The day dawned bright and clear yesterday morning and I felt I had quite a lot to do in preparation for my weekend visit but, in truth, once the car has been washed and some money out of the ATM all I have to do is to pack an overnight bag. As I have two pieces of script on my kitchen table, I take the opportunity to practice the cadences in the ‘Grace Before Meals’ which I am due to deliver at my friends birthday’s party tomorrow and I also have the second verse of ‘Danny Boy’ which starts ‘But when you come and all the flowers are dying’ which I am committing to memory to recite when the time is propitious over the next day or so. The evening before last, my American friend phoned to tell me that she had just had a scan and hope to get the results of this from her doctor on Monday morning but, in any event, was feeling a bit better than she had been feeling for the past few days. Shortly afterwards, my Italian friend from down the road phoned and now that she has decided to stay located in the house in which has lived for the past sixty years and not move to be nearer to her daughter which had been her original intention. She knew we were approaching the anniversary of Meg’s death and hence the phone call but I was happy to be able to tell her my plans for the next day or so away with friends about which she was pleased. I made an arrangement to pick her up in my car and take her to the Methodist Centre next Wednesday when we can sit at the ‘chatty table’ and having lived in Bromsgrove for so long I would be amazed if she did not run across some old acquaintances one way or another. But my Italian friend did convey some sad news to me. In the days when I used to walk Meg regularly up and down the Kidderminster Road, we often used to bump into an acquaintance who lived down the Kidderminster Road. Now he and I had a joint interest in the Honda cars that we both owned at the time and he always managed to keep his garden in pristine condition as well. In fact, we shared a table at a joint social gathering which the French lady who used to live down the road loved to organise for neighbours and friends whenever there was a suitable occasion. But I was distressed to learn that my ‘Honda’ friend had actually passed away some three months ago and as I do not walk up and down the road as regularly as I used to do, I had no idea this had happened. So I must ensure that I take the opportunity to knock on the door and offer my condolences to his widow who, fortunately, has a daughter who lives fairly near by. The situation in the local election in Birmingham is complicated and the result has been delayed for hours. The Labour party’s 14-year leadership in Birmingham has come to an end after Reform, Greens and pro-Gaza independents made significant gains in the UK’s second-largest city. No party has yet won an overall majority at Birmingham city council, one of Europe’s largest local authorities, with the results reflecting wider political fragmentation across England. Labour was expected to take significant losses in the all-out elections in Birmingham, where 101 seats were up for grabs. The council has been plagued by a series of problems in recent years, from the declaration of bankruptcy in 2023, subsequent cuts to local services and the ongoing bin strike – images of rubbish piled on the city’s streets have made headlines across the world. The local authority, which is responsible for a £4.4bn budget, has so far lost more than 30 Labour councillors, and gained 21 Reform and 11 Green councillors. None of this is a great surprise but governing UK’s largest local authority will be a headache as it is certain that the Greens would never lend any support to the Reform party. I wonder whether the Greens may help to support a minority Labour administration but the situation has yet to clarify and there may be tense local negotiations that lie ahead.
So, I knew that there was a certain amount of running about to be done this morning, but I got my newspaper collected, money taken out of the ATM and the car fuelled ready for the journey and given a jet-wash. When I returned home, I judged it to be prudent to give my fridge a good working over because I was fearful that some foodstuffs might be going ‘off’ So I had a good throw away of all kinds of things in my fridge leaving it pretty empty but at the same time I gave all of the shelves and baskets a thorough clean. As the weather is getting warmer and I will be having minimal food from the freezer for the next 2-3 days, it seemed a sensible precaution to take. I ate up some curry that I had been storing for the last few days and then settled down to watch the Women’s 6-Nations rugby. The first match was England vs. Italy and after a poor start, the Italians made a better match of it but were no match for the English team. Then I started to do some packing in advance of my trip tomorrow but broke off to watch the Scotland vs. France game as well as having my feet done by the chiropodist who was scheduled to call around. This evening is going to be a quiet evening in front of the TV and then an early start tomorrow morning. I have to be careful, though, to take everything with me that I intend as I hope to show some photos illustrating Meg’s life on my laptop if a suitable opportunity presents itself probably some time tomorrow evening. The crunch match in the rugby promises to be England vs France next weekend and this will be very evenly matched but I think the French might have the slight edge over the England team. My chiropodist reminded me that the World Cup is starting on June 11th which is now only a month away. It will be hosted in a variety of venues across the three countries of Mexico, the USA and Canada and as they are 6-8 hours behind us, I wonder when the transmission times might be in the UK. No doubt, the Sunday supplements will shower us with timetables and transmission times in a week or so.