The evening before  last turned out to be extremely entertaining but in which ways that I could never have predicted. My niece had popped into the hotel to see me for a brief half an hour and afterwards I contemplated how I would spend the rest of the evening. As I had only a bacon sandwich for the rest of the day and was starting to feel in need of some food, I decided to venture out to my favourite Chinese restaurant which I have patronised on many occasions before when I have made trips to Harrogate. In the restaurant I ordered a house special fried rice meal for myself which was delicious and very filling. The only other diners in the restaurant were a group of youngish people who were engaged in talking politics, principally Liberal Democrat politics. As I would be tired of my own company, as I was paying my bill I asked them if they would like  to hear some good political jokes/stories of which I had quite an abundance. They were more than happy for me to share their table and we exchanged as many good political jokes as we knew until the restaurant decided they were going to close, quite early at about 7.30pm. I made my way back to the hotel and thought I would just casually have a look around the really good pub that serves the excellent locally brewed dark mild beer just across the road. It was quite a fine summer evening and several people were outside the pub and a a group observed me looking around and engaged me in conversation, asking me to join them. They were a group of two young men and a sister celebrating their parents 30th wedding anniversary and seemed in a very jovial mood. They asked me to guess from their accent which part of Yorkshire they were from and although I am not very good at discerning varieties of Yorkshire, I made a stab at Hebden Bridge which was only 8 miles away from their home town of Halifax. They seemed intrigued by my back story which I readily gave and we spent some time discussing the Yorkshire film of ‘Brassed off’ which I had seen on the TV recently with my American friend. How we got onto the subject, I really have no idea but they wanted to guess my age giving estimates of 68 and then 73 and could not believe my actual 81 years of age. They were extremely good and jovial company. evidently really enjoying themselves and were joined by some cousins before they all set off for a family meal somewhere in the vicinity. I must say that I never before experienced such camaraderie, after all, I was a complete stranger to them but they are staying in ‘The Crown’ like myself so it is quite possible I will run across them on another occasion. After they had had gone off for their meal somewhere, I returned to the hotel and buoyed up by the experience of two lots of friendly chats decided to have a beer and see who else I might happen to meet rather than returning to an empty hotel bedroom. After about half an hour, a family group of about six and their 4 year old grand-daughter turned up and whilst the little girl ran around playing an imaginary game of hide-and-seek with her mother, the rest of the family invited me to join them in a drink. They were from Kent and were absolutely enamoured with Yorkshire life and Yorkshire people having stayed at ‘The Crown’ before. So I stayed in conversation with them until about 11.00 when they decided that the night was young and they decided to go off as a group and seek other perhaps musical entertainment in the Harrogate night-time scene, once their little girl and the mother had gone to bed. So this was my third encounter of the night and was completely unpredictable but it was certainly better than sitting alone in a hotel bedroom all by myself. It rather put me in mind of my stay in Jakarta, Indonesia, when my birthday coincided with an early teaching session – the students had got wind it was my birthday and had brought along a range of delicacies and sweet meats to try. Being an Islamic society there was no alcohol involved but when I returned to the alcohol in the early evening, I felt the need for a little celebration and did not want to drink on my own. I espied a couple of men, one in their 20’s and the other evidently older. They were Australians as were many other guests in the hotel but I remember marching up to them and saying to them ‘My name is Mike – its my birthday – what would you like to drink?’ to which the response was a couple of beers and this was the start of quite a friendship, particularly with Tom the younger man who was Brit who intended to go round the globe, got as far as Australia, met a girl and then married her and stayed on in Australia and was employed as a mining engineer. So feeling the need for company, I not averse to having a drink in a bar and then seeking out some enable company. Yesterday was quite easy as the little three year practically bumped into me as she was running about and the conversation and the camaraderie flowed from that point onwards – I know that I will probably meet the Kentish family in the bar again in the evening.

