St George and his Day. Summer ? Going out for brunch. Being psychic. Smartphones. And Petromasculinity.

Yesterday was St George’s Day. In previous years this has caused the England flag to sprout all over the place. Less so this year because it has been oevr-used and abused by extreme right groups. Some people, like our across the road neighbours, tried to reclaim it but on a very muted level, with a small flag planted in the flower bed.

George himself wasn’t English. That’s how it goes I hear he is also the patron saint of Palestine.

Summer has arrived here, it seems.in a gentle, very English way with a high of 19°. I’ve been out to “brunch” with our daughter, whose birthday it is, and one of her daughters, Granddaughter Number Two. 

Granddaughter Number Two waxes very sentimental about family birthdays and, as she is not working today, insisted on our doing something to celebrate her mother’s birthday. So I went and met them at a local cafe, walking there along the Donkey Line bridle path, for the first time this year. It has been so wet until now that truly it was not a good idea but with a few days of sunshine it has dried up nicely.

According to this article, a survey of US adults reveals many of them think they have extraordinary powers of intuition – especially those in younger age groups. Maybe it’s the tendency of that generation to watch so many shows about ghosts and supernatural stuff. 

Here’s a link to an article about the dangers of smartphones in schools.

And here’s a link to an article about ‘petromasculinity’. This is a new term to me, so I looked it up and found this:

“Coined by political scientist Cara Daggett in a 2018 paper, “petro-masculinity” describes a pernicious fusion between fossil fuel use, climate change denial, and defense of authoritarian white patriarchal masculinity. Noting how fossil fuel extraction and consumption are coded “masculine”, while environmentalism and green technology are coded soft, weak and “feminine”; it tracks how insecure men are increasingly leaning in to a petro-masculine identity in order to assert traditional masculine authority in the face of climate change, threats to traditional extractive industries, and changing social norms.”

There you go. Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone.