As time slips by

Melanie pointing to her house across the valley

This week was quite a week. It was a week when Storm Amy whipped through parts of the UK and disrupted life for many, Meanwhile, I made it to Shropshire to visit my old neighbour, Melanie. We had both lived on Dairy Farm so naturally we talked a lot about the "old" days. We know that Dairy Farm isn't what it once was. The peace has been punctured and the greenery demolished. Since I left, there has been so much construction outside the condo and most of Pang Sua forest is no more. There is now a three-lane road that now runs past our once quiet haven. It is sad. Our days there were happy ones.

Melanie now lives in a small hamlet whose name sounds a bit like it could have belonged to a 1930s war correspondent. I could imagine Whitcott Keysett slamming the keys on his Olivetti to get his latest updates dispatched to a national newspaper in another country. They don't name people like that anymore. I have a thing about English place names probably as a result of being brought up in Leighton Be Buggered.  

Melanie's house

Melanie's house in Whitcott Keysett overlooks a valley. It is a wonderful, listed barn set in quite a lot of grounds. Apparently Mark took three days mowing the "lawn"!!! It was from that barn that we saw the driving rain from Amy cross the valley between us and Clun, the nearest town. Fortunately, my trips to and from there weren't affected by the weather. The biggest problem  on my trip was the single-track roads. If you meet another vehicle, you have to reverse. On the way to the house I had to do this three times - something Melanie was surprised at because she told me there is very little traffic on the roads. Then when we walked to Clun, it was busy again. So I am to be blamed for the unusual busy-ness. Hopefully the traffic has calmed down now I am home again. 

The area is close to Offa's Dyke. This is something I plan to walk when my left foot has been repaired. We did a bit of walking and ended up in a pub. It was one of those pubs where other tables join in conversations. I was duly told off for pronouncing "Clun" wrongly - embarrassing! Other than that, it was a joy to learn about the locality; and what I learnt, I fell in love with. Melanie has found a really wonderful part of the country to settle in.

On the world front, I am now in conversation with people I know who have already bought my book. These few people come from four continents. So while I might not have quite hit the "best seller" list, I have got a wide reach. As time slips by, I might actually get the books I ordered delivered to my door. I want to hold one in my hand! How pathetic of me.

PS. Last week I mentioned that Jewish people worldwide would need to look over their shoulders after all that has happened in Gaza. Then this week, we had news of a Synagogue being targeted in Manchester. On that same day as two people died in Manchester, another thirty-five were killed by the IDF in Gaza. Sadly, those thirty-five aren't important enough for us to pause and mourn while for the two who were killed in Manchester, we have been asked to respect Jewish rituals put gatherings and protests on hold. Total bias in our media breeds contempt for the actions of our government, sad to say.   

We were hopeful...