On time speeding up and people growing shorter. Stereotyping commentators and protestors.

Another Monday! They seem to come around very quickly. I seem to remember reading long ago that the sensation we have of time passing more quickly as we get older has something to do with the rate at which your heart beats. Babies hearts beat very rapidly, children’s hearts beat less rapidly but still faster than adults’ hearts. Thus, time passes more slowly for them. This is why we all remember the looooooong summer holidays of our childhood - especially those of us who have worked as teachers and always wondered why the summer break was always over so quickly. 

Of course, it might all be rubbish. But it seems that time goes more quickly and we grow shorter as we grow older. This last was confirmed by one of those silly question and answer things in today’s newspaper. You know the kind of thing: 

Is it true that … women snore less than men?

                        … doing puzzles prevents dementia?

                        … almost anything you want to ask an expert about?

I sometimes think people send in such questions just for that moment of fame of getting your name in the paper!

I read an article about former footballer, now property developer, Gary Neville, taking down Union Jack flags that had been put up at one of his sites, because he believes the flags are being “used in a negative fashion”, and that “we’re all being turned on each other”. He urged his followers to question what it means to be patriotic.

As I read the article I must have clicked on something or other, as you do, and I was linked to an older article, from 2022, which told of Rishi Sunak saying that Gary Neville should not comment on social issues but should stick to football. In an odd bit of stereotyping it seems that it’s fine for actors and singers to express their opinions on political and social matters but sports people should “stick to football / tennis / whatever”. Being an actor or singer is recognised as a sign of being able to think. Being a sports person just means you have some physical skill but maybe not a lot of academic ability! 

Beware of stereotyping!

For example, protestors are not necessarily violent thugs! 

Here’s a letter to the Guardian about police action regarding recent protests or proposed protests:

“The decision of the Metropolitan police to ask the organisers of a protest against the Palestine Action ban to postpone it in order to free up officers in the wake of a terror attack raises serious questions about the logic of law enforcement’s approach to these protests (Report, 2 October).

If these activities are, as the police describe them, a protest, then why have participants been arrested in the past? If, on the other hand, they are crimes, then why write to the organisers to postpone their criminal activities until it’s more convenient for the police to make arrests? Are they also writing to criminal gangs or real terrorist groups, asking them to reschedule their illegal activities for a more convenient time?

Can I also point out that apart from supporting freedom of speech, these protests are about people being murdered on a daily basis in large numbers. Are these lives less valuable than British lives? 
Gabriele Hodgson
London”

Quite so!

Getting back to it being Monday again: the heron was by the millpond this morning, as was a cormorant, showing off his wingspan. I took a phot of the cormorant as he is a less frequent visitor. 

I also took a photo of a rather fine, bright autumn bush.

Those who know such things assure us that because we had a long dry spell innthe summer we should expectvsome splendid autumn colours on display.

Something to look forward to. 

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

The winds of change. Arresting people. Historic responsibility.

It’s still windy out and about today but at least I didn’t get rained on as I ran round the village first thing this morning. It has rained since but then the sun has also been out from time to time. If it wasn’t so cold I might think it was April. Come to that, I’ve also known very cold times around the April showers!

I wonder if it rained in London yesterday. It doesn’t look like it in this photo of a protester being carried away by police at the demonstration in support of Palestine Action. 

Almost 500 people were arrested. I don’t remember so many arrests at demonstrations in the past, even at demonstrations that were much more violent! 

And today I read this:

“Ministers are to give police new powers to target repeated protests, aimed particularly at cracking down on demonstrations connected to Gaza, the Home Office has said.”

Such powers could ban demonstrations from certain places - such as Westminster, I suppose - and the home secretary is looking into the possibility of banning some demonstrations outright. 

Forget about Storm Amy causing havoc around the country, the wind of change is causing longer-lasting damage.

