A Breeze in the Graveyard

Lies!  All lies! These weather people lie!  

'Gentle breeze' they say as the wind from the north hammers my window.  Today the wind has dropped but still comes from the north, and they call it 'gentle?' 

Can we sue?

So, I must close my windows tight tonight, they promise 'gentle breeze' and 'clear sky,' so I will look out for high winds and rain storms.

I braved the 'breeze' while what sun we found came out today and crossed over to the graveyard.  

I find it so cheery...

The church has stood here since the 1700s but is based on a congregation that unlawfully met many years before this.  Not far up the road a farmer, John English, let people congregate on Sundays in his barn to hear the word of God according to biblical fashion.  This when Charles II was King and it was illegal not to be in a CoE church at the time.  Bishop William Laud, a man who leant heavily towards the Kings way of operating, dealt savagely with any who opposed his authority.  However, that said, preachers came to the barn to preach, including, it is said, John Bunyan, and out of the two towns population of around 5000 souls some 800 met at the barn to worship God properly in spite of the fear.  When the worst was past, the congregation continued to grow, and a new building was erected, in the 1800s this new one took its place.  A division did occur, it frequently does in churches, and from the gathering two churches arose in the town, a Baptist, which survives, and this one taking the title name as 'Congregational.'  This church survives with a few members, LockDown has not helped the ageing gathering, and work is now being done on the roof.  I suspect someone has nicked all the lead from there!  Hopefully the church will continue, 400 years of service ought not to end like this, Bishop Laud himself would not approve, especially after his head was removed from his shoulders by the puritans.

Not unusually some make use of the ground when others have gone.  What might be called 'the less fortunate' gather at nights, some sleeping here, and clearly leave their lunch tins behind them.  This tends to spoil such places and not all who attend accept the help they have been offered.

 

I took a couple of shots on my new Canon and headed back home for feeding time.  The breeze is still breezing, 'gently,' and the temperature is dropping, not so gently.  It was good to be photographing things badly.  Hopefully we will get out and about soon.

 

Stolen Warnings

 

Sunday Sunshine

The weekend is almost over, that is, I am running out of football! 

On Saturday,as expected, the Heart of Midlothian sauntered past Inverness Caley, ths upsetting their manger who was sent to the stand.   Suggesting he would 'Knock our managers block off,' is not really the done thing these days.

The Scottish Cup, played at odd hours for the sake of TV money, is played this weekend, without ,as we considered we had won the trophy often enough in recent years and felt lesser teams ought to have a go.  

Two games down, two to go, one about to start and one on Monday evening.

 

While the sunshine is worth having around I was freezing after church.  We could only gather, at a distance, outside and the cold wind was chilling my back something awful as I listened to one of my women's woes.  It is good to have a few minutes with people, just to remember what they look like!

Not much time to talk mind you.

 

Today, 25th April, is ANZAC Day, when we commemorate the Australian and New Zealand forces in the Great War. For some this was the event that made both individual nations, seperate from the Mother Country.  Their adventures during the conflict have not been forgotten.

We see here an astonishing picture I think.  An off side portrait, the view behind, the face of a man who may well be happy to be alive, and I think it makes a striking picture.  "Alsatian prisoner of war captured by New Zealand troops. Photograph taken probably near Colincamps 15 April 1918 by Henry Armytage Sanders."

Weekend Filler

 

Wandering the streets yesterday I came across this hanging around outside the Institute.  I call it 'Institute' though it has not been one of those for many years.  Built by the Courtauld's for the sake of artisans seeking encouragement it is now a combination of 'Arts Theatre' and antique shop.  Today I noticed, she had gone and had been replaced by a table of unknown price.  I have never actually ventured inside, I fear I may buy something, so I canny speak of the quality of goods to be seen.  It has been operating for some years now however.   At Christmas the hall is made use of by local actors for their pantomime or other theatrical offering.  I have not ventured inside to watch those either, though they are usually popular.  

 

 

Nothing else has happened.  It's the weekend so football rules.

Thursday TittleTattle

 

The excitement of the day yesterday featured an appearance of the Hospital Helicopter.  I heard one flying around above, and naturally took it to be the Police one, but could not see it.  This was because the thing had landed right in front of me in the park.