I received a telephone call from my niece and we arranged to meet with her and her sister (i.e. my two nieces) in my favourite coffee bar in Harrogate named ‘Lago di Como’ which has a very friendly and homely upstairs lounge for those in the know. My nieces and I had some delicious coffee and portions of home cooked spinach pie served with a few bits of salad and had a wonderful period of time in each others company before we had to part. I called in at an Oxfam bookshop which had all kinds of interesting books arranged by subject matter and I bought a little trinket box as. present. Upon my return to the hotel, I resumed a long and extensive conversation with a very engaging American actor (although he was born in Harrogate) who was over here to arrange some long term care for aged relatives who I had met briefly in the morning and with whom I continued our conversation about diverse matters before I needed to go up to my hotel bedroom and get packed up. I have a feeling that the evening might be quite busy so I thought I had better get the bulk of the packing done this afternoon.

So the little tea party arranged for my sister at the home of one of my nieces went off as planned. I caught a taxi to get to the address and had taken along with me a beautiful 30″ high orchid for my sister which I am sure will adorn her room, a hand crafted birthday card bought from an Oxfam shop and a magnum of Prosecco for all of the members of the family to share. This latter proved not to be the best of buys as everybody was drinking tea rather than consuming alcohol during the afternoon and there was no point in opening the Magnum bottle. But we agreed that this could be stored until a bigger and perhaps boozier family  gathering perhaps at Christmastime if not before. The party started to break up in the late afternoon as young children were taken away to be put to bed and the adolescents had other things to do so eventually I was transported back to the hotel armed with some extra scones which proved to be useful to me. I was not particularly hungry but made myself some packet soup in a cup which was sufficient for me. I watched some of the Test match on the bedroom TV and then turned in and had a fairly early night, wondering about the next couple of days. After doing some research on the internet, I decided that a trip to York would not be a good idea as the trip to the Railway Museum added an extra mile onto the journey as they are doing some reconstruction work so I decided to go to the small market of Ripon the following day. I am pretty sure that I should be able to board the relevant coach just around the corner from the hotel but I will check with the hotel reception staff first. I spent a certain amount of time messing about to download and install the relevant bus app but eventually decided I would be better off paying the bus driver in cash as the website informed me this this was possible. First I will get a newspaper and then negotiate my way to the point where I can catch the bus if the information provided on the website proves to be accurate.

The joining point for the bus I located after some fishing about. But I was fortunate in that a young woman with her six month old baby were waiting for the bus and as she made this journey regularly and was a Harrogate resident, she was a fund of local knowledge. We chatted all the way to Ripon and then as the bus station was located just round the corner from the principal square, this was easy to find. But as there is a Bank Holiday on Monday, some extremely noisy fairground rides were occupying the centre of the square and to the noise of the fairground rides was added the screams of the children rather ruining the ambience  of a quaint market town.  I did a complete circumnavigation of the square and found a store that was amazingly popular because not only was it huge but it sold every type of hardware item one could imagine. I located the special charging cable that I know my iPhone 16 deploys ( a ‘Type C’ which is oval and will work whatever direction it is plugged in) and I paid only a quarter of the price that I paid for one in the specialist phone shop the other day. It seems to be working fine as my phone is being recharged as I write and spare cables are always useful to have. Having circumnavigated the square, I espied a little arcade which I suspect (rightly) lay in the direction of the cathedral for where I was eventually bound. Down the arcade was a little independent coffee shop which I was happy to patronise rather than one of the national chains and in which I ordered a bacon sandwich (which turned out to be huge) and a cup of tea which in the event was a teapot of tea containing three cups. So this really set me up for the day and from then on it was quite easy to locate the cathedral which one approached via a variety of short cuts.