On Saturday’s Facebook, David Rosenberg posted a statement by the Jewish Bloc for Palestine about the Manchester synagogue attack. I’m not going to quote it all, but here a a few extracts: 

“We were shocked when, less than 24 hours after the attack, a relatively new Home Secretary went onto the airwaves to weaponise the fear and grief of our community by resurrecting a slur: that those protesting for Palestine represent a danger to Jews. She is cynically exploiting this tragic event to fulfil a long-standing ambition of successive British Governments: to justify a ban on the mass protests against Israel’s genocide in Gaza. “

“We are a diverse group of British Jews. Some are secular and some were in synagogues yesterday.  Many have links to families and friends who will have attended Heaton Park synagogue yesterday. We will be marching again next Saturday, and will continue to take to the streets until we see an end to this genocide and until Palestine is free. We will continue to strengthen our links of solidarity and mutual support with Muslims and other communities targeted by racism. An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.”

Today Michael Rosen wrote about having posted an article by Winston Churchill from 1920 and reposted the following paragraph from that article:

'Of course, Palestine is far too small to accommodate more than a fraction of the Jewish race, nor do the majority of national Jews wish to go there. But if, as may well happen, there should be created in our own lifetime by the banks of the Jordan a Jewish State under the protection of the British Crown, which might comprise three or four millions of Jews, an event would have occurred in the history of the world which would, from every point of view, be beneficial, and would be especially in harmony with the truest interests of the British Empire.'

Michael Rosen points out that back in 1920 Winston Churchill recognised Palestine, a place that some people say never existed! He also points out that Churchill said a Jewish State on the banks of the Jordan would suit ‘British Interests’. We mustn’t forget our complicity in the events of history. 

I have recently been reading novels by Ahdaf Soueif, set mostly in Egypt at various points in the 20th century, incidentally relating events that led to or that echo what is still going on in the Middle East today. These too show our country’s part in that bit of history.

And now there is further talk of negotiations for peace and a ceasefire. Will it come about? We shall see!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Braving the storm. Thoughts about growing older positively.

 Storm Amy rattled around the house all night it seems. When I woke this morning she was still going strong. I heard the rain lashing down and the wind howling and so I switched off my alarm, turned over in bed and went back to sleep for a while. No running round the village this morning.

I read that all eight of London’s royal parks, including Hyde Park and Richmond Park, will be closed on Saturday because of strong winds during Storm Amy

I’m quite glad not to live close to the sea. 

Or in the Isle of Man where they have flooding or Ireland where around 100,000 properties were reported to be without electricity this morning! 

It’s the sort of day when you want to curl up by the fire with a good book. So my crazy Granddaughter Number One has gone out for a drive because her equally crazy housemate wants to drive!  I might venture out to buy bread later if the weather clears up at all but maybe I’ll just stay in. 

We braved the weather yesterday to go to our old friend’s funeral. Funerals are sad-happy reunions of friends and family. Another friend says she would like to know when she will die so that she can organise a ‘party’ that she can also go to. The old friend we celebrated yesterday would appreciate that sentiment. Even her daughter said that she would have loved being the centre of attention at yesterday’s event. She was the kind of person who loved trying new things, be it food, music, activities, whatever. So she would have enjoyed reading what actress recently deceased Patricia Routledge wrote not long before her 95th birthday:

“I’ll be turning 95 this coming Monday. In my younger years, I was often filled with worry — worry that I wasn’t quite good enough, that no one would cast me again, that I wouldn’t live up to my mother’s hopes. But these days begin in peace, and end in gratitude.”

My life didn’t quite take shape until my forties. I had worked steadily — on provincial stages, in radio plays, in West End productions — but I often felt adrift, as though I was searching for a home within myself that I hadn’t quite found.

At 50, I accepted a television role that many would later associate me with — Hyacinth Bucket, of Keeping Up Appearances. I thought it would be a small part in a little series. I never imagined that it would take me into people’s living rooms and hearts around the world. And truthfully, that role taught me to accept my own quirks. It healed something in me.

At 60, I began learning Italian — not for work, but so I could sing opera in its native language. I also learned how to live alone without feeling lonely. I read poetry aloud each evening, not to perfect my diction, but to quiet my soul.

At 70, I returned to the Shakespearean stage — something I once believed I had aged out of. But this time, I had nothing to prove. I stood on those boards with stillness, and audiences felt that. I was no longer performing. I was simply being.

At 80, I took up watercolor painting. I painted flowers from my garden, old hats from my youth, and faces I remembered from the London Underground. Each painting was a quiet memory made visible.

Now, at 95, I write letters by hand. I’m learning to bake rye bread. I still breathe deeply every morning. I still adore laughter — though I no longer try to make anyone laugh. I love the quiet more than ever.

