Yesterday evening, I attended Church as part of my routine but I knew that it would be the last time I say the priest as he is leaving at the end of the month and next weekend, all being well, I shall be up with my family in Yorkshire. Thinking what to say to him, I hit upon the Spanish word ‘Adios’ which literally means ‘to God’ or more figuratively ‘Go with God’ which seemed an appropriate farewell for a priest. Actually, the origin of our farewell greeting ‘Goodbye’ is quite similar because it is actually a contraction of the phrase ‘God be with ye’ which is a very similar sentiment. As I was leaving the church, an old lady had missed a step and had fallen although I do not think she has badly hurt herself. The rest of the congregation were making her comfortable as I left but the whole little incident reminded me how aged our little congregation has actually become. This weekend, followed by a Bank Holiday (to which increasingly I do not look forward), is going to be quite an isolated one. I did a quick run through in my mind of the eight people, including family and friends but excluding immediate neighbours who I might expect to see for some extended social contact. But all of them are away, one half on holiday, another two preoccupied with moving house and the final two with their own family associations. So I am having to think quite hard what to do to keep myself connected with the world and, for a start, I will walk down the hill and hope that a newspaper is both published and available although things are a little ‘iffy’ on a Bank Holiday weekend. But there is a rugby match in the late morning and then a good film ‘Chariots of Fire’ is being broadcast this afternoon and although I have seen it at least 2-3 times before, it might be worth yet another watch. I know that Bank Holidays are important to people when their own holiday entitlement is limited but they are a little bit of an anachronism in these days when so people work 24:7. Incidentally, one of my introductions to Hispanic culture occurred when I was fortunate enough to be invited to give a paper to a conference organised by a computer firm and our guide around Mexico City was a young post-graduate student. It was about 3.30 on a Wednesday afternoon and the traffic was horrendous, even for Mexico City. Our postgraduate guide explained that the following day was a national holiday but I rather naively said ‘But then what about Friday?’ Our guide laughed and explained that Friday was a ‘puente’ (literally a bridge) and nobody returned to work on a Friday. So by having a national holiday on a Thursday, people could start to disappear late on Wednesday afternoon (which was evidently the case late on the Wednesday in question in Mexico City) and not return to work until Monday morning this creating a mini-vacation. For a similar reason, many people in the UK will try to get off on the Friday afternoon before the Bank Holiday the following Monday in order to make a long weekend for themselves but, of course, without the extra day of a ‘puente’ (although many people will take a day’s leave to extend their miniature vacation).
As the absolutely horrific news continues to flow out of Gaza, we hear the news that The United Nations have officially declared that famine exists in Gaza and that the population is being starved to death. For the sake of balance, I have to point out that Israel denies that any starvation or food shortages exist in Gaza and any ‘evidence’ is just lies perpetrated by Hamas and adopted by the western media. I wondered whether the support from America was just as strong in the face of these revelations and did a bit of internet research. From this two things emerged. The first I vaguely already knew and this was that America as well as arming Israel to the teeth also is the way in which arms manufacturers can test out their own weaponry and much of this is funded directly by the US government. The second thing I discovered was the existence of a billionaire-funded group known as ‘AIPAC’ (America-Israel Public Affairs Committee) which channels funds towards both political parties in the USA. The fact that the Republican party is funded is no great surprise but what I had not realised was the huge amount of money (about $100k in the last year) to intervene in campaigns held within the Democrats to ensure that only Israel-friendly politicians get elected and that any voice within the Democrats even vaguely critical of Israel will have massively funded campaigns directed against them. To British ears, this seems like gross interference in the political process but of course it is part of the American political system in which these flows of campaign funds are deemed to be quite legitimate. I suppose I ought to neither surprised nor shocked by these discoveries on my part but, of course, they do impact upon the British political system as well. The UK government is always carried along on the coat-tails of American foreign policy but the demonstrations across the country supporting Palestine (and not Israel) in the current conflict shows out of touch our own (Labour) party is with an important strand of opinion within the country.
The day today, as anticipated, has not been a bundle of joy. I walked down to Waitrose and add a coffee and then walked to the park to sit on my usual bench. But I did not meet any of my acquaintances and so walked home to regaled myself with the Japan vs. Ireland Rugby match. This was reasonably entertaining and the Irish won fairly easily. Then I made myself a ‘meat and two veg’ type of lunch but to be truthful was not particularly hungry. I did succeed, though, in solving a ‘fiendish’ Sudoku after which I made myself wash the car which was particularly dirty after the dust thrown up by the building contractors who are building on every side of us had done its worst. As tomorrow is a Bank Holiday, I expect that the day will be much like today but I did ascertain that the Waitrose store would be open for business in the morning.