The crew wandered down the street somewhere and I never saw them for an hour.  Then they sauntered back, without wearing all the clobber, and headed off into the sky.  This leads to lots of questions such as who were they visiting?  Why did they not take them aboard?  Were they too late? And again, who was it?  Do I know them?  24 hours later and I still have no idea who they visited.  This is very annoying to a nosey person like me.  Flying a helicopter to an emergency, and not making use thereof is a lot of money to waste if nobody is carted off by the helicopter.  It is not the first time it has landed here and with an ambulance station half a mile away to the west I wonder how serious the patient was that they were called in?  

I may never know.

I must say Murdoch's 'Steak Pies' are very good.  I got some of his 'Chicken Curry' pies this time also, but I am not as keen on them as on the others.  Time will tell however, I still have 5 of these to get through and my opinion might change.  

For some reason my weight has reached 16 stone once again, and two of my jackets, plus old jeans, no longer fit me.  I blame lockdown!  This appears to have shrunk outfits everywhere.

 

Orbital Today

 

Today is 'Earth Day!'

Did it make any difference where you live?

Nope, not here either.

Nothing will improve the earth, it is broken and will continue broken, however, better management, less abuse of natural resources and less greed will of course help to sustain the earth and sustain those living thereon.

I hope the kids leaving their rubbish strewn across the nations parks are not joining in those various 'Climate Change' demand groups.

Wednesday Warbling

 

Well that did not last much longer than one of Boris Johnson's great ideas'  Bad publicity and fan pressure forced the English clubs involved in the ''Euro Super League" to change their minds and remove themselves from this disaster.  The whole idea collapses, until the next time.  

So, the English clubs, nearly a Billion in debt, must do something else to fix their books.  Instead of running away to a 'closed shop' they must remain in the over hyped English 'Premier' division that lines their pockets well enough as it is.  Possibly they will now be considering whether paying a 'top' player £600,000 a week is a good idea, with smaller clubs in the 'Premier' paying a mere £20,000 average weekly to their men in the top division.  Maybe there is a better way after all than following several US club owners with no understanding of how the real world works?  Spend less on players and their wages!

 

 

On this day in 1918 Manfred von Richthofen was shot down and killed near Morlancourt, France.  Many have attempted to say this or that man brought him down, such a confusing situation that we need not join in here.  However, a combination of attacking fighter and ground fire could do him no good.  Never fly low, never over the enemy trenches.

The Royal Flying Corps were part of the Army until April 1st 1918 and as such no 'Flying Aces' were given publicity in similar manner to the Germans, or French.  It was considered 'Bad show' if flyers were seen as 'heroes' while the men on the ground were not given such a crown.  In fact Victoria Cross winners were considered 'special' so why not flyers I wonder?

Richthofen became the most famous of all the war flyers, few wished to know that his place was taken by Herman Goering after he fell, but not all flyers respected Manfred in the way the public did.  Some felt annoyed that they had better scores than his 'Jasta 11,' the 'Flying Circus.'  In the documentary from 1987, 'Cavalry of the Clouds,' we find Wing Commander Gwilym Lewis DFC offering his thoughts that Manfred was a 'Bullshitter.'   Richthofen would attack the last aircraft, the slow one, often a 'New Boy' lacking experience.  Attacking from a position high above, in the sun, and protected by one or many more aircraft behind him he picked an easy target, usually a single reconnaissance aircraft.  In this way his number of 'victories' would soar.  His aircraft, the Fokker Triplane, was not popular either.  A copy of the Sopwith Triplane it was dropped by the Jasta as soon as Richthofen departed.

 

 

This woman, who you may recognise from postage stamps, celebrates her 95th birthday today.  Now this may be a hard time for her, her 'Beloved Husband' (a phrase much used by press insiders who know the truth) has passed away.  Even worse, the family is now surrounding her with 'love and care,' so you can imagine how hard this will be for her to take.  

