Astonishing. Simply astonishing.
One of the better comments I heard was just before the election. In last week’s “Have I Got News for You”, (a satirical topical news quiz for those who don’t know) after a round on what was then (last Friday) the upcoming presidential election, the host said, “Yes. This is the upcoming US Presidential election. Next Tuesday Americans will go to the polls to elect the worst president in history. (Slight pause) Or someone even worse.”
I thought this on Facebook was pretty cute:
Always one to look for a silver lining, the result does mean that my streak of never having voted for the winning candidate in any election remains intact.
Other than that, we’ve had a pretty good week. Last Friday we had the pleasure of Annabelle’s company for a sleep-over while Nick and Lucy were out late. Separately, as it happens – Lucy had a work-related do to attend and Nick was out in Birmingham with friends until the last train home. So, we collected Bubble after school and brought her home with us, which is always a treat. We played games, read stories, lit the wood burner and played “tickle me” whenever the fire “popped””, read more stories and eventually slept like the proverbial logs. Always good fun.
Nick collected her soon after 9.00 on Saturday morning as she was due to attend one of the multitude of birthday parties to which four and five year olds are invited. It seems like she has difficulty fulfilling all her social commitments – there always seems to be a party or seven to attend every weekend.
Then, on Saturday evening we went back across to theirs to have a quick bite and then off to Annabelle’s school for their Bonfire and Fireworks night. (Saturday, of course, was November 5 – Guy Fawkes’ Night which is traditionally celebrated with a bonfire on which is burnt the effigy of Guy Fawkes followed by a fireworks display).
And my goodness did they have a bonfire! It was huge although I’m not too sure how many of the school children were that impressed – what they were really anxious to see was the fireworks display, as were we.
Annabelle loves the fireworks (who doesn’t?) but finds the noise they generate to be a bit excessive. So, Nick provided her and her best friend Sophie with some industrial strength ear protectors so that they could enjoy the fireworks without the inconvenience of the loud percussions. Sophie’s father Boz was also there and we all reminisced about some of the Bonfire Night fireworks displays we enjoyed at Byfield.
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Some of you will remember but when we lived in Byfield there was a chap who owned or ran a fireworks factory or something – I never was too clear on the precise relationship. Every special occasion the village would organise a fireworks display which was set off in the recreation ground, just a bit behind our back garden. As a consequence, we had the most incredible front-row seats for what were extraordinary “professional” fireworks displays.
Bonfire Night in November was fine as they tended to be relatively early in the evening. The displays to mark the New Year, however, were somewhat disconcerting for those of us who retire at about 9.00 or 10.00 o’clock. We would be sound asleep only to be awakened by the “boom” of the first huge firework being set off, followed about ten Nano seconds later by one of the dogs, Pippa, sprinting up the stairs, bashing down our bedroom door and joining us in the middle of the bed, petrified of the noise. Fortunately, we could watch the display from our bedroom window while trying to calm an exceedingly agitated dog.
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All good fun!
Much love to you all,
Greg