International Affairs

 

Not far from my home... trees have been cleared so I took the picture on my epic bike ride on Saturday and not a flag anywhere to be seen.

Obviously this week has been all about The World Cup. One cannot help but get emotional about how one's national team are fairing. This is only natural. England didn't disappointment with the rollercoaster ride of emotion they created in their game against Croatia. Meanwhile, Scotland drank Boston dry - that is an achievement in itself. A musician from Boston, who was interviewed on Radio 4, seemed surprised that all Scots shout out, "I would walk 500 miles..." and jump around while doing so. They certainly don't need to sing it! I think his reaction shows a very limited cultural understanding. What planet has that Bostonian been living on? 

I am not sure about how the next round will play out but Iran looks set to go through. Wouldn't it be funny if they met USA in a future round? We could solve the Middle East crisis with a football match and then no one would get killed. Trumps headache solved! What an idea!

On the home front, Newport Pagnell has been hosting a Football Jamboree this weekend. Parking is at a premium in the entire surrounding area to the sports ground. Often, while we were playing tennis, there were announcements about cars being badly parked. People were shamed for their stupidity and laziness over a powerful tannoy, Yay! There were hundreds of kids playing matches and with the glorious sunshine, it looked like an amazing event. The edges of the pitches were lined with gazebos to keep the spectators cool - they provided a team HQ. There did seem to be an inordinate number of "pink" teams playing and according to an article I read earlier in the week, hot pink is THE colour for a World Cup so the children's team were on trend. Apparently it is only in recent history that pink was for girls. Apparently blue was thought to be a girls colour because of its association with the Virgin Mary. Wow! We live and learn.

As for my brush with international affairs... I had a potentially awkward incident in a carpark in Stony. I wanted to reverse out of a space but a car drew up just past my rear onside bumper and stopped in the middle of the carpark. The memory of the previous bump in a carpark shot into my mind. I jumped out of the car and told the man in the waiting car that I was going to reverse and he must not move backwards while I leave my spot. Then I said I had had an accident in another car park. I jumped back in my car and prepared to reverse. The man came to my passenger window and said he did not hit me. I realised he did not understand anything - he was foreign. He seemed quite upset... Whoops. 

I also had a nice conversation with a Bangladeshi man who owned the garage where I had my front tyres replaced. He asked me what I thought about my Toyota CHR. I told him I had chosen it for its reliability. He told me that cars were more reliable men these days... interesting thought, I'll keep that in mind. 

So, as for Father's Day, Richard made a roast to die for - or to kill me off - it was wonderful. Mattaya and Ezra-Mae sat and ate in a most stately manner! Lovely meal - but something I really should go carefully with as I now have the date for my op. It will be on 16th September. from now on it is "get fit" time.

Happy Birthday, Mr President

Old Stratford Fete-glorious day

 This week on June 14th, Donald Trump turned eighty. The most powerful octogenarian in the world still packs a mighty punch despite his declining popularity both at home and abroad. I assure you his shenanigans will one day be proven to have enhanced his wealth exponentially through playing the stock markets with his "truth social" announcements of peace deals and ballistics threats. At least his old buddy Elon now has enough money in the coffers since launching SpaceX to buy him a sizable gift. Let's hope Trump's day has been a distraction from wanting to invade another unsuspecting country. 

It was also my son's birthday on June 13th. He is much younger than Trump - obviously! I tried to wish him a happy birthday but he was AWOL. Not too sure where he disappeared to but he was uncontactable. At the time of writing he still hasn't responded to my many attempts at calling him. In the old days you could put a plea out to missing persons on the radio. Perhaps I should print out some "missing" posters. Wherever you are, son, I hope you are safe!

I got the results of the MRI on my left foot this Saturday. The MRI told me exactly why my foot hurts. Now my op is imminent. Oddly I am looking forward to this as I know that each  day after the op I will be getting better and until that time, my foot just hurts more every day. Having had the right foot done, I know what to expect. I remember my biggest joy was being able to transport a cup of coffee from the kitchen to the sofa last time. It seemed like such a big milestone. It is little joys such as drinking coffee on my sofa that made my realise I was on the mend. 

And, having come out of a recent spell of very nasty weather for June, it is summer once more. Even on one leg, tennis is fun when the sun shines.

Brighton

Birthday drinks

 As it is both my son, Sammi, and my birthday around this time we got together and celebrated together. In anticipation of the weather turning warm again, I wore light summer clothes and took a gilet as my only over-garment to Brighton. Ever since my return to the UK, I have made bad choices of what to wear and this week proved to be no exception. I got to Brighton and found it to be rather breezy. Winds of 40mph swept eastward along the prom and fighting them to walk back to Sam's new flat in Hove was a challenge. In addition to the strong winds, Wednesday was a day of particularly heavy rain too. 

A raging sea

The red flags have been out along the seafront to warn people not to swim. The waves must have been 3 meters high. Since my last visit in January, Sam and his friend Andy have moved up in the world. They are now living at the top of an old regency terraced house overlooking the sea. They are ninety-five steps up in the world! The flat is quite lovely and very airy - much nicer than the one they had in the centre of town. 

On my way back to the flat I saw a sign on a neighbouring house that said that Prince Klemens von Metternich had stayed there in 1840. Haha, I recalled, This is he of the France sneezing quote. Sam's neck of the woods must be a salubrious part of town if such dignitaries once stayed there. Then later on, in another part of town - Old Steine - I saw a blue plaque to say that Tallyrand had stayed in that house in 1830. Being an adversary of Metternich it is fortunate that they were not in Brighton at the same time. Wandering the streets of Brighton became quite a trip down my A level history memory lane. 

I also got to see Anne too. We day-trip to Stanmer Park to the Butterfly House. It was steamy hot inside and a welcome change from the torrential downpour outside. I noticed that lots of the butterflies had damaged wings. I thought that probably life inside an air-conditioned building was a bit tough for them. Apparently not. The butterflies with damaged wings are usually much older than they would have been had they lived in their natural habitat. So, just like us, butterflies have bits that drop off them as they grow old! Oh how our beauty fades with age.

I set off on Thursday morning for a swim in the Sea Lanes. I got there and saw about three people in the pool ploughing up and down. The wind created a spray from their arms as they swung them out of the water it made swimming look too difficult. I wimped out and went for a sauna on the beach instead. The shower on the beach was a challenge. When I pressed the start button the water got blown from the shower head at right angles so I had to step a meter down the beach to get any benefit from the water. 

This weekend I set off again. This time to visit Ann in Stevenage. Another Ann and another great meet-up. Ann had just returned from what was supposed to be an amazing Mediterranean cruise that turned into a nightmare as her luggage did not arrive until near the end of the cruise. @ROL booked the cruise but refused to take responsibility for this booking, @BA were all but uncontactable and when they did answer a call in person, they lied about where the luggage was. This ended up as an article in the Mail on Sunday. Infuriating - we book holidays to relax and enjoy. Ann spent most of her time making expensive phone calls trying to locate her luggage. This was not a relaxing holiday. Errrr.