The evening before last, I settled down to watch some football and viewed the Switzerland vs. Bosnia game. The first half was pretty tame and pedestrian and the score of 0:0 persisted until the now mandatory hydration (= drinks) break half way through the second  half. Then the Swiss brought on a new young striker and the game was transformed as the young striker scored twice whivh is the first time an under 21 year old has done so in the history of the World Cup. The score finished up at 4:1 to Switzerland and a boring match was completely transformed into a really exciting spectacle. Earlier, after an afternoon that had proved pretty disastrous as I failed to make a rendez-vous for my Classical Musical Appreciation group, I had cut the back lawn and then had a terrible few moments as I thought I had mislaid the bunch of keys upon which is the garage key that I use to access the petrol mower. The keys were not in their mug which is their usual home in our kitchen and so I was distraught hunting out where they might be. After a frantic search which seemed to go on for ever, I discovered that I had put them into the second mug in which I keep keys and bits-and-bobs but they had sunk out of sight which is why I failed to see them in my initial search. Earlier in the evening, I had received a text from my very dear friend in Spain reminding me that I had promised to send her a long email detailing the life I was making for myself after Meg’s departure so I wrote a long, long email to my friend describing my U3A activities and my new American friend and expressing the hope that we might  manage to come to Spain in February (as a break in the horrible British winter) and asking for the most convenient two weeks in which to make our trip. I also took the opportunity to send practically the same email to my equally dear Madrid friend who had come over to say her farewells to Meg and managed to arrive (via Paris) just an hour and half before Meg actually died. The political news was dominated by the news of Andy Burnham’s outstanding win in the Makerfield by-election which means that as now an MP. he is in a position to challenge Starmer for the leadership of the Labour Party. Burnham secured about 25,000 votes and his nearest challenger the Reform candidate got about 16,000 votes so the margin of victory was huge. What is sometimes ignored, or at least underplayed by the London-based media, is that traditional Labour voters will complain that they have not left the Labour Party as they vote for right wing alternatives such as Reform but that the Labour party has left them. It is extraordinary and mentioned in this blog before that the last ‘Northern’ leader of the Labour party was Harold Wilson half a century ago. In the meantime, the Labour party has been led either by Celts or by a London based metropolitan elite as it took its traditional base for granted (to its eventual cost) and pursued the more affluent middle-class voter in the South of England. So, the Burnham victory is a vindication of the theory that the traditional base of the Labour party had been ignored for decades but now traditional voters could ‘return to the fold’ as there was a very real possibility of a Labour party leader with Northern roots for the first time in living memory. Now the media is pre-occupied with the speculation of the exact time at which Starmer will make a strike for the leadership of the Labour party but this is bound to happen, either sooner or later. Most political commentators will argue that the Labour party could not hope to win the next election under Keir Starmer but with a newly elected leader they are now in with a fighting chance.

In the morning, my American friend journeyed to Solihull and called in a very beautiful and well-heeled town called Knowle in order to find a wonderful coffee shop which Meg and used to patronise but some years ago. This had now gone and was replaced by an inferior establishment but we sauntered around  some of the specialist shops and then finally had a coffee in what was dubbed a French bakery, which also served coffees. We then successfully navigated our way to the John Lewis carpark in the centre pf Solihull and once securely parked made for the TV department. There, my American friend and I received some very good specialist advice and are almost decided upon what model my friend would like to replace her 17 year old Panasonic Then we made our way to the restaurant where we both had a simple meal of quiche accompanied by salad and bottle elderflower pressé to wash it down After we had our lunch, we wandered down one of the main thoroughfares of Solihull which was now populated by a series of stalls selling a whole variety of ‘street food’ finally ending up in the hardware store of Robert Dyas. These stores are like an Aladdin’s cave of kitchen and hardware goods, and we both treated ourselves to a series of four coloured cutting boards (differently coloured to avoid cross contamination between meat, poultry, fish and vegetables) In addition, I could not resist buying. a heavily discounted bamboo cutting board to replace my nylon one which must be well over ten tears old by now. After another mocha coffee, we trekked back through the Touchwood centre (where my friend could not resist acquiring some samples from some of the perfume shops) and then we picked up the car and made out way back home. The journey back was very slow, dominated by end-of-the-week slow moving traffic and it took us well over an hour to get home. Once home, we treated ourselves to a pleasant sit in the back garden and cooled ourselves down with some ice-cream as the weather was pretty hot and humid. My friend and I then finalised some plans for the vegetables to accompany a joint Sunday lunch where I had already bought an unsmoked gammon joint. I promised her that I would not forget the Yorkshire puddings on this occasion as I did when we had a roast beef meal but the weather threatens to be very warm so the joint will probably get the slow cooker overnight treatment.

