Yesterday has opened with quite a lot of cloud and this is going to persist most of the morning but there is a 20% chance of a light shower in the afternoon. I have spent a certain amount of time exploring some potential holiday options for a stay in Spain next February (when winter is at its worst) and were I to book up now, there are a quite a lot of good deals to be had. Our favourite hotel in La Coruna appears to be already full but another that I know well run by the Hesperia chain is offering rooms at half the price so it is all pretty tempting. I am not at the stage to make firm decisions just yet as there is quite a lot to consider. There is an interesting report in Sky news this morning that despite the military might of America, Iran seems to be outfoxing USA in the protracted negotiations over a cease-fire and a peace plan. When the dust settles (if it ever will) then in the most paradoxical way, Iran may emerge as a stronger and strategically more important world power than it has been hitherto, if only because of the whole issue of the control of the Straits of Hormuz. When one starts to reflect upon world affairs then both Russia and the USA seem to have thought that their military might would have made a ‘push over’ of their conflicts with smaller nations (Ukraine, Iran) but both major military powers have suffered what might be termed a bloody nose so this might give the serious military analysts pause for thought before they rush into any more conflicts. The thing that I find genuinely puzzling and both the UA and Russia are guilty of this is the thought that the bombing of civilian populations is likely to lead to a rapid end to a conflict. As we ourselves know from our experiences of WWII, then the bombing of a civilian population is likely to increase and not decrease their overall resolve. The day before yesterday, I had my Spanish conversation class and this turned out to be quite interesting. Our tutor had assembled a range of popular expressions about the ways in which we might be ‘lucky’ or ‘unlucky’ and this led to quite a little spate of stories around the table of how might have utilised some or all of these phrases in our past discourses. We were joined by a new member who has skills in both French and Spanish although I suspect more so in French. But I did feel sorry for her because I think she felt a little overwhelmed by the rest of the group even though our conversations are only semi-fluent. It is interesting to see how each of us approaches our conversation – one of our number is very thoughtful and does not speak as much as the rest of us but I expect his listening skills are of a high order and he understands nearly everything. Speaking personally, I tend to flip the other way because I am fairly confident in speaking (even though I must make a mountain of mistakes) but I suspect that my listening skills are worse than my fellow class member as sometime I fail to comprehend or to follow the flow of the conversation. Still, the important thing is that we each feel as though we are making some progress and therefore deriving some benefit from our fortnightly meetings. I suspect that our latest recruit may not join us again even though all of us made friendly and welcoming approaches towards her. In the evening before last, I watched ‘Any Questions’ come from the critical by election in Makerfield (Wigan and Leigh area of Greater Manchester) and this was conducted in quite a civilised and restrained fashion. But I read that Andy Burnham has opened up a 10-point lead over Reform in the Makerfield by-election race, according to a new poll. The Labour mayor of Greater Manchester would win 49 per cent of the vote, according to data from Survation, with Reform’s Robert Kenyon trailing on 39 per cent.
Yesterday was the day when my friend and I promised ourselves a day out in central Birmingham. We caught the train together from Bromsgrove to arrive in Birmingham New Street station and it was relatively easy for us to negotiate our way to the City Art Gallery. The minute we arrived there, we treated ourselves to Edwardian tea rooms and then we ventured forth to view the pre-Raphaelite collection. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was Britain’s first modern art movement. In the mid-19th century, its artists painted traditional subjects in radical ways and responded to a rapidly changing world. They looked back to the bright colours and realism of medieval art to create a new style for a modern age. As they admired art from before the Italian painter Raphael (1483 to 1520), they called themselves ‘Pre-Raphaelites’. Birmingham has the largest collection of Pre-Raphaelite art and design in the world. Selected from this outstanding collection, the displays will introduce audiences to the Pre-Raphaelites and their circle, from their early works through to artists working in Birmingham at the turn of the 20th century. After we had had our fill of the artwork, we decided not to eat in the Art Gallery (where we could have had fish and chips) but made our way to the immediate environs where we found a high class Indian restaurant and treated ourselves to an Indian meal (which was good but not ‘that’ good). Then we went on a meandering walk and ran across St Basils’ cathedral (and I estimated it to be Georgian built in 1740 but it was completed in 1715) We admired the stained glass windows and went to light candles for our respective deceased loved ones but whilst we were lighting candles before a Madonna and child, we noticed a woman overcome with grief weeping to herself before the painting. My friend and I immediately went over to the woman to console her, explaining how we ourselves had both experienced grief recently and after some interesting conversations between the three of us we ended up with a communal hug between the three of us which I honestly think made the three of us feel better. Then we carried on with our peregrination and finished up at an interesting coffee shop at the start of the huge shopping mall that surrounds New Street station. We both find that the bar codes issued on the tickets provided to us at Bromsgrove failed to give us access to the platform spine but staff realised that the software was a little ‘dodgy’ and allowed us through without question. Then we arrived home at about six having had a very interesting day.