So on getting up yesterday morning, it was to the news that a ‘sort of’ peace deal has been announced between the USA and Iran. A deal has been agreed and is due to be signed on Friday in a few days time. The deal, such as it, is more of a holding operation with many unanswered questions. The document is billed as a memorandum of understanding and is believed to be two pages long, According to Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency, it will be endorsed by a UN Security Council resolution. Fighting is to stop and according to Pakistan’s prime minister, the pact called for ‘the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon’. The ceasefire is due to last for 60 days during which a more substantive agreement will be negotiated. But Israel has said it is not part of the agreement and previously said it retained freedom of operations in Lebanon. The Strait of Hormuz is reopening and Donald Trump said the major shipping route, which Iran has effectively shut down, would open on Friday. He also ordered that the US blockade of Iranian ports be lifted then. The strait will be ‘permanently toll-free’. We have to see whether this cease-fire welcome though it is will hold and the worrying feature is that Israel has said that it not be bound by it so we can expect to see further incursions into Lebanon. One of the great unknowns is what behind the scenes pressure the USA is willing to exert upon Israel but I suspect that whatever Donald Trump says, unless there is a radical reduction in the weapons and aid supplied to Israel, Netanyahu will carry on unrestrained. The day yesterday opened with the gloomy prospect of a 50% chance of light showers until about midday after which it will be gloomy and cloudy for the rest of he day. I am faced with the prospect of my huge Lavatera bush, which I propped up yesterday having fallen over and this was only to be expected. So I need to get out as soon as the weather allows with a hefty pair of secateurs and to do a radical pruning but at least there is nothing else really urgent that needs to be done today so this is a job in prospect for the day. Meanwhile, I can scarcely believe how the year seems to be racing away as I realise that once we get beyond 21st June, the days will start to shorten and we have the prospect of longer nights until the turn of the year in December. My American friend and I are planning a little sort-of shopping trip to Solihull next Friday where is a John Lewis store in the middle of an interesting shopping centre. One of the reasons for going there is to have a look at what sort of TV deals are being offered by John Lewis as my friend’s Sky installation seems to be falling apart and her TV is seventeen years old. Also there is a magnificent hardware store in Solihull called Robert Dyas which always has the most amazing range of electrical, kitchen and other hardware goods and is always worth a wander around, especially if they have any special offers in place. No visit to Solihull would be complete without a visit to this store and in the past there was a specialist little French restaurant in which Meg and I used to eat but this has now closed but there are bound to be others to make for an interesting little day out.
In the late morning, one of my nieces and I got into contact with each other because I was eager to get on and agree some dates when I might pay a visit to Yorkshire on the occasion of my sister’s birthday at the end of August – I had some dates in mind but I thought I had better check with family members before I went ahead and made any firm arrangements. We had a long conversation and it looks as though I can go ahead with the planned dates although other family members are no doubt busy. But my niece and I took the opportunity to catch up on quite a lot of family news of which there was quite a lot and I now appreciate even more fully how other family members have their own particular crosses to bear. After lunch, I went on the computer to update some finances and to explore some travel options for a trip up to Yorkshire. As it is summer-time, I could go up by car which is quite convenient but on the other hand I do have a Railcard which gives me one third of rail travel so the options are quite finely balanced. I am thinking at the moment of going by train as once I get to Harrogate other places that I might wish to visit such as York and Ripon are easily accessible by either train or bus and then one forget about the hassles of parking as well. I haven’t firmly made up my mind just now but I am conscious that hotel spaces in Harrogate get booked up early. and so that is why I am thinking about things now even though it is two and. a half months before I intend to journey. After doing some much needed pruning in the garden, I am going to meet my friend in the park for a constitutional walk as well as a natter and then on the TV tonight I have a choice of either football or the second half of the Brexit documentary which I did enjoy last week. I still find the whole Brexit saga fascinating in a macabre kind of way because although the EU did not always help itself, the country as a whole has been subject to an unrelenting onslaught of EU mal-propaganda (such as the story about banning ‘bent’ bananas which, once investigated , were found to be almost total fabrications). The one-time Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, often made up stories about the EU but he was sacked for other episodes in which he was caught lying rather than these EU stories. While working as the Daily Telegraph’s Brussels correspondent in the 1990s, he frequently penned exaggerated and entirely fictional stories about the EU. This ‘Euromyth’ style of journalism—which featured absurd claims about straight bananas, standardised euro-coffins, and a plot to blow up the EU headquarters—was widely celebrated by Eurosceptics, and he was not fired for these articles. He later used similar tactics as a key figure in the 2016 Vote Leave campaign, most notably with the controversial claim that the UK sent the EU £350 million a week (he was quoting a gross figure rather than the correct much lower figure after part of our contribution had been rebated)