The evening before last, I met with my American friend as we have an arrangement where we meet in the nearby park and do a couple of circuits of walking for the good of our health – as well as having a chat, of course, and informing each other of the day’s news. Fortunately, there are a couple of benches placed at strategic intervals and if either of us feels out of puff then we can avail ourselves of a little sit-down. This late afternoon routine (we meet at 5.00pm) is actually good for both of us because the weather is generally fine by then and the day’s business has largely been conducted – of course, we are surrounded by a plethora of dogs and their owners but we have a chat with them. My friend’s opening gambit is always to tell owners what a magnificent pooch they have which always makes them want to stop and chat. Then it was a case of coming home, having a light tea and thinking about the forthcoming opening match between England and Croatia. The first half was a little scrappy, but England went ahead by a penalty, the Croatians equalised by unstoppable volley from outside the penalty area, England scored a second goal and seemed to be cruising before half time. But then the English defence switched off for a moment, and the Croatians scored an equalising second goal ten seconds before the end of the extra time of the first half. The English manager evidently read the riot act to the England team (a bit like  the French manager had done in a previous game) and England came out like a team possessed and restored their lead with a third goal very early in the second half with a magnificent solo run and shot by the winger Jude Bellingham and from then on, an English victory always seemed to be the most likely outcome. the England forward line looked magnificent, but the defence is a little shaky and one wonders how they would fare against an opponent such as France and Mbappe. In my youth, I followed the fortunes of Leeds United who were an effective but never a pretty team to watch. But the Leeds United half back line was considered to be the finest in the country – in the centre was big Jack Charlton (the brother of Bobby Charlton), the terrier-like Billy Bremner who chased every opponent relentlessly and the incredibly agile and skilful Johnny Giles. The rumour amongst the Leeds fans was that these three had great doubts about the ability of the then Leeds goalkeeper, Gareth Sprake who actually played for Wales, and so as a half back line , they were absolutely determined never to let a ball get anywhere near Sprake. I think we could do with a bit more like that at the moment as the English defence seem to be relying on a lot of passes back to the goalkeeper – and far too many in my opinion. I have quite a busy day in prospect today but with a day out to Solihull at the end of the week to which I am looking forward.

When I returned home from my weekly Tai Chi session and general chitchat at the Methodist Centre, I was delighted to see that my son’s car was on the drive as he had arrived whilst I was out. We had quite a lot of news to exchange with each other as I had not seen him and his wife for about ten days whilst they down visiting the in-laws in Watford. I needed to have a fairly quick turn around because I was conscious of the fact that I needed to attend a meeting of the U3A Classical Music Appreciation group at a member’s house. I had not visited this member’s house before but the street name was given as ‘New Road’ of which there happen to be two in Bromsgrove. Now my nightmare afternoon started because although my son had looked up one of the ‘New Roads’ the SatNav directed me to a nearer one which matched the address I had been given  and was on my mobile phone.So having got the correct house number about 15 minutes before the meeting was due to start, I waited and waited but nobody turned up. The house was evidently locked and nobody turned up so I assumed that I had been the recipient of ‘duff’ information and thought I would make my way to the other ‘other’ ‘New Road’ Once I got there, the relevant address was a main road with a yellow line outside and nowhere to park and, to make  matters worse there was no house with the exact number that  had been given but only two houses with an ‘a’ and ‘b’ suffix so I assumed that this too was incorrect. So I made my way back to the first of the ‘New Roads’ and confirmed that the house was locked, nobody was answering the door and there were no visitor’s cars parked I the vicinity. Needless to say, I kept checking and then re-checking my phone, as well as my SatNav to ensure that I had not made a stupid error with the address, time or date. I am sure that Amazon delivery drivers must have this happening to them all of the time but it was one of those occasions when the SatNav appeared to have worked but I was not at the right place at the right time. So I had spent over an hour checking out these two addresses and despite text messages and at attempted phone call, I got absolutely nowhere so I came home to a well-deserved cup of tea. Although my phone has been silent during the afternoon, I thought after a bit of a rest I would cut the back lawn do that could salvage something from the abortive afternoon. In the evening, an exit poll indicating the result of the tremendously important Makerfield by election may be announced when the polls have closed but I suspect that the actual result will not be available until the wee small hours of the morning and I think I would prefer my beauty sleep as the implications of the by-election, whatever the result, will consume the entire bandwidth of the media outlets tomorrow. My American friend and I exchanged a quick conversation in the late afternoon as we had both experienced a frustrating time with appointments falling over for no fault of our own.

Whether we have a lasting peace in the Middle East now depends upon the actions of Netanyahu and the Israeli government. Donald Trump seems to have lost patience with Netanyahu by calling him ‘f*g crazy’ and had in effect instructed him to scale back operations in Lebanon. It is very rare that I agree with a sentiment that Donald Trump utters but I do agree with his observation that ‘you do not have to bomb the whole of an apartment block (and kill many civilians) when you are pursuing one Hezbollah fighter’ So Netanyahu can press on and risk American wrath and possible withdrawal of American support or he can fight on Lebanon potentially putting the whole peace process at risk. The world is almost holding its breath to see what might actually ensue. The country may well be consumed with World Cup fever later on in the day when England play their first match against Croatia in Dallas. Most big footballing nations are desperate, if not to win as to not actually lose, their opening match as was evident the other day. The mighty Spain actually drew their match 0:0 against the miniscule Cape Verde islands which are off the coast of Africa and have a population of about 1/2 million and an area the size of Cornwall.  Their goalkeeper made a series of really impressive saves and thus helped his country pull off the most incredible draw. The evening before Senegal had the better of France in the first half of their match against France who then ‘woke up’ and cruised onto an eventual victory. I did not think that this World Cup would seize my attention but sometimes the most unlikely of contests can produce some intriguing and unpredictable results which adds to the fascination of the whole competition. Although the day is starting off gloomily, it should be a conventional mid-week day in which I will pay a visit to the Methodist Centre where I can always find people with whom to chat followed by my weekly shopping which I now do when I know that the supermarket of choice (Aldi) is fairly quiet. These days, apart from when I have days out with my American friend, I am settling into a routine in which I generally engage in some sort of activity in the mornings followed by a lunch and main meal in the middle of the day followed by a doze and perhaps some light gardening. Yesterday, I watched Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart in their podcast on YouTube (‘The Rest is Politics’) in which Rory Stewart in particular was informing us how the mood in America was one of complete isolation and almost complete indifference to what was happening in the rest of the world. He was saying that even opponents of Trump did not fully know, or even care that much, about the suffering caused in the rest of the world and the economic price that many countries (including the UK) are having to suffer to pay for the Iran conflict and although there is some impact on petrol prices at the pumps, the American oil industry has been transformed in recent years. The United States relies heavily on shale oil and hydraulic fracturing (fracking), which have propelled the nation to become the world’s largest oil and natural gas producer. This ‘shale revolution’ uses horizontal drilling and fracking to extract petroleum trapped in deep shale rock, fundamentally altering domestic energy markets. So to the average American, the Middle East (and the rest of the world) has diminished in strategic importance and this, according to Rory Stewart, helps to explain, at least in part, American indifference to the rest of the world.

