Out and about. Celebrating things well in advance. Making speeches and feeling picked on!

This one should have been posted yesterday. 

 I got up early to go to the dentist’s this morning, for the next stage of the dental implant work that seems to have been going on all year, ever since I fell over my feet while out running and messed up a crown. Only two more appointments to go!

The dentist’s waiting room was decorated with witches hats hanging from the ceiling. Rather an odd style of decor, even if you do hope that the dentist can work some kind of magic. But of course it’s just early Hallowe’en decoration, isn’t it. It’s not witchery time until the very end of October and we’re not at the end of September yet! i have, however, noticed shop windows decorated with pumpkins and the odd nudge towards more detailed Hallowe’en decor. I suppose that of you are going to spend money on fancy decorations then you really want them to be around for a while. I wonder if they are selling ‘huesos de santos’ -saint’s bones in the bakeries and cake shops of Spain yet.

Mind you, they have to deal with the castañada before Hallowe’en, which is really an American import superimposed on Samhain, the festival of the winter soltice. The castañada, also known as Magusto, Magosto, Magosta, Castanyada, or Festa da castanha is a traditional festival in the Iberian Peninsula. It is popular in Portugal, Galicia and some areas of northern Spain, such as Cantabria, Asturias, Catalonia, and the provinces of León, Zamora and Salamanca and Cáceres, but also in some parts of the Canary Islands. The festival is also celebrated in both sides of the French-Spanish border.

Unlike the horse chestnuts of the World Conker Championships, these are sweet chestnuts that are being celebrated. Once when I accompanied a group of A-Level Spanish students on an exchange visit to A Coruña they were astounded to find that lessons were cancelled one morning so that chestnuts could be roasted and eaten in the schoolyard! A very healthy option in my opinion. 

Travelling back from the dentist’s I stopped off at Sainsbury’s in the centre of Oldham - they stock certain items that our local Tesco does not have. There I saw shelves full to the top with tins of chocolates of every kind. More alarming though was the presence of mince pies and panettone and Christmas pudding on the shelves. 

Hallowe’en has not yet come and gone but the countdown to Christmas has already started - we’ve already passed the 100 Days To Go stage. However, I have yet to see Christmas cake and it is really too early for Christmas trees … apart from artificial ones.

In the wider world, away from fairies (once regarded as wicked but now mostly sweet and pretty) and witches and glitter and glamour, the madness continues. 

The United Nations General Assembly has been going on in New York. The Israel - Gaza situation is a big feature as more and more countries declare their recognition of the Palestinian State. There is still talk about the two-state solution even though much of the territory that should be recognised as Palestine is already busily taken over by Israeli settlers!

There have been comical moments. Here’s a comment from the NewsThump people!

“It's been very funny watching the MAGA crowd claim "conspiracy!" when Trump's escalator failed at the UN, only for it to now be revealed that a videographer from the US delegation went up the escalator backwards while filming Trump's arrival, and they triggered the safety mechanism at the top of the escalator by not stepping off as they would have done if facing the right way...

It's like a real-time clown show. 

Now we await confirmation that his teleprompter was actually under the control of US officials when it failed.  It's only a matter of time...”

The escalator thing has been confirmed. The teleprompter is still under examination.

And Mr Trump’s speech appears to have been a bit odd, to say the least. 

He seems to have told other countries’ leaders that they are simple wrong to allow immigration of any kind to continue;

All the talk about climate change is “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world”;

As regards Ukraine and Russia, posted on Truth Social that Ukraine could “WIN it all back.”

And then there’s a plot to stop escalators and teleprompters from working for him! And nobody congratulated him for “ending seven wars.”

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

A disappearing Thursday.

 Today went down a wormhole.

It’s been another fine and sunny day. I got up and went for a run. I came home, showered, organised breakfast, tidied up. Then I spent a good deal of time cutting down ferns in the garden, trimming bushes in the garden, filling the garden waste recycling bin, creating space in the garden. 

And suddenly it was time to go and collect the smallest grandchildren from school. We did craft activities, we organised some food. My daughter collected Granddaughter Number Two from the nearest railway station and brought her round to join in the fun. After Grandad went out to chess club the fun involved drawing club and colouring club, the latest calming evening activity my daughter has invented for the small people.

And I’ve spoken on the phone to some old friends, people we had lost contact with over the years, now brought together by the death of one of our number. 

And now I’ve tidied up again. I’ve sorted our usual Thursday evening beer and a sandwich for when Phil comes home from chess club.

So here’s a cartoon in lieu of other comments on the crazy world’s activities: 

Life goes on, stay safe and well, everyone!

Free fruit. Apple glut. Conker championships. The causes of autism. And candidates for PM!

Over the last few weeks we have had free apples, mostly cooking apples but occasionally eating apples as well. Consequently we have had apple pie and apple crumble for dessert most weekends. I’m on the lookout for the people who live in a house on our regular walk round the village, the people who leave bags of apples on their garden wall, with a notice: “baking apples, please take!” I should like to thank them. 

