This week being the week after Easter, my routine is altered in various ways. My Pilates class is cancelled for this week as our instructor is away on her own holidays but two events are going to mark this week. Firstly, I have been fortunate to availed myself of a last minute cancellation so that I can now join the other 19 members of the U3A curry club to a local (Droitwich) based Indian restaurant with a very high reputation. This will take place at 6.00pm on Wednesday evening and it looks as though our party will occupy about one half of the restaurant. Until I get there, I don’t now if there is anyone else that I will recognise but I have done a quick reconnaissance of the 20 of us who are going and have ascertained there are four couples but the rest of us equally split between males and females so this should make for an entertaining evening if we get suitable seating arrangements. I am quite pleased that it will be light when we are making our way to the restaurant because I do not particularly like fishing about for new venues in the dark. Later on in the morning, I thought I would call in at another of the supermarkets in town where there is a pharmacy so that I can et some last minute supplies before I go off on holiday. Actually, knowing the notoriety of the Scottish midges, I did consult the web and found a product which is acclaimed to be the market leader in the fight against Scottish midges. The product (‘Smidge’ which I suppose is a contraction for [S]cottish [Midge] claims to be especially formulated in Scotland to deal with Scottish midges so on the strength of this information, I went ahead and ordered some supplies from Amazon which should arrive before the end of the week. By the morning’s post, the brand-new University scarf in UMIST colours arrived and it is of high quality being 100% wool and measured it against my recently discovered scarf, I find that the new product is ½” wider and 1′ longer than my old scarf. This difference may well disappear as and when I subject the new scarf to the washing machine but as things stand, I have about one third more scarf in the new product. It is actually made by the official robe makers to the University of Cambridge who advertise the fact in rather an obtrusive label. My son called around at around breakfast, recently returned from visiting his in-laws in Watford. He, to, is going off on holiday at the end of the week so we will both be away together but I explained to him how life as getting quite busty in this post Easter period as I have one U3A activity before my own holidays and two immediately following each other upon my return. Also I have a couple of social events to which to look forward in May so the intensity of my social life is increasing.
I got into town somewhat later than intended as m attention was diverted some photographs in some small albums to which our domestic help draw to my attention when she was dusting a bookcase. Some were of my stay in Indonesia whilst yet others were of Meg, my son and I on top of a snowy Lake District mountain evidently some time in the 1970’s,judging by the age of my son. Some were of our friends in Spain which I must remember to take when I eventually make it over there. One of the purposes of my trip my town was to my local Poundland where eventually I located the ‘pets’ section. The reason for this is because in the past I have found that the collars sold for dogs is a strap of exactly the correct length to held together the two retaining straps of a rucksack so that they do not slip off your shoulders (which is quite a frequent occurrence if the clothing that you are wearing has a somewhat sloping angle to the shoulders) But my efforts this year were crowned with failure and the current stock was polypropylene rather than leather and an obscure design so that couldn’t work out how you possibly get it over an animal’s head. So I abandoned this and came home to cook myself a late lunch of potatoes, ham and egg. Meanwhile, the whole world is watching and waiting to see if how Trump attempts to carry out his latest blood-curdling threat to bomb Iran back to the ‘Some Age’. His threats clearly break every single protocol against retribution of civilian populations about which the world conventions are completely clear. His new post says: ‘A whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again’. But it later adds ‘maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS?’ Trump suggests he’s negotiating with new leaders in Iran, after ‘total regime change’ there. But experts have frequently pointed out that the current war has not brought down Iran’s rulers, even though Israeli and American strikes have succeeded in killing individuals high up in the Islamic Republic, including Ali Khamenei, Iran’s previous supreme leader. That post threatened to reduce Iran’s leadership to ‘living in hell’, calling them ‘crazy bastards’. We shall see what transpires but it is quite evident that Trump has got the USA into a mess completely of its own making and is lashing out at allies, particularly Britain, who are failing to help him extricate himself. When his various threats do not materialise and deadlines come and go with the Iranians just sitting tight for the time being, I suspect that Trump will declare total victory and then declare that his vague and contradictory war am have been fulfilled. Even some quite loyal Republicans are now starting to questions Trump’s state of mind and general health. I am currently starting to think about the things I need to take on holiday with me starting on Friday. I am inclined to under pack rather than fill a large suitcase so I am planning to take an intermediate size suitcase with me. I will also take a small rucksack with me for day-to-day things to take out on trips and, again, I shall think hard what to put into this. I am thinking off an extremely light-weight raincoat in case of sudden downpours and a thermos flask and precious little else apart from insect repellent. I am also to pack a little notebook so that I can note down the details of each photo that I take which will make the job of cataloging the snaps easier when I return home. Of course I must not forget either to take with me my regular medications ad vitamin tablets although I suspect I shall be eating some hearty breakfasts on most of the days and only the lightest of lunches.