Thinking about the extremely positive reaction to the distribution of stems of deep red, scented roses to my fellow Pilates class mates yesterday, I thought I would continue in a similar vein together. Most of the roses on this rose tree/bush ave now been cut but I managed to cut off 5-6 more stems  and then cut off the lower leaves and wrapped the bottom of the stems in tin foil. Then it was off into town and I picked up a copy of my newspaper before heading off to the Methodist Centre.  distributed the roses to those serving the coffee one of whom I know very well as she used to attend our church and knew Meg well. The other roses I distributed to those on the chatty table after which I left to go and do my weekly shopping. After this was unpacked, I set about preparing lunch which was going to be some quiche which I had previously defrosted. I thought I would experiment with a new type of accompaniment and so I prepared the following. Firstly, I cut off some florets from a head of broccoli (calabrese) which I cut into quite small little portions, even slicing their stems into thin slices. Broccoli  is said to contain a very good quantity of micronutrients many of which might be degraded in the cooking process so I wanted to keep the broccoli raw. To this I added a tomato cut into small sections and an onion diced small. Then I doused this mixture in a good dollop of honey and mustard sauce which I had just bought from the supermarket. I would rate the overall effect as crunchy and pretty tasty and would rate it as quite a successful little culinary adventure giving myself some 7-8 marks out of 10. After lunch, I popped outdoors to give my lavatera a little more pruning and I also swept my back path, taking particularly care to et rid of the moss which the rain brings down from the roof and which can leave a nasty black stain if not removed immediately. Later on in the afternoon, I am due to meet my American friend in the park for us to walk a couple of circuits together hoping of course that the threatened showers do not interrupt us. Later in the evening, we have the England vs. Croatia football match in the World Cup and this is going to be played in the sweltering heat of Dallas, Texas. I always find that rather being swept away by the hype, I am convinced that England are going to lose their first match or at best draw. In this way, I am not disappointed by the outcome but am always open to being pleasantly surprised in the case of a victory. In football, as in other sports, the better team does not always win (if, for example, the opposing team scores a quick goal in break-away against the run of play)

The news which is emerging yesterday morning is to the effect that Trump has, in effect, been defeated in the conflict with Iran and the Sky News American correspondent is posting to the effect that this whole venture was one of the most strategic American blunders of all time. The Iran ‘deal’ is a tacit admission of strategic defeat by the Trump administration and of a failure to achieve nearly all of his war aims. The US and Iran have agreed to stop fighting and to open the Strait of Hormuz. Everything else is being kicked down the road over 60 days of ceasefire and beyond. Given that the Strait was open before the conflict was started by Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, reopening it is no great achievement. It simply restores the status quo ante bellum. No doubt, there will be acres of newsprint devoted to this story and an endless degree of spin but, at the end of the day, the conflict has revealed that Iran can exert a chokehold on one of the world’s most critical shipping routes (the Straits of Hormuz) almost whenever it chooses. But the evening proved to be an interesting one in many unanticipated ways. When my American friend and I were taking a late afternoon ‘constitutional’ around the park, we sat on our favourite bench. We were soon to be joined by one of my immediate neighbours of whom I do not see a great deal because they spend an enormous amount of their retirement time cruising around the world and visiting various parts of India. They hail from the Punjab  and my American friend who is vehemently anti-racist soon got into an earnest conversation with my neighbour about her life and experiences in England. Rather embarrassingly, my neighbour told my friend of the admiration of her and husband as they observed me pushing Meg up and down the Kidderminster Road almost whatever the weather. We got onto the subject of religion and, to cut a long story very short, my Asian neighbour invited us to go along and visit the local Sikh temple, perhaps on a forthcoming Wednesday. A Sikh temple, known as a Gurdwara (meaning ‘gateway to the Guru’), is a place of worship, community support, and education. Anyone is welcome regardless of background, and they are recognised for the langar—a free, vegetarian communal kitchen that serves all visitors. A Catholic is completely welcome to visit a Sikh temple, or Gurdwara, out of respect, curiosity, or for a social event and the Catholic Church encourages respectful inter-religious dialogue and engagement. However, Catholics should avoid participating in actual religious worship of another faith, such as taking religious vows or praying to other deities. Now my American friend jumps at any opportunity to experience new cultures (one of the reasons why we get along so well with each other) and so I am resolved to go and get a visit organised in about a fortnight’s time. I have also found, with minimal searching, a website indicating the ways in which a visitor to a gurdwara should conduct themselves so I may avail myself of a suitable little head covering other than my big Australian style bush hat and I can buy a ‘patka’ style skull cap very cheaply from Amazon which I will do. But the other significant event of the evening was that, after that the telephone conversation with my niece when we agreed dates for me to visit my Yorkshire relatives on the occasion of my sister’s birthday, I should browse the availability of hotel rooms in Harrogate. Now the end of August is a bank holiday and obviously many people use these dates for a long weekend break which impacts upon the availability of rooms at a reasonable price. But I have managed to secure some rooms which were the last available at a good price by acting immediately and I am delighted to have done so, even though it is some 10 weeks before the event. This  will be a ‘mini holiday’ for my friend and I so I have already sketched out in my mind visits to both York and Ripon whilst we are in the area (the first being very accessible by train and the second by bus)