I’m writing this to tell you something simple:

Growing older is not the closing act. It can be the most exquisite chapter — if you let yourself bloom again.

Let these years ahead be your treasure years.
You don’t need to be famous. You don’t need to be flawless.
You only need to show up — fully — for the life that is still yours.”

Well said, Mrs Bucket!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

The significance of colours. Police with guns. Bears in pools.

Sadly, today we are going to the funeral of an old friend. As she was always a fierce supporter of women’s liberation, fighting for equality, standing up for what is right, it has been suggested that we should wear purple, green and white, the colours of the suffragettes! Just a few weeks ago I went to the funeral of another old friend. On that occasion we were asked to wear Palestinian colours, reflecting her support for the Palestinian people, standing in regular protest outside her MP’s office. Another way of celebrating the person and what they believed in. 

Reports today suggest that one of the people killed in yesterday’s attack on the synagogue in Crumpsall may have been the result of police shooting. I knew we had armed police, or rather police who are trained to have and use firearms, but somehow I never expected them to go into a conflict situation in such a way that innocent people could be shot. Surely there should be a way to contain or restrain people without going in with guns blazing. Surely it would be better to be able to question the perpetrator as to their motivation. 

Here’s a link to an article about Lee Lawrence, whose mother Grace was shot and paralysed during that was described as a “botched raid” on their home when he was still just a child. That was in 1985, so police use of guns was already relatively common even then, and not just a recent “americanisation” of our policing. But it still strikes me that if we grow accustomed to armed police then we can expect those who commit crimes to be more likely to be armed. Just a thought!

On a less gloomy note, the other day I wrote about my repulsion at the idea of dogs in swimming pools. I was reminded of a number of reports I have read over the last year or so a number of reports of bears in swimming pools. This has been, of course, in the USA. While it’s very entertaining for us, safely ensconced in a country where large bears, or even small bears for that matter, roam free, I imagine it must be quite disturbing, not to say frightening, to look out and see bears in your pool! Even if the media describe them as “adorable”. Again I wonder if the owners of said pools have them cleaned before using them again.

I have swum in pools in Spain, by the way, where seagulls come and bob about on the water! 

And here’s a link to an article about Katmai national park in Alaska where they have been voting to decide which was the biggest Fat Bear! Strange! 

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Flags - expensive items! Superfoods! Making pasta in the open air!

I wrote recently about my Italian friend’s surprise on returning from a summer spent in Sicily to find bridges over the motorway festooned with flags. Today I read about the amount of money spent on flags for Mr Trump’s recent visit to the UK. Apparently when there is a visit from some foreign dignitary any of that country’s flags to be used during said visit have to be approved by their embassy. Fair enough, I suppose. It turns out that the flags submitted by the UK for approval by the US embassy were rejected because the stripes were the wrong shade of red! So 66 new hand-sewn flags were made at an estimated cost of £52,800!!! 

Wow!!! 

That’s £800 per flag!!

Paid for out of public funds too!

What if it had rained on them? 

The whole flag business seems to me to have got a little out of control but I had no idea they could be so expensive!

I don’t suppose the flags I see hanging from people’s windows or from lamp-posts are hand-sewn super-expensive objects but still, anyone who makes flags must be rubbing their hands together in glee at the moment. 

Now for something about food.

Adrian Chiles wrote in today’s online newspaper about “aztec broccoli”. He claims it’s a new superfood, called “huauzontle” in its native Mexico and “chenopoiuam mnuttalliae is it Latin name. He says a huge panful boils down to small amount, rather the way spinach does, and finishes his article with this invitation: “if you do fancy a try, bring a large van round to mine and I’ll happily give you enough to make at least one dinner.”

I’m often a little suspicious of so-called superfoods. Maybe they should be called ‘superfads’. In some cases their great popularity with the chattering class (the twittering class?) leads to people who have long regarded that food as a staple part of their diet can no longer afford to eat it. However, I keep finding interesting things to do with spinach ( Popeye’s favourite) and with lentils.

And here are some photos of pasta being made and sold in the streets of Bari. On the “via delle orecchiettel, aka Strada Arco Basso, the ladies demonstrate their skill at making “orecchiette” which tourists can buy from them. 