They did the same thing last year but this year it has happened more frequently and the last few times the bags have been slightly bigger. The apple tree (trees, as they provide two types of apple) in their garden must be producing a bumper harvest. 

In fact I have read that the National Trust reports a bumper harvest of apples of all kinds and of pumpkins on their various properties. It seems that most fruit has grown and ripened earlier than usual this year because of the long dry spell. In fact the wet autumn and winter encouraged growth and then the long dry spell brought everything to maturity early. That was certainly the case with blackberries around here. The National Trust reports that at first they thought the apples would be smaller than usual but the recent break in the weather, bringing rather a lot of rain, made them swell up nicely. It’s another climate change effect!

It remains to be seen whether the glut will bring the price of apples down in the supermarkets - and the price of cider for those who enjoy cider, for I hear that cider makers are also looking forward to a bumper year!

Another crop that has been affected by the odd weather is horse chestnuts, aka conkers. They have been ripening and falling from the trees sooner than expected. This is having a knock-on effect on the World Conker Championship. Yes, I too was surprised that the playground activity, now banned in schools because of health and safety concerns, had a championship. My first thought was that this must be a relatively new idea but no; the Daily Mail reports that:

“Every October since 1965, hundreds of expert conker players have gathered in the village of Southwick, Northamptonshire, to battle it out at the world championships and raise money for charity.

A whopping 2,500 fans are set to descend on the small village for this year's World Conker Championships to watch 256 players fight for the title of Conker King and Queen. 

However, organisers fear they will be forced to axe the event - which has raised over £420,000 for the visually impaired since it was founded - after a series of heatwaves caused this season's conkers to be smaller than usual.” 

It’s all to do with being able to drill a hole through the conker to put it on a string. If the conker is too small it might split! 

Last year’s Men’s World Conker Championship winner, David Jenkins, at the venerable age of 83, was almost disqualified when he was accused of replacing his actual conker with a metal copy! (Cheating is not new. I used to hear of schoolmates who soaked their conkers on vinegar to harden them!) What a shock at world championship level! However, he proved his innocence and kept his title.

But who knew that such championships existed? I think back to the playground games that cycled round at different times of the year every year in my 1950s childhood and wonder which of those will turn up in the news. Skipping, with obligatory rhymes such as “on the mountain stands a lady”? Hopscotch? Hula hoop? Whip and top, with a special category to judge whose top was most artistically decorated? Doing handstands against the wall? And that’s just the girls’ stuff. 

We have been known to organise paper aeroplane competitions in our garden in the past. Maybe that too will catch on. 

On a more serious note, Donald Trump has been announcing that taking Tylenol, aka Paracetamol, during pregnancy may be one of the main causes of autism. He is also reported to have said that in  Cuba they cannot afford Tylenol and consequently have very few cases of autism. Incorrect! As is the statement that taking Paracetamol causes autism. But making that announcement creates another stick to beat mothers of autistic children with. 

I have also seen reports that Jacob Rees Mogg believes we need Mr Trump as prime minister of our country. Is it not enough that some people think we should have Mr Farage and his rather frightening plans to deport longstanding immigrants who have Indefinite Leave to Remain?

The mind boggles.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Getting up on crisp, cold mornings. Eulogies and policy speeches. Educating girls. Graffiti art.

Mornings are growing decidedly chillier as September advances frightening quickly towards October. It becomes more difficult to persuade yourself to leave the cosy nest your bed has turned into. Maybe I should employ the 3–2-1 method described by the writer of this article. It sounds a bit like giving yourself a firm talking to: count down quickly 3-2-1, throw back the bed clothes and leap out of bed. Hmmm! It sounds fine in theory ….

Once you are up and about on days like today you realise how much you miss by not seeing the early hours. Again the theory sounds fine. I used to be a leap-out-of-bed-at-seven (or earlier) sort of person. Not any longer. Mind you, I also stay up later than I used to. I don’t think I can burn the candle at both ends any longer. 

Yesterday remained fine all day. We walked up the hill to Dobcross in the afternoon (still not very warm) sunshine. 

Today looks like being much the same, the sky looking rather like one of those Magritte clouds-in-the-sky pictures.

Out in the wider world tens of thousands of people packed into a football stadium for a memorial for Charlie Kirk. Despite Charlie Kirk’s widow Erika calling for peace and love and free speech in the world, it seems that Mr Trump made a rather hate-filled speech, more like a campaign speech than a eulogy. I find the whole Charlie Kirk phenomenon disturbing.

More disturbing though is this article about the education of girls in Afghanistan. Although some non-religious primary schools still exist, the numbers on roll are falling as there is more and more pressure to send girls to religious schools, madrasas, usually with financial, aid-related incentives. There they learn religious texts and rules, rules of nehavious and dress, but no maths of science. A sad situation?

I still find it strange that works by Banksy, basically high class, high quality graffiti have become coveted objects of value. Not that they are not of artistic value but putting a price on them changes the nature of the original protest. Here’s a link to an article about a row going on about works loaned to an exhibition in Italy.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Sunshine after the rain. Broken trees. Recognising Palestine.