I spent quite a long time this morning chatting with our domestic help as we seemed to have a lot to say to each other, mainly on the subject of family matters. I had noticed from our bedroom window that we have one particular standard rose tree/bush (which is at least 10′ in height) and with the recent sunny weather there was quite a proliferation of beautiful scented deep-red blooms on the top of the tree. I located some tree loppers from the depths of the garage  and with the assistance of these cut off about eight blooms with quite long stems. As it is our domestic help’s birthday next Sunday,  I put together a birthday card, a present  and one of the roses to complement the same. I also put a beautiful red rose in front of  Meg’s picture (which I keep replenished with a flower) and then made a collection of the remainder to distribute to my Pilates fellow class members by wrapping the stems in some tinfoil to avoid scratches and to make them easier to carry. Then I gave a red rose to each of my fellow class members ( only three in number) and  to our Pilates instructor, explaining that last week was the anniversary of Meg’s funeral and the distribution of the red roses was an act of remembrance. As it happened, on the way to my Pilates class I bumped into one of our ex-Waitrose coffee club gathering who is now in a residential home but was pushed out by her son in a wheelchair and she was also the grateful recipient of a red rose. I must say that the gift of roses to my fellow class members was very much appreciated and our tutor gave the whole class a reward by allowing us to have a special 5 minute relaxation period at the end. After I returned home, I heated up some risotto saved from a previous week followed by an inevitable little doze. Then my lavatera decided to lurch over again (which is not surprising as the wood is so light, soft and pappy) so I popped out and pruned a few more branches of it and added some extra support.

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)

When I awoke yesterday, I could not resist how our newly steam-cleaned patio appeared  in the early  morning light (i.e. not glaring sunshine) The patio looked superb under these conditions of subdued lighting and I immediately took a photo of it and transmitted it on to my son. Later on today, when my American friend calls around, we shall painstakingly see how many different colours are represented and it makes me realise that whoever constructed it some 25 years ago had put a great deal of thought into the construction process so that each slab was surrounded by somewhat contrasting colours. When all was covered with a layer of grime and dust, these subtle details are lost only to be revealed on a deep clean. I feel resolved to let the excellent firm who did this give the patio an annual maintenance ‘steam’ clean  as it lifts the whole appearance of the garden as one’s eyes are immediately drawn to it rather than the rather overgrown nature of the rest of the garden. My lavatera plant has bent over as the result  of its own weight and profusion of growth and flowers and I recall that exactly the sane thing happened to the lavatera shrub that we had in our front garden in Thurnby,  Leicestershire some thirty years ago now. I needed to make an early start to the day because I attend the 8.30 church service by getting there at 8.00am in the morning, to be followed by a coffee-and-biscuits and then a weekly car clean with do-it-yourself car cleaning equipment but if I work sufficiently rapidly, I can get the whole car cleaned with just one £2.00 treatment session. I ensured that the beef was started off in our slow cooker and have calculated that after I have cooked and then saved some of the joint, I should be able to get ten meals out of the joint (which is so expensive nowadays) In the World Cup, Scotland were scheduled to play Haiti in a match which started at 1.30am in the morning and I suppose that only dedicated Scotland supporters would wait up to watch this match. But I leaned in the morning that Scotland had beaten Haiti 1:0 and, after Brazil and Morocco drew their match, are now top of their group and stand a chance of progressing onto the next stage of the competition. On the world stage, Donald Trump is saying that a deal with Iran would be signed today which the Iranians are actually denying so it will be interesting to see if it happens. One part of the deal is that the Straits of Hormuz will be reopened immediately but we are not going to revert to the ‘status quo ante’ because Iran has now come to realise that it can effectively close the Straits at a moments notice with a cheap supply of ballistic missiles which gives Iran a post-conflict strategic bargaining power that was not evident before the war. But it is a sad reflection that we in the western democracies will be feeling the effects of this conflict for weeks if not months ahead and some would argue was a conflict that Israel bounced the United States into weeks ago and Trump has been outsmarted by all of the significant players in the region.