Personally I would be a bit suspicious of eating stuff made on wooden tables outdoors and left to dry in the sun but maybe that’s just me. I feel the same about sweets and fudge and such sold on street markets and displayed in huge open tubs with a scoop so that passers-by-by can serve themselves and pay for the privilege of doing so. 

Anyway, there has, it seems been a bit of a controversy as some of the “nonne”, the grandmothers who make the pasts, are suspected of cheating and purchasing ready made commercially produced orecchiette to sell as their own hand. This is because the demand from tourists has been so great! Victims of their own success.

One of the ‘nonne’, it seems, travels all over the world demonstrating her skill and promoting Italian produce. 

All part of the strangeness of the modern world!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Seasons changing! Poets disappearing! New terminology for a nanny state. Dogs and their entitled owners.

 I walked to Uppermill in the drizzle this morning - damp but not particularly cold. Jokers tell us we have 12 seasons in Manchester:

Winter

fool’s Spring

Second Winter

Spring of Deception

Third Winter

Actual Spring

The Pollening

Summer

Hell

False Autumn

Second Summer

Actual Autumn —- THIS IS WHERE WE ARE NOW! 

Leonard Cohen sang about the Tower of Song. The best singer/songwriters are poets and deserve their place up there in that tower. What about poets? Their words are themselves a kind of music. Are they welcome in the Tower of Song? If so, the tower should have a couple of new residents: Tony Harrison and Brian Patten who have both just died. The latter was one of the Liverpool Poets who taught us that poetry doesn’t have to follow set rules and can be about almost anything - bits of beauty everywhere!

Here’s an interesting bit of terminology: pregnancy-related crime! It’s in a report from the USA:

“In the first two years after the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade, prosecutors in 16 states charged more than 400 people with pregnancy-related crimes, new research released on Tuesday found.”

In the absence of an actual national database of arrests and prosecutions, the report tells us, the numbers could well be higher. This isn’t solely about abortion, apparently. Drug use / abuse comes into it. In one case, after a woman gave birth the hospital tested her umbilical card for drugs. The tests came back positive for marijuana (the woman had a medical marijuana card - a state-issued identification card  that shows a doctor has recommended the use of marijuana) and she was arrested … for felony child neglect … neglect before the child was born. Of course, I don’t know any details of the woman’s history of drug use or childcare - maybe her story is more complicated - but it all smacks of the state being rather too intrusive. 

It’s also part of what I hear referred to as the ‘fetal personhood movement’, which seeks to give embryos and fetuses the same rights as a child who has already been born. Thus laws intended to protect children can be used against pregnant women. And somehow terms like ‘personhood’ and ‘pregnancy-related crime’ make it all sound legal and impersonal. And more than a little dystopian! 

I have ranted on more than one occasion about dog-owners who like to decorate trees and bushes with little bags of dog poo! ‘Entitled dog owners’, as columnist Arwa Mahdawi refers to them, “expecting some sort of poop fairy to magically clean up after them”.  Here’s a possible solution from Italy: 

“Starting next year, the northern Italian city of Bolzano will charge tourists with dogs in tow a small daily tax of €1.50 (£1.30). Local owners are also being asked to cough up an annual tax of €100 (£87) a dog to help cover the cost of street-cleaning. Bolzano, by the way, has form when it comes to keeping pet owners on a tight leash. Last year it made DNA tests for dogs compulsory so that any abandoned excrement could be tested, and its owner then tracked down and fined.”

It’s an idea! However, it might be necessary to go back to having a dog licence in order to enforce such a requirement. And there are already enough people getting hot under the collar at the prospect of ID cards being (re-)introduced to the UK, let alone reintroducing dog licences!

While on the subject of dogs, I read yesterday about outdoor swimming pools and lidos allowing dog owners to bring their dogs for a swim and splash-about in said pools. My first reaction when I saw the headline was one of horror but it turns out the plan was to do so on the last day of such places being open before closing down for the end of summer. After that the pools would be drained and cleaned. So my feeling of revulsion at swimming in a pool where dogs had been bathing was unjustified. 

My apologies, dog-owners! I recognise that you love your pets but I don’t want to share seats on buses or restaurants with them and I certainly don’t want to swim with them!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!