It’s been mainly “fresh” and wet and windy this week. Those kinds of days where it’s a joy to have a dog again so that one can trudge through the downpour and gale force winds twice a day. I met a neighbour walking her dog up Plumpton Lane the other day and I commented on how wet and miserable the weather was, “perfect for dog-walking,” I said. She agreed that it was miserable but went on to say she still wouldn’t be without her dog. I’m afraid she’s right.
We had another Date Night on Tuesday. This time it was the film In Bruges courtesy of Netflix and a wonderful evening meal courtesy of Penelope’s Pantry. I think it was Nick who recommended In Bruges to us many years ago and it really is a lovely film. It’s about two hitmen (Gleason and Farrell) who are required to “lie low” in Bruges after a hit in London goes bad. It was written and directed by Martin McDonagh who also wrote and directed The Banshees of Inersherin (which I mentioned last week) as well as Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Seven Psychopaths. Very talented fellow.
And, we had another date night (of sorts) on Thursday! Adam and Ava very kindly invited us over for dinner and took us out avec la famille to La Terraza, a lovely (and delicious) tapas restaurant in Northampton. Even better, when we arrived at theirs before dinner our other two boys were lined up on a Zoom call waiting to convey their good wishes on our upcoming anniversary. What a surprise and what a treat!
Friday, of course, was our 50th wedding anniversary – what are the chances of that? One or two of our faithful readers were at that ill-starred event in Connecticut all those years ago and probably never would have imagined that we’d still be here (and still married and occasionally still speaking to one another) 50 years later! I remember attending Penny’s grandparents Golden Wedding anniversary and thinking at the time how “old” they seemed. Are we that old now? (Actually, not quite because they were older when they were married than we were, but still!) This photo hangs in our kitchen/pantry and our grandchildren always have a great laugh when they see a young, handsome (?) grandpa with loads of hair!
On Friday afternoon Nick arrived on our doorstep clutching a packet of 50 (or more) photographs, on the back of of each one was written a chore or task that we could redeem when we like – lawn mowing, window washing (inside and out), washing up after a big family meal, Daisy-sitting overnight, etc. What a great idea and a marvellous anniversary present! Some of my favourites:
And then, on Friday evening, we took ourselves out to dinner! We went to the White Horse in Kings Sutton which comes highly recommended and it was very nice indeed. Not “outstanding” or “great” I suppose but very nice. We’d go again.
Yesterday I ventured down to Cholsey to visit with some dear friends who founded and run the Treehouse School, about which I’ve written in the past. It’s ten years since the school was opened and this was a celebration to mark the event. There were lots of doubters – especially when they were unsuccessful in securing any government funding in view of their lack of enthusiasm for the pointless jumping-through-hoops national examinations that state schools are required to push their students through. Not only have they survived but the school and, more importantly, the students have thrived. It was terrific to see everyone again.
Then, on Saturday evening we had the Moreton Pinkney Garden Club’s annual dinner held, for the first time in two years, in its usual venue – the Village Hall. The dinner was catered by Danny Webster (again) even though his offerings hitherto have been mediocre at best (that’s our view and the view of a few others at any rate). The lack of an alternative seems to have been the driving factor this year. So, credit where credit is due, this time the meal was pretty good and it’s always nice to spend time with our lovely neighbours.
Someone (i.e., my brother Steph), was “complaining” that I hadn’t been including quite so many political rants lately. So, here’s another in the ever-continuing saga of the You Could Not Make It Up series. Michelle Mone is a Conservative member of the House of Lords, appointed by that bastion of good sense and propriety David Cameron in 2015. At the outset of the pandemic, she recommended a firm which could supply PPE to a number of government ministers. The firm duly won a contract to supply PPE and everyone was happy.
As the pandemic has waned questions have arisen over whether those recommending firms for government contracts had any potential for financial gain (conflicts of interest). Nope, she exclaimed when asked. She has no role in the company she recommended nor had she gained financially in any way through the contract.
You can tell where this is going – investigations now show that she received £29 million of the company’s profits through a convoluted trust structure clearly (one might argue) designed to obscure the truth. Her husband, who organised the trust structure, received something in the region of £65 million from the company. No conflict of interest here.
PPE Medpro was given £203m to supply face masks and sterile surgical gowns at the height of the pandemic. Lady Mone, a Tory peer, referred PPE MedPro to the Cabinet Office in May 2020, five days before it was even registered as a company.
Angela Raynor, the Guardian
The government continues to claim that all procurement processes were followed and that due diligence was carried out. How can due diligence have been carried out given that the company didn’t even exist when it was recommended by Lady Mone?
Ironically, as it turns out, much of the PPE supplied was not fit to be used and the government is now trying to recover something like £120 million from the company.
One of the more interesting aspects of this (and other examples of political corruption) is how vehemently those concerned deny their involvement, even to the extent of having solicitors issue letters threatening legal action, up until the final piece of the jigsaw snaps into place. And secondly, why do some people with personal fortunes running into the gazillions, feel it necessary to rip off the tax payer for their own further enrichment? Sadly, you can make this sort of stuff up all the time.
We’re off for a few days in Dorset this week – let’s hope the weather is tolerable.
Finally, someone shared the following signpost on Facebook which made me chuckle.
It doesn’t take much to amuse me.
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
Belated congrats on achieving 50 years of marital bliss(?). In answer to your query, apparently the chance of that is 7% in the US and 5% in the UK. However, average length of marriage in the US is 8.2 years, whereas in the UK it’s 30. Of course ‘bliss’ is not necessarily a component when it comes to longevity and I suspect that the greater length achieved in the UK is due to the ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ stance of Brits, as opposed to the ‘Fuck it, I’m outta here’ attitude of Americans.
Anyway, well done!
Lotsa love – J