Her favourite son, Andrew, has given her, they say, two Corgie puppies' to 'comfort her' in her loss.  Great!  Just what a 95 year old requires, two puppies to housetrain, walk three times daily, and clean up after.  Possibly Andrew's mind was on other things?  For some reason the family think a woman who has endured life with Phillip, umpteen Prime Ministers, and now Boris Johnson, a world war, thousands of foot licking acolytes, a press that sentimentalises her one day and stabs her in the back the next, and the press royal correspondents themselves somehow canny cope?  Do you think she canny cope?  Tsk!

 

Greedy Footy

 

Much grumbling as a small group of rich clubs threaten to walk away from a larger group of not as rich clubs to make themselves even richer than the everybody.  

In fact, none of them are rich, all are very much into huge debt!  Barcelona are a Billion euros in debt, all the others not far short of this, no wonder they wish a new system and stuff what you think!  This is not helped by clubs now being owned by very rich men, Billionaires all, who have little sense of football history, and see football as a business rather than a game.

Of course it has all happened before.  In the past the Scots clubs formed the 'Top Ten' in an effort to enrich the top five clubs.  This 'Premiership' became the SPL, now the SPFL, and these clubs are happy to serve themselves no matter who else gets hurt. (@Heart of Midlothian fc.)  England soon copied this with their 'Premier League' again to aid the rich clubs.  However, in both cases promotion and relegation continued, and smaller clubs, and once great clubs, could again acheive the heights.  This is not so in the proposed European Super League.  One or two might be invited, otherwise 'it is for us only!'

Some leading English clubs are howing in anger, not from morality, from not being asked to join!

Is this good for the game?  No!  Will it happen?  If the leagues involved ban these teams from domestic competition it may not happen.  This may be unlikely however, most suits have not got the guts for that.  We await the behind the scenes bribery that will now be conducted throughout Europe.

 

 

Football and the Duke

With another day of lounging Spring cleaning behind me I now look forward to the weekends football.  Several Scottish Cup games to enjoy, plus the old firm bigots, and this means nothing else can be done except stuffing the face.

Of course we also have the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral on Saturday afternoon while many football matches go ahead.  These are either starting around noon or long after five in the evening.  The media are lining their pockets over this, no doubt more 'Special' pull outs will appear in the weekend papers, all containing the same stuff they had last weekend.  

 

AutoEvolution

  

The Duke knows how to travel in style, and they claim he spent 16 years developing this Landrover for his funeral.  He works slowly it appears.  I suspect many will consider this beneath them, others will already be on the phone booking this vehicle for their funeral, 'The one Prince Phillip used,' and then climbing up the social scale even while dead.

A walk through Kensal Rise cemetery, and a glance at the many large tombs to be found there, gives the impression many consider they must outdo the neighbour even while dead.  "I may be dead but I am higher class than you," is the message.  Jesus meanwhile, on the other side, may think differently.

Someone indicated one paper showing the reader how to watch the Dukes funeral on TV.  He suggested they just turn the telly on and all bloody channels, all around the world, will be showing it!

 

Private Eye

 

Up and Down all Day...

The intention was to sit and be at ease today, cleaning a wee bit and snoozing a lot.  Of course I found no bread, apart from a crust that was turning green.  This meant a walk to Sainsburys.  This was so enjoyable (Bah!) that I continued out again to Tesco for the things Sainsburys did not have.  

I sat down and rested.

I awaited the postman bringing the package not left on Tuesday.  He usually arrives about 11:30, unlike Chris who usually arrives about 12:30.  Why Chris chose to come early on Tueasday when he had my packet I know not.  So, I poured out another mug of tea, took off the shoes, lay back and 'Ding Dong - Ding Dong!' the postman arrived nearly 40 minutes early!  What is the matter with these men?  His day was brightened by my slowness in opening the door, this allowed him to practice campanology on the bells again.  It has been a slow week for postmen it appears.  I wonder why?  People going back to work?  People visiting long forgotten friends?  People not bothering to post their work mail?  Parcels are still going strong surely? 

I dumped the rubbish in the wheelie bin while I got shot of the postman, laughing as he went.  I returned to tepid tea.

 

 

Just after I finished lunch, had my siesta and returned looking for an excuse to avoid cleaning the loo and I found an email from EoN.  This demanded a meter reading as it cost too much for them to employ people to read the meter themselves.  The grasping nature of energy companies could fill many a post.  