Yesterday I hesitated about getting up to run as I listened to rain on the skylight windows. When the noise stopped, virtue won and I got out of bed and organised myself to head out, with a lightweight running rain jacket … just in case. I ran my usual route without getting wet … apart from my feet as there were a lot of puddly places. I didn’t see any interesting wildlife, unlike the day before when two young deer ran across my path and I also saw the heron by the old millpond. 

It must have started raining not long after I got home because it was coming down steadily by the time I got out of the shower. And that was it for the day! Non-stop rain! It was still quite torrential when I went to bed, hammering down on the skylight windows. Some people pay good money for that kind of white noise to send them to sleep! 

This morning dawned bright and crisp and cold - down into single figure temperatures! My weather app promises a high of 12° today.

When I stepped out of the front door I was surprised to see what looked like a huge pile of leaves on the other side of the road.  

Closer examination showed it to be a huge branch broken off a tree. Looking high up into the tree you could see where it had broken off. Apparently it had been blocking the road late yesterday evening. I suppose it’s lucky that it didn’t land on someone’s car or a passing pedestrian. 

Everywhere I went there were lots of much smaller branches strewn around. I didn’t think it had been all that windy but there must have been enough to work with the rain and cause a little havoc.

On my regular running route the ford across the stream that runs into the River Tame was bursting out as it always does when it rains heavily. And the Tame itself was fairly bouncing along on it way through the village. But we have no flooding.

And the sunshine has made all the meet walking their dogs a good deal,more cheerful. It’s amazing what a bit if blue sky and sunshine can do!

I read that Mr Starmer is expected to announce the UK’s recognition of the state of Palestine this afternoon. Israel is opposed to the UK doing this, of course, and the United States is putting pressure on for Starmer to reconsider. So we wait to see what kind of announcement comes along later this afternoon. It would be good if we actually stopped helping arm Israel as well.

I hear that Portugal is also about to recognise Palestinian statehood. We shall see. 

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Some poetry about state banquets. Visits not allowed. Living in caves.

Well, Mr trump has come and gone, leaving behind advice that we should use the military to protect our borders from illegal immigrants! Former poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy wrote a poem to mark his state visit:

How it glitters and shines, The Grand Service,

among the rocks and the rubble,

laid out on a breeze lock horseshoe table,

six crystal glasses per setting.

It took eight servants three weeks to polish -

silver coated in a thin layer of gold -

even the concrete dust in the air seems glamourised

and the ruins are decked in the uplifting flags of democracy.

To start, fillet of Dover sole filled with salmon mousse,

served on a bed of leeks with white wine sauce.

Poached Sandringham venison with truffles to follow,

then Key Lime Pie, and among the wines,

Chateau Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalane, 1990.

Yum-yum. Let the trumpets sound on the bombsite

as the great and good pick their way through,

and a famished child peers through a bullet-hole in the wall. 

Thank you Carol Ann Duffy!

This article recounts the experience of a British MP, who happens to be a doctor and Jewish, who was denied entry into Israel with a humanitarian parliamentary delegation. He wanted to see for himself the state of health care but never even got into the country. He wonders what kind of threat he posed to the country which he had visited quite often in better times.

“It saddens me!” he wrote, “to say that Israel today seems to be a world away from the inclusive, pluralistic, open and democratic principles on which it was founded in 1948.”

There were some idealists involved back then, as well as some who already planned to expand.

Meanwhile, the emptying, and ultimate destruction, of Gaza City continues apace. Aid workers have been warmed that the only hospitals in Gaza are protected from attack. The cynic in me wonders if even hospitals really are protected. Other places, aid centres and such are not safe, apparently. 

Israeli officials are reported to have that said they were preparing a “humanitarian zone” in the overcrowded, underdeveloped al-Mawasi coastal area in southern Gaza by building new aid distribution sites nearby, supplying electricity to desalination plants, providing some water and allowing in more aid. So aid of sorts is getting through but one reprt says that a high proportion of trucks are commercially operated and are bringing in items such as soft drinks and snacks that are not nutritious but expensive.

All in all, a mess!

Maybe we need a new definition of humanitarian! 

In Matera, Basilicata, Italy, tourists can visit the ‘sassi’, ancient cave dwellings dug into the rock. People apparently lived there as early as the year 7000 BC. Now they are a World Heritage site.

In Petra, Jordan, there are similar cave dwellings. Famous for its rock-cut architecture and water conduit systems, Petra is also called the "Rose City" because of the colour of the sandstone from which it is carved. This site was also inhabited as early as 7000 BC. It’s one of the Mew Seven Wonders of the World, is a UNECSO World Heritage Site and receives close to a million visitors each year. The trouble is that there are people still living there who don’t want to leave. Here’s a link to an article about it. 

It’s odd how we always assume that making people leave their old traditional way of life and conform to our standards is necessarily a good thing! 

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!