After the church service this morning, I partook of my usual cup of coffee in the parish hall but I am trying to cut down on unnecessary carbohydrates so I gave the biscuits a miss. One of the younger parishioners is a very keen cricket fan  so we spent some happy minutes exchanging cricketing stories before which included the occasion on which in the middle of the Headingly Test match,  served Fred Trueman a pint of beer – and the thing that I remember most about ‘Fiery Fred’ what he had a blonde in one arm and a brunette in the other and I am sure he would spent many a happy explaining  some of the obscure points of the arcane rules of cricket to them. After that, I took the car for its weekly car wash (a do-it-yourself arrangement with a variety of lances dispensing either detergent-laden or cold rinsing water and you can switch between  modes as well) I picked up my copy of the ‘Sunday Times’ and then had to busy myself  when I got in cooking myself a little hot breakfast and then preparing the lunch. The beef we are going to have today was cooking in the slow cooker so I have to prepare some onion gravy and wash up the huge porcelain dish in which the beef was cooked in the slow cooker which is always quite a slow job. There are various World Cup matches being played today with Netherlands vs.Japan probably being the pick of the bunch.

My American friend popped around  for the promised Sunday lunch and I had already prepared the beef and the onion gravy whilst my friend and I prepared the green vegetables and then cooked them rapidly. The meal was a great success but I did forget the Yorkshire puddings but after the meal was over we rested a little while in our back garden and I righted the huge lavatera bush that had blown over in the wind. We then tried to ascertain between us the numbers of different colours manifest in the paving slabs of our back garden patio and my estimate was at least thirty. I must try and discover perhaps from my very knowledgeable neighbour whether these flags were originally a form of cast concrete which was then coloured with a pigment or whether he is aware of other modes of manufacture. At this point, we decided to go and have a walk in the park and there was a cooling breeze but evidently  the park had been quite heavily frequented because it appeared that there had been a brass band concert earlier in the afternoon. My friend and I did a couple of circuits of the lake and then stopped off at our favourite bench for a breather before returning home to have a spot of tea. We surprised ourselves by not turning on the TV at all today but we did each have a bowl of soup by way of a light evening meal and we made some tentative plans for a trip out next Friday and for some joint exercise walks in the local park during the week. We were both discussing to what extent we should take on any extra commitments and came to the view that we were both fairly busy with various activities during the week. For example,  I have my Classical Music Appreciation group  monthly meeting this Thursday and we both have  a flat/houses to maintain and keep ship-shape. It looks as though Keir Starmer has heeded the many calls for tighter regulation of the social media  by being ready to announce a ban on under 16’s using certain platforms. The trouble is that the Australian experience tends to indicate that tech savvy teenagers can find a way around such restrictions by using, for example, a readily available VPN (Virtual Private Network)

I awoke yesterday to the unwelcome ‘chirp’ of the smoke alarm in my kitchen which is an indication that the battery is nearing exhaustion and needs replacement. After a frantic search in a kitchen ‘odds-and-ends’ cupboard drawer, I have ascertained that I need to go on the road and purchase a battery of the relevant type – although I can do it myself, I am a little inclined to leave it until my son returns from his visit to his wife’s relatives to get this fixed. The day has dawned with a lovely bright and what promises to be a sunny day so I bestir myself relatively early as it is the re-arranged date for my patio cleaning to commence at about 9.00am. The evening before last, I watched the Canada v. Bosnia World Cup football and this was quite entertaining ending up in a 1:1 all draw. Canada alongside Mexico and the US are co-hosts and the match was played in Toronto so evidently support for the Canadian was almost over-whelming. To my mind, I thought the BBC commentary team strayed from impartiality by making constant references to what they perceived as good play by Canada but were less generous when it came to Bosnia. There are already indications that this World Cup will be a very strange affair. For a start, none of the presidents of the host nations decided that they would  attend the opening ceremonies for a variety of strange reasons. The ticket prices have been priced at absurdly high prices – some fans however at the globe’s biggest party will have paid previously unheard-of amounts for what may turn out to be dead rubber games, while forking out roughly the normal ticket price just for the commuter train to get to the stadium. Witness the New Jersey Transit train ticket – normally $12.90 return, but $100 for the tournament. The fans are being squeezed like never before because this is a very different tournament economic model to what has gone before. For a start, it is largely taking place in borrowed American football stadiums (a quarter of the games are in Canada and Mexico), with the US oval ball sport leaving its mark, perhaps indelibly. This tournament turns the beautiful game into the bountiful game, for organisers FIFA. This could be the most impactful World Cup ever in economic terms, but not for the conventional reason of driving economic activity among the host nations or sparking feel-good spending among those back home in countries that enjoy a good run. Even at this early stage, ahead of the 2026 World Cup, many host cities are seeing a collapse in hotel prices as demand falls short of early projections. After initially driving rates to historic highs, hotels and FIFA have drastically slashed prices and released reserved rooms to prevent empty beds. It looks as though the FIFA/USA desire to make money has driven prices to absurd levels and, as such some discussion sites have indicated the financial models might indicate that the USA will make more money by having half empty stadiums at ridiculous prices rather than ensuring that genuine fans can see a game. Already, only 2-3 days into the competition  some US hotel chains and airlines are dramatically slashing prices by up to 50% as demand is falling away and the anticipated ways of making money are failing. But this is the USA and I suppose that all of this was predictable. In addition, we have American border officials detaining would-be visitors to the World Cup on the grounds that they may have associated with ‘bad actors’ which could translate into anybody who had criticised Donald Trump in the social media having their comments picked up by AI scouring the internet and this being used as evidence to deny would-be visitors. I am almost certain that as the wrier of this blog who has had less than complimentary things to say about Donald Trump that I would be denied entry to the US under the current regime. I might add that I have absolutely no desire to enter the US for whatever reason but my one visit to New York to attend an international conference when I was busy putting together conference papers for my PhD in 1995-1996 would probably now not be possible.