I was annoyed as it means clambering downstairs, out, round the back, clambering unsteadily down the crumbling stairs into the basement, and brushing aside the spiders webs to read the meter.

I should point out the stairs are not crumbling, I am! 

This I did, brushing aside with a smile the downstairs neighbour as she was going out (Mercedes?  How much do they earn?).  Meter read, disused spiders webs brushed off and a scuttle back up the stairs, indoors,  then up the other stairs (for the third time today) and insert the numbers on the Eon page.

One number was wrong!

I had scribbled down the incorrect number!

"Aaaaaaaarrrrrggghh!"  said I.

This meant once again down the stairs, round the back, down the grubby stairs, read, correctly, the meter I have read dozens of times before, then crawl upstairs, indoors, up the other stairs, (for the fourth time today) enter the 'correct' number in the overcharging, crooked gangsters web page and relax.

Some time later they inform me that I ought to be paying more monthly for my own good!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

I believe these prices are all shooting up anyway this month.  I do not foresee the shareholders suffering this year. 

Shorn Men and Morrisons

From my eyrie in the sky I watch shorn men wandering about, their hair tidy for the first time in months.  This causes me to wonder what they do with all the shorn hair?  Now I suspect for health reasons this is dumped, however, is there anyone who would buy a job lot of used hair?  You could fill soft toys with it, pillows, cushions, feed it to animals who may not care what they eat, possibly such leavings could be put on the compost heap and added to the garden, the ticks therein would feed the ground quite well.  

You can tell just how much LockDown has got to me...

People all around are meeting folks unseen for months, the cry "I haven't seen you since the plague" is quite common I note.  Families can bother one another, mates meet up outside pubs, women chattering noisily outside coffee haunts all around.  Still too chilly for me I say but many are risking it.  At the barbers one man told us how he headed for the local as soon as he could, having a Guinness and a sandwich and heading back home where it was warm.  A bit daft I thought, if it's that chilly stay indoors in the warm.  Some folks of course have no life outside of pubs, that is where they meet their friends as they may have no-one else to talk to.  All rather sad really.

 

 

 

'Morrisons' have upset people.  They are plastering their goods with this Union Flag.  It is on eggs, butter, cheese, veg and all other products.  Clearly this is a Government initiative.  Tesco have done this for a while, refusing to allow Scots or other flags on their produce.  I noticed today a Twitter account I follow, for an English regiment, now features the Union Flag alongside the name, a new item. 

This may well be a Brexit legacy.  The idea to force people to 'Buy British!'  The point being Brexit has stopped the goods we actually want coming into the country.  The fact that Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish flags are not encouraged also indicates government policy, forcing the Union nonsense upon us all in an election year.  

There is no 'Morrisons' in this town now.  They took over a failing store and failed to make it a success as the premises are too small for their needs.  A 'B&M' now uses the space well.  'Morrisons' have a store six miles away next to the station at a London overspill town.  This store has worked well for years and no doubt will continue to be a success as that is also a Brexit town.  'Morrisons' always made a thing about being cheaper than the bigger stores, this indeed is quite true, until you compare sizes.  Their tins, bottles, bags are cheaper but contain less goods than 'Tesco,' the contents are not always better, though they are acceptable, and now with Brexit shortages much more 'British' goods will be pushed by this company. 

Of course it goes without saying that when they use the term 'British,' what they are really trying to say is 'English,' but even they are not yet that brazen.

 

Haircut, Football and Church

 

I sauntered up the road this morning after waiting for the Royal Mail van delivering my parcel.  He raced by which meant he did not have it, so out I went.  I headed for the barbers shop and wondered why no one was waiting outside.  Other barbers had queues of several people huddled from the chilly wind.  The reason, this was a shop big enough to seat several inside.  Not that social distancing was too perfect here.  Eventually a young lady sheared my gray locks and charged me £9:50 plus tip, for the pleasure.  It was a weight off my mind, indeed the head no longer feels like I am wearing a hat!

 

My saunter afterwards took me across the park.  The cold air contrasted with the bright sunshine, except when clouds decided to appear and spoil it!  And while the crossing is a short one it is good to walk among trees and grass with an occasional bird in the air around you.  

