Apart from it being unseasonably mild, it’s been feeling and looking quite Autumnal this week. Some decent colour (or at least what passes for seasonal Autumn colour in these parts), rain and mud and wind. But, it is worryingly mild for the time of year (20o C, 68o F on Saturday).
We had another nice walk around the Edgcote estate the other day and although the weather wasn’t grand, the colour was decent in isolated instances. It’s nothing like the colour my sister and brothers get in New England but it’s probably a bit better than we normally see. A combination of a very wet spring followed by a hot and dry summer, I suspect. Or something else entirely.
And, on Wednesday we went with our good friend Vicky to Batsford Arboretum just near Moreton-in-Marsh in the Cotswolds. The weather was nice – mild and sunny, although the wind was brisk and we did wonder whether all the leaves would have fallen by the time we got there. Thankfully, they hadn’t and there were a few good examples of bright colourful trees.
Still, not a patch on New England
but very nice nevertheless.
Adam, Ava, Jessie and Julieta were off this week during Jessie’s October half term break. They took themselves off to an all-inclusive holiday at a hotel in Majorca. From the photos they shared it all looks lovely – sunny and warm! After some excellent tuition from Adam, Jessie is now swimming like a fish as well as meeting and making friends with every 4- to 12-year-old in the complex. Julieta seems very chilled and also did a bit of paddling in the swimming pool.
Similarly, Nick, Lucy and Annabelle took off for a few days at Disneyland Paris over the break. They travelled in some pretty swish accommodation on Eurostar.
We had a lovely night out on Saturday – a couple of our lovely neighbours organised a visit to the Attic Theatre in Stratford to see a production of Frankenstein, preceded by dinner at Bistro Pierre. There were about twenty of us and the play was a lot of fun; the dinner was sadly mediocre.
The play was put on by a small, provencial theatre group, the Tread the Boards Theatre Company, the “award-winning” resident theatre company of the Attic Theatre. The theatre is very small and “intimate” – I guess it would probably hold about fifty? We were sitting about four feet from the action, and we were in the second row – and it was all good fun. Both the acting and the production were very good. As it’s such a small company, several of the actors had to play multiple parts and the lad playing the Monster was very good indeed.
Our clocks went back last night so you may be getting this an hour earlier or an hour later than usual, who knows? Who cares? I’m grateful for the extra hour of sleep this morning but the dark winter nights are a drag.
So, we have another new Prime Minister, the third in three months, the fifth in six years. In the end there was no need to take the vote to the old white men of the Conservative party, especially since they got it so wrong last time. This time, two of the three candidates backed out at the eleventh-hour leaving Rishi Sunak with an uncontested coronation.
One is, of course, desperately pleased that Boris did not make the cut. Having rushed back from the Dominican Republic where he was on vacation (he’s been “on vacation” nearly the whole time since his ousting) to throw his hat in the ring, he left his numerous idiot supporters in the lurch when he suddenly realised that he couldn’t win and withdrew. He boasted that he had more than the hundred nominations necessary to get on the ballot and was likely to win both this election and the General Election in 2024. It turns out that this was merely another string of lies to go along with all his other lies – he had in the region of 60 nominees, most of whom felt hugely let down by his hubris.
Pity poor Nadhim Zahawi – how desperate is he for another cabinet post? He was one of those who put the knife into Boris when it was clear he was on the ropes. Isn’t it amazing how things can change in the space of a few months? As soon as Boris let it be known that he was going to stand Zahawi publicly backed him and wrote an opinion piece for the Telegraph which had to be hastily pulled when Boris chickened out. Never mind, seeing which way the wind was blowing, he immediately jumped ship to Rishi, desperately hoping for another cabinet position. How corrupt and self-serving is he? You may remember that he is the one who famously claimed tens of thousands of pounds in expenses for heating the stables at his Warwickshire estate.
And how about the re-appointment of Suella Braverman as Home Secretary? She resigned as Home Secretary just a week ago after admitting that she breached both the ministerial and security codes. She forwarded confidential information to another MP via her private email account. Then, for some reason which is quite unfathomable, she sent the same confidential information to the wife of another MP. But, all is forgiven after she spent a week out of office. The fact that she is one of the looniest of the looney right-wing MPs in the Conservative Party and that Rishi needs the support of the looney right had nothing to do with her re-appointment, I’m sure.
You could not make this stuff up.
And finally, an exciting trip to the California Science Centre in LA for Max. I remember visiting this museum (or its precursor) as a boy and being pretty much blown away by the exhibits. That whole area of LA was fascinating as a young boy. There was the Science Centre as well as the Natural History Museum. And, one of my favourite places, the LA Coliseum.
Meanwhile, keep happy, keep smiling, be careful, wear a f**king facemask in crowded places and keep your distance. And keep safe. And be gentle to wasps and bees.
Lots of love to you all,
Greg