Being driven slightly mad by the chirping of the smoke alarm, I dashed into town to buy the specialist replacement battery which I knew was needed and then tried to disconnect the exhausted battery but I could not get the fiddly cover off the smoke alarm unit. But then the operative came along to steam clean the patio and he made a magnificent job of it, applying a bleach/fungicide to get rid of those black spots that can eat their way into the stonework. The patio came up in a variety of pastel type colours and I would estimate that at least a dozen colours are represented in the whole area which paradoxically, looks in its best not in the brightest of sunshine but better if the weather is cloudy or even raining. The operative was on his own, his mate not turning up for work in the morning but he then, very kindly, offered to put the new battery in my smoke alarm which he did to my great relief. I then did some tidying up and had the remainder of the curried vegetables from a few days ago which was delicious. Then my American friend came round in the early afternoon and after a rest and some TV watching prepared a tuna salad between us as an early evening meal. We were then enthralled by the YouTube presentation of ‘The Rest is Politics’ when Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell were discussing the topic of whether Donald Trump was the most corrupt president of all time! They were developing the thesis between them that American mega corporations are now so powerful that they have all politicians in their pockets and pay the politicians  obscene amounts of money (e.g. $1 billion to a Trump son for giving a short speech), in return for which the politicians will happily award contracts or bend rules so that the mega-corporations can carry on their business activities without any government oversight or interference. Hence the level and scale of corruption is totally unlike anything we have ever seen before and Trump had discerned this trend and exploited it. We are starting to see some developments similar to this in the UK and Alastair Campbell cited the case of the £5 million given to Farage recently in exchange for practically nothing and with hardly any public concern or scrutiny.

The massive political news that dominated the airwaves yesterday was the shock resignation of our normally ultra-loyal Defence Secretary, John Healey, following a massive argument about the level of defence spending. Since the end of the Cold War, we and the European democracies have become used to much lower levels of defence spending which now hovers around 2.5% of GDP which is about a half of what it used to be. But under both governments, defence spending as been ‘hollowed out’ and we now live in a much more threatening and uncertain world. in theory, we should be increasing military spending to at least 3.0% by the end of the decade. But after months and months of wrangling with the Treasury, the Defence Investment Plan (budget) for defence was scheduled to rise from 2.6% to 2.68% by 2030 and Healey was of the view that this was in insufficient to keep our country safe from imminent threats and so resigned – the first Defence Secretary to do so over the issue of cash. One can see the problem ‘from space’ as it were. The Treasury is strongly of the view that money paid into the military is often wasted in projects that do not come to fruition and weapon systems that do not work and is therefore reluctant to disburse the money, despite the increasing threats to us from Russia and China. To the Tories, the answer is very simple which is to cut welfare budgets immediately and out the money into defence.  But for newly elected Labour MPs, cutting welfare expenditures means taking money out of the mouths of the poor and disabled who need that money now in return for a rather vague level of increased ‘protection’ that defence spending offers. This represents a really hard  dilemma to resolve politically at a time when the country appears to be desperately short of money for every single public service. A new Defence Secretary with an outstanding military service has been appointed (Dan Jarvis) but it is not clear whether he has argued successfully for extra money before accepting the appointment. In the meanwhile, the rest of the world saw the opening of the World Cup with the normal razzmatazz and with Mexico, one of the host nations, beating South Africa by 2:0. The South Africans were pretty abysmal and I think I counted only 3-4 weak shots at goal from them during the whole of the first half. Three red cards were issued and I personally feel they were all justified but, in the modern game,  some of the ITV commentators thought that the referee had been over-harsh. They also argued massively whether the first Mexico goal was due to a goal keeping error, a defensive error or a combination of the two (which it was). I had great expectations of the this first match and wished South Africans, the under-dogs, to do well but I felt that the match as a whole was disappointing and did not give is a display of the levels of skill that a World Cup ought to showcase. It might be that given the lateness of the hour at which the World Cup matches are broadcast,  I find other things to watch, if anything. Meanwhile we hear that the British economy actually contracted last month as we feel the first effects of the Iran war.