As I opened the door I was suprised to find that Chris the postman had already been, he usually arrives around 12:30.  I was also surprised to find a red ticket telling me he had my parcel!  Bah!  I sat at the window watching the park for a while, drinking tea and eating chocolate buttons, my diet has gone haywire again, watching to see if I could catch Chris as he returned across the park from his final drop. I never saw him.  Either he finished very early or is still with one of his women across the park.  So my packet will not be delivered until Thursday now!  Bah!  I used to wander to the sorting office to collect them but that is too far to walk at the moment.

 

 

As Chris had not appeared and as the bag of chocolate buttons appeared near the end I took it unto myself to get out and cross the park once again.  The sun had returned, people were enjoying the air and I just had to get my stiff knees out there.

I crossed slowly and at the Congregational Church decided to venture into the graveyard, where I have often been before, and found myself taking pictures of the names on the stones once again.  In the past I have looked up the names where I can and found some interesting (to me) stories of people who lie there.  I hope to investigate some later.  The wildlife is found here but is very scared of movement. Today only a wood pigeon or two were faffing around.  

I hobbled back home, slouched for a while, ate chicken from Sainsburys, and later attempted to watch Dunfermline playing Dundee.  This (very poor) game began at 6 pm, but I also had to watch the Curate getting made a Vicar on Facebook at 7:30 along at St Johns.  While Covid rages churches are adapting to social media!  This involved digging out the aged laptop, setting it up early, with much swearing and faffing around, before it was usable.  Then, settled in my bed, I also had to call a friend (my second family) on her 80th birthday while watching the football and preparing the other laptop for the church event.

This was all very confusing.

Eventually a very tired me got it all done, very badly, saw the poor game, spoke, or rather listened, to my friend, watched Vicar Colin in his robes, wondered about much of this event, especially the submitting to the Queen bit, and was glad he was at last, after 8 and a half long years of trying, now at last a vicar, and that over 5 churches!

Good Lord!

 

 

Town Shopping

Searching for a decent birthday card that hadto be posted today for a birthday tomorrow.  Today shops opened and I headed for 'Clinton's' wide choice of mediocre cards.  Lucky for me the place was empty, plenty of cards available, but as expected not a really suitable one was seen.  However, one rude enough for a woman denying she is 80 was found and posted later (only 2nd class stamps available, tsk!).

The shops in town were not as busy as feared.  Queues of scraggy men waited outside barbers (sorry 'Men's Hairdressers') and queues were also seen at banks.  Otherwise the shops were not overflowing.  Several charity shops were open, and as a quick look was required I was inside quickly, more cards bought and now I have a reasonable amount for the next birthday, I suspect however, none will fit the person that day!  It is always the way.

 

 

Some time back the town and county councils dug up the High Street, relaid the road with lots of nice red bricks, stopped all traffic yet allowed single and double deck buses to pass along hourly.  It took only a few years for the wheels to dig in and ravines to form on either side of a mountain in the middle. Puddles during rain, people falling when crossing the road, cyclists illegally running the wrong direction until they fall off, and much outcry as to why this was happening.

Now a million or so has been spent to repair this road.  

Last year a group of workers happily blocked everybody, dug up the road, repaired pavements, installed new 'stumble proof' areas, and by Xmas had been dumped by the council.  Too slow, not good enough or inept, I am not sure.  We await a new contracter arriving to finish the job, he will be here soon...

In the meantime the half finished work is hidden behind bright orangy red barriers, people shuffle by, masked and disciplined sort off for the most part, and we await developments, eventually.

 

The other week I was busy doing Spring cleaning.  This led to much hassle last week when my knees reacted, tiredness swept over me and I could do nothing all week.  Tsk!  Innit marvellous?  

Today was the first time out this weekend, round the town, shopping in reopened shops and that was feeling like a new experience, and noting a barber with no queue, I will look in tomorrow!

People were sitting outside coffee shops, with the temperature not that high.  Were the pubs open?  I did not notice, it was lunchtime but I never gave them a thought.  I did read that those sitting outside pubs had to wear masks.  This begs the question how do they drink?