currents of warm water, and sea surface temperatures have gone up with global warming, creating favourable conditions for jellyfish. Another consequence of climate change. Mind you, I remember regularly finding jellyfish washed up on the beach at Ainsdale and Southport as a child. I suppose the Gulf Stream Drift had something to do with it.
I wrote yesterday about the Skims face wrap. Today I came across this little item:
“While Skims’ new face wrap may scream “useless gimmick that promotes unhealthy beauty ideals”, it has already sold out and generated one unusual celebrity endorsement. In an Instagram video posted on Thursday Anthony Hopkins sported one of the Skims masks and jokingly slipped back into his Silence of the Lambs character, “the late, great, Hannibal Lecter”, who wore a similar chinstrap in the film to curb his cannibalism. “Hello Kim, I’m already feeling 10 years younger,” Hopkins says. In a caption he added: “Don’t be afraid to come over for dinner.”
And here’s a bit down-under gender stereotyping:
Australian lawmaker says women like hairdressing and men like maths
Liberal National party MP Terry Young has spoken out against a push for gender quotas by saying that men and women are drawn to different careers. Men like maths and physical exertion, according to Young, while women like styling hair and caring for others. “[I]t’s 2025,” the infrastructure minister, Catherine King, said in response. Your gender never means a job is off limits.”
In more serious sections of the news I found this:
“Nearly nine out of 10 Israeli military investigations into allegations of war crimes or abuses by its soldiers since the start of the war in Gaza have been closed without finding fault or left without resolution, according to a conflict monitor.
Unresolved investigations include the killing of at least 112 Palestinais queuing for flour of in Gaza City in February 2024, Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) said, and an airstrike that killed 45 in an inferno at a tented camp in Rafah in May 2024.
Also unresolved is an inquiry into the killing of 31 Palestinians going to pick up food at a distribution point in Rafah on 1 June.”
Did anyone really expect a different outcome? It’s a bit like asking students to mark their own homework!
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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