In the morning, I made my usual trip along the High Street to eventually land up in favourite ‘Gifts of Love’ coffee outlet which I usually frequent once per week- however, it is a fortnight since I last visited because last week my American friend and I were visiting central Birmingham. Yesterday, though, I was again greeted like a long lost friend and whoever comes into the outlet is similarly treated. In other words if you are a friend of the proprietor and her volunteers in the outlet, then you are automatically a friend of all. So it is no wonder that I keep going back week by week. Today one of the volunteers was telling me a tale so dire that she had been forced to complain to the General Medical Council about the way she had been treated by one consultant in particular at the Queen Elisabeth hospital in central Birmingham who subsequently denied having that member of staff on their books. I wondered to myself if she had been tried by an imposter as it is not unknown  for some members of the public to don a white coat and to wander up and down the wards as though they were a consultant. After my coffee and avoiding the cake that was offered, I wandered down the High Street and bought some cosmetics before I returned home. As soon as I got home, I had a look at our back lawn and thought that it certainly needed a cut so I got to work straight away and gave it a mow before I decided  to contemplate lunch. Then I made myself a mackerel salad as the weather had turned out quite warm, for a change, and I did not fancy preparing a hot lunch. Afterwards I sat outside the front of the house  to enjoy some afternoon sunshine and to engage in a gentle reading of the newspaper and a ‘Fiendish’ SuDoku which I eventually  solved completely. My pastimes were briefly interrupted b a telephone call from my American friend  who has having great problems with her Sky TV setup. Never having had a Sky contract, it was a bit difficult to offer assistance over the phone but eventually I offered some advice (turn everything off, including at the wall, leave for a couple of minutes and then start up again) But her TV set whilst a good make (Panasonic) is 17 yeas old and not a ‘smart’ tv so its days might be numbered. I managed to get some resumption of service by my ‘turning it all off and then on again’ routine but  suspect that I should  probably assist her in buying a Smart TV, particularly as John Lewis seems to be giving out some good special offers at the moment, perhaps stimulated by the World Cup. This evening I may be tempted to watch another World Cup football match but I hope it a little more entertaining than the opening match. This evening, if I feel up to it, I may do a little more sweeping to prepare my paths before their (delayed) steam cleaning is due to take place first thing tomorrow morning.

Yesterday was always going to be quite an interesting day for a variety of reasons, but it started off dull and gloomy with a smattering of rain but no doubt it might get a bit better later on. The evening before I had attended the latest one in our U3A Curry Club events in a local Indian restaurant and I have to say that the food was excellent and a good time was had by all. I got there at about one minute past the appointed starting hour and the entire table was full apart from one space so evidently I must learn that this group of U3A’s are exceptionally prompt for any event that is organised (which I had noticed before on our coach to Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire) trip. I happened to be sitting opposite the U3A member who had organised this particular restaurant trip and who I know is also a member of the Classical Music Group. Over dinner, he was waxing lyrical about a local Bowls club which he reckons was a wonderful source of friendship and bonhomie. For a modest membership fee, one could join as a ‘social’ member and enjoy all of the facilities without necessarily playing bowls if one did not wish to but some instruction was provided as part of the membership fee. I feel fairly fully committed at the moment but this is something to bear in mind for the dark and dreary days of the autumn and winter so it is something that I might consider, particularly  as it had received such an enthusiastic endorsement. Later on in the day, I have a Tai Chi trip to fit into the early  morning and then a recently arranged dental appointment in the afternoon. Yesterday is the opening day of the World Cup and from about 6.30 in the evening we are promised first the opening ceremony and then a match between South Africa and Mexico. As Mexico is one of the co-hosts, this match will have a particular significance and is probably worth watching for some quite exciting football so I may indulge in this during the evening. As a sign of the times, I have just heard a news item that all UK prison windows are to be fitted with special grills to prevent the delivery of both drugs and mobile phones delivered by drone and I can only imagine what hellholes British prisons might be at the moment, given the lack of investment in them over the years and the record prison population. For the record, the United Kingdom—particularly England and Wales—consistently maintains the largest and highest per-capita prison population in Western Europe, despite overall crime rates trending downward. The UK locks up around 145-160 individuals per 100,000 people, outstripping similar European nations. A clearer breakdown reveals how the UK stacks up against its peers as in England & Wales the rate sits at approximately 146-159 prisoners per 100,000 people whereas Scotland has the highest incarceration rate in the UK, at about 162 per 100,000. The western European average is much lower, at roughly 80–85 prisoners per 100,000 and the UK rate far exceeds the rates in comparable countries like the Netherlands (65) and Germany (67) which is less than half.

In the morning, I went along and had my normal ‘Tai Chi’ session, after which I sat at the ‘chatty’ table n the Methodist Centre and had some good chats with one or two of the regulars who I have got to know quite well. One of them is shortly to celebrate her 64th year of marriage which is almost worthy of a newspaper article, I should imagine. She is an ex mental health nurse and by her demeanour. I am sure she has helped many people through crises in their lives. Then it was time to go home and I prepared quite a large saucepan full of vegetables (onions, peppers, green beans  and a few chicken pieces) and I tarted it up a little with some dark soy sauce (to darken it up a little), brown fruity sauce and some  onion gravy. I made far too much so half is saved for another day. Today was always going to be a ‘milestone’ type of day as it is one calendar year since Meg’s funeral. To mark the event, I lit some tea lights in front of Meg’s photograph and then recited (from memory) the second verse of ‘Danny Boy’ which is actually a voice calling from the grave. The last two lines of the eight line stanza are particularly poignant as deceased person person calls from the grave to the grieving relative left behind: 
‘And you will bend and tell me that you love me / And I shall sleep in peace until you come to me’
Then with my ritual over, I paid a visit to my dentist as a visit arranged only yesterday as I was offered a slot because of a cancellation although my next ‘normal’ visit would have been in August. I had the happy experience that my checkup revealed that no treatment was needed so this is always pleasant to know. Whilst I was waiting for my appointment, a customer went to the reception desk and enquired how much a full set of implanted teeth would  cost and was given a verbal quote of £30,000. I thought this extraordinary but on my return home, I consulted the web only to be informed that a full set of implanted teeth typically costs between £20,000 and £40,000 in the UK, making the £30,000 estimate figure quoted about par for the course. The patient dashed out with the comment that he would rather be fitted with dentures!. Later on in the day, we have the opening ceremony of the World Cup and already some controversy has arisen. One of Arica’s outstanding referees who hails from Somalia (a state hated and reviled by Donald Trump) has been denied an entry visa to the USA on the grounds that he has associated with ‘bad actors’ (whatever that means) and on these grounds alone has been refused entry and so cannot officiate as was planned. The FIFA president has made a craven statement that those who are upset by this decision  should ‘get over it’ but I would have hoped that expressions of support for the banned referee should have made by members of the international footballing community. The latest news is that the Somali referee Omar Artan will officiate the 2026 UEFA Super Cup between PSG and Aston Villa after he was turned away from the US. Artan was only days away from officiating in his first World Cup, but when he touched down at Miami International Airport, he was questioned for 11 hours, held in a cell and then put on a plane back home. As an act of solidarity, UEFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) handed the Somali a prestigious consolation, being appointed referee of the Super Cup in Salzburg on 12 August.

