It’s been a pretty good week, I guess – the weather has been decent with a good bit of sun and pleasant temperatures. What more could you want? Not to worry though – the next heatwave of the summer is due this week, starting today!
We started the week on Monday morning, as we often do. We were due to make our way down to Heathrow to collect Nick and Annabelle on their return from Seattle. Thankfully, that’s a long enough flight for us to check its anticipated arrival time before setting off for the airport. Which I did, to discover that they had been diverted. To Goose Bay, Newfoundland. A passenger had been taken poorly and needed evacuation. Goose Bay was the nearest place with a runway of sufficient length to take the jumbo they were in.
Not much to see or do in Goose Bay, so I guess it’s a good thing they kept them on the plane. A couple of hours later they were airborne again and a few hours after that they staggered through looking suitably jet-lagged but otherwise in fine form. Welcome home!
We had a couple of our lovely neighbours over for a glass of wine or several, and sat out by Penelope’s Pond. It’s coming to life by the day – Friday evenings’ entertainment was provided by the dragonfly who hovered and swooped as we sipped and chatted. Lovely.
Saturday, Penny downed tools and made her way to London along with tens of thousands of others to a protest for more action to stop the genocide in Gaza.
There was a parallel protest against the Government’s ridiculous designation of a particular protest group as a terrorist organisation, the repercussions of which have been absurd.
One couple was detained and denied entry to a concert at the Royal Albert Hall because the 81-year-old husband was wearing a Palestinian flag pin. Another man was arrested, handcuffed, taken to a police station and held for six hours for holding a placard with a copy of a cartoon from Private Eye.
And this from the Guardian
At 81, Deborah Hinton, a former British magistrate who was honoured by the late Queen Elizabeth II for services to the community, seems an unlikely terrorist suspect. In the quiet town in south-west England where she lives, much of her retirement is spent walking along the cliffs, raising funds for the nearby cathedral choir, and supporting local charities.
But last month she was detained in a police cell for seven hours, fingerprinted and had a DNA swab taken from her mouth. It was the first time she had ever been arrested, and the experience left her “in a state of trauma” and “shaking uncontrollably”. She could face a jail sentence of six months under UK terrorism legislation.
Hinton is among more than 200 Britons who have been arrested in recent months for peacefully protesting about the war in Gaza and the designation by the British government of an activist group, Palestine Action, as a terrorist organisation. They say the ban is a draconian clampdown on freedom of expression, and runs counter to a proud tradition of protest and civil disobedience in the UK that includes the suffragettes’ campaign a century ago for women’s right to vote and marches against nuclear weapons in the 1950s.
Harriet Sharwood – The Guardian
Friday evening, after our neighbours left and we were about to retire, I accompanied Daisy up to the top of the garden – to scare away any squirrels, obviously. But also so that she could get ready for bed by visiting the lavatory in the orchard. The sky was still light and, as I waited for her to conclude her business, I glanced back toward the house to see dozens or more house martins swooping and soaring in the evening sky gobbling insects as they went. They’ve recently fledged their broods and this was no doubt the parents showing the babies how to land, take-off and catch a snack along the way. Highly entertaining to watch. Marvellous.
Then, as I turned and looked up just above me in the orchard, there were three or four bats similarly swooping and soaring across sky. I don’t know if these were parents and babies but it was a magnificent spectacle. I suspect there must be plenty of insects for everyone. And Daisy protected me from any squirrels.
Update on the Far East Explorers, Adam, Ava and the girls are now back in Yangshou in China – that’s where Adam used to work and where they met and also where we used to go when we visited. It’s a fabulous place amongst the karst mountains which leap out of the landscape.
I was reading or watching the news the other day and there were more reports of the deportations taking place in the US. I was struck by a thought – who is going to replace all those deported? Certainly many or most of them will have been working in some capacity, whether legally or illegally. Employers will now, presumably, need to find additional workers to fill the roles which the deportees had previously occupied.
Clearly, great minds think alike. A very good friend sent me a link to an article from the Economic Policy Institute highlighting exactly that. And, it gets even better. The deportations will also impact other jobs particularly in areas such as construction and child care.
Deportations will eliminate millions of jobs held by immigrant and U.S.-born workers according to research on increased immigration enforcement.
Ben Zipperer – Economic Policy Institute
Does anyone think these things through?
And finally, YCNMIU.
One of the loonier members of Parliament who represents a largely coastal community alerted the authorities to a group of “illegal migrants” attempting to smuggle their way into the UK. He alerted the Coast Guard and spread his “news” all over social media to the point that the “illegal dingy” was tracked along the Norfolk coast by a sizeable crowd of his constituents. Sadly, the illegal immigrants were a group of rowers raising money for a mental health charity. Good to see that our elected officials understand the importance of speaking or posting the truth as opposed to unsubstantiated rumours.
And finally, finally, these made me grin this week.
And, I think that’s it about it for this week! Happy Birthday this coming week to my brother who will achieve one of those memorable birthday milestones on Friday and my adorable niece, the doctor, who will be a bit older on Saturday. I don’t remember what happened yesterday but I do remember where I was when each of you was born – what are the chances of that? Much love to you both.
Meanwhile, keep breathing, keep happy, keep smiling, keep exercising, be good, be careful, and keep safe. And be gentle to wasps and bees – we need all the pollinators we can get.
Lots of love to you all,
Greg
May not be much to do in Goose Bay but, on 9/11, 75 of more than 200 flights diverted from US, airspace due to the attacks on the twin towers, landed there and thousands of passengers were taken in and provided with food and lodging by their Canadian hosts until they could continue their journeys to points in the US. A pity such cross-border friendship and hospitality is ignored by the current gang of hostile incompetents who make up the current US administration. Incidentally, the event spawned a very popular musical – running for years – called Come From Away. anyway, glad Goose Bay was there for Nick and Annabelle and their fellow travelers.