There were two features in central Birmingham which I failed to mention when my American friend and I visited the Art Gallery last Friday. We went into Birmingham by train from Bromsgrove and, upon arriving at New Street station (remodelled to look similar to Grand Central Station in New York), we strolled past ‘Ozzie the Bull’ Ozzy the mechanical bull, created for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games – has been unveiled in his new home. The sculpture was met with loud applause and cheers from the public at New Street. He had been named after Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne following a public vote. Visitors including Sharon Osbourne saw the bull’s first performance recently which involved him moving his head and swishing his tail. ‘For Ozzy to be born and bred here and having spent so much time in this station, because of course he did not have a car, so he was everywhere from New Street,’ she explained. Network Rail said they had been testing the bull’s movements and sound ahead of him meeting the public, to mark the games’ first anniversary two days later. It was originally intended that this whole mechanical beast be only a temporary structure and had been scheduled for dismantling. But it proved to be such a hit with the general public that the bull was saved and now has a permanent home in New Street Station.  In his prime, Ozzie the Bull would rotate his head and his lips, his eyes would  glow red, his tail  would swish as well and he would roar but I think he is completely static now in his retirement. So that was on sight but another was the art installation of a huge water work. In 1993, Victoria Square was pedestrianised and remodelled. This included the installation of a massive water feature and it showed a naked female figure recumbent as the fountain water played about her. Despite the official name, the locals soon dubbed this as ‘The Floozie in the Jacuzzi’ and by this name the artwork has been known ever since. A local wag added some detergent to the fountain to complete the illusion of a Jacuzzi but this nearly wrecked the installation, not designed to cope with soap suds and it was put out of commission for months. But this is another feature of life in central Birmingham as is the performance of well-known operatic arias given in the station in the late afternoon which, unfortunately as we were dashing for our train we did not stop to fully savour. So central Birmingham has its attractions which had been lost on me as it had been some years since I had actually been in Birmingham City Centre. Meg and I used to attend the opera fairly frequently but this, of course, was in the evening. The day before yesterday, I had to wait until there was a break in the weather and then de-moss the patio and sweep leaves off our back access path before the steam cleaning job scheduled for the next day. I had woken up at 5.30 in the morning but knowing that I had to make an early start did not dare to go back to sleep so listened to the strains of ClassicFM in bed until it was time to get my ‘bag of bones’ out of bed. I must say that me American friend was not averse to stopping people in the street to ask for directions and she has evolved a technique which is quite effective. Having a vaguely American accent (although she is a good mimic) she will stop people in the street, indicate that she is a Canadian (not American!) visitor and doesn’t know her way around  and then ask for directions. This happened several times on our recent visit found the people in central Birmingham to be so friendly and helpful that it restores your faith in human nature. We both have doctors appointments today so are going to compare notes in a conversation we will no doubt have later on in the evening.

This morning developed as one in which appointments were missed, arranged and re-arranged. I was just prepared to go outside and give the paths and patio a final sweeping when I got a phone call postponing the patio cleaning until Saturday as the firm was suffering from people not turning up for work, probably as a result of a virulent local virus. I did not mind overmuch as it hs given me the opportunity to prepare the path a little for more for its ultimate cleaning. I made an appointment to get the car serviced and was offered the choice of a full, extra detailed service or a regular service. I chose the latter as the car mileage is low and I am not sure that a detailed  service is called for. The receptionist ad I agreed a date such that if I were to get the car into the garage promptly at 8.30, she could  guarantee  that it would  be done at the end of the morning. With this I agreed as I walk down to the local supermarket and treat myself to an all-day breakfast and a lengthy read of the newspaper before I scour the shelves not sold in my regular supermarket. Now we come to the third appointment as my dentist had texted me to ask if I could re-arrange the appointment arranged for mid August. It appeared that my regular dentist was going to be away (possibly on maternity leave) but then it transpired that they had just received a cancellation so I could make an appointment in the afternoon the next day? To this, I agreed as you never turn down or miss a dental appointment these days. After this, I had a couple of appointments myself, one to discuss the results of a routine diabetic monitoring and another with a doctor to discuss the results of some hospital investigations. One can only grateful that one is routinely monitored these days but after this I returned home and just escaped a thunderous shower that broke out overhead. I had a very light ‘fish-on-bread’ type lunch as I have a U3A ‘Curry Club’ event in a local Indian restaurant this evening so the last thing I want to do is to overeat. The event starts at 6.00 and, fortunately, the restaurant is within striking distance of the local Waitrose car park so this makes life easy all round.