I have  visited Ripon cathedral on about three of four varied occasions, the first time being when I was a teenager aged about 17 or 18 and I journeyed there on my Lambretta scooter from Harrogate. I visited with Meg on at least one or possibly two occasions and the last time was an invitation to an impromptu performance by a Russian soprano that an old schoolboy acquaintance of mine had smuggled out of Russia and was seeking to reestablish her career in the West. As I remember she sang ‘Exsultate, jubilate’ in a manner which equaled some of the best performances of which I have heard recordings after which we had a magnificent banquet in a large mansion reminiscent of ‘Gosford Park’ In the cathedral, I lit a candle in Meg’s memory and then went onto study the wooden misericords. Ripon Cathedral features 34 rare medieval misericords in its choir stalls, carved between 1489 and 1494, which are celebrated as some of the finest wood carvings in the UK. The word misericord comes from the Latin misericordia, meaning ‘act of mercy’ and the small hinged wooden ledges allowed clergy to rest discreetly during long periods of standing required for monastic services. Attributed to master woodcarvers of the late 15th century, the seating area showcases intricate, surreal, and sometimes humorous medieval artistry. After my visit to the cathedral, I knew that some heavy showers were forecast for the afternoon  so retraced my steps but called in at a local Sainsbury’s to replenish my supplies of fruit and caught the bus back to Harrogate. Then I bought myself fresh supplies of milk and rested on the bed having a quick conversation with my American friend as although we had texted we had not spoken for some days. My niece called in to the hotel for a flying visit and we had a nice catch up until her parking time expired and then I contemplated going out later on in the early evening to my favourite unpretentious but excellent little Chinese restaurant for a meal. In the later part of the evening, I can either choose Paddington 2 or yet another viewing of ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ and I am not sure which way to go as I have them seen them both several times before.

The evening before last, I went out for a meal in a really authentic Spanish restaurant in Harrogate which was less than a five minute walk from the hotel in which I was staying. A table had been reserved for us and so I dined with my nephew, his wife and their two children aged about 22 and 17. We had the most beautiful meal out and there were many Spanish delicacies in which to indulge. To go with my chicken, I chose a side order of ‘pimientos de padron’ which are a small, bitter-sweet peppers fried in olive oil and served with a liberal helping of sea salt. All of this was helped down by a couple of bottles of rioja, needless to say, and we had the most wonderful of conversations as we ranged over family affairs, our social activities, and every topic on earth besides. What emerged at the end of the evening was that my nephews were in the habit of organising a ‘ceilidh’ at regular intervals. These are traditional gaelic folk festivals with singing, dancing and no doubt some drinking and once they had engaged a top rated band and hired a venue, invitations were distributed liberally to family and friends. Now to cut a long story short, my nephews would very much like myself and my American friend to attend the next event they are going to organise, probably in mid-October and accommodation will be no problem because they can rustle up some sleeping arrangements for the two of us. So, this sounds like a most marvellous event to which to look forward and I earnestly hope that it all comes off. I have invited as many members of the family as feel inclined to come and spend a few days with me in Bromsgrove as, again, accommodation will be no problem as we have bedrooms to spare. Later on in the day, there will be an afternoon tea party in celebration of my sister’s 84th birthday and I hope that many family members will be able to attend that gathering. I have one or two little  surprises planned for that event about which I shall be silent until the events have taken place and then all be revealed. In the morning which I have free, I shall concentrate my attention upon a walk into  town and buying a birthday present for my sister and then the festivities will take place during the afternoon. As well as my iPhone, I shall take along my iPad which has on it several family photos which I think may be of interest to members of the family and which I doubt they have actually seen before. I am trying to make connections with the younger members of the family who are now in their late schooling or higher education phases of their lives and to whom I may appear as a rather distant great uncle (one thinks of ‘Great Uncle Bulgaria’ of the Wombles fame and I think that Paddington bear’s relatives are Uncles and Aunts rather than grandparents) Meanwhile, more mad things seem to be happening on the other side of ‘the pond’ as they say. Donald Trump has said he will rename Lake Ontario as ⁠Lake America in the US following the escalating trade war with Canada. The US president signed an executive order on Thursday and said the change would take effect immediately. It will only apply in the US, as Mr Trump cannot force Canada to follow the renaming. Signing the order in the Oval Office, Mr Trump told reporters that Canada is the worst to deal with on trade, adding that they feel entitled and we can’t have that. Last year, he said he would be renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America – a move that was rejected by the Mexican government. Whether these international re-naming’s will have an effect upon the world’s cartographers remains, of course, to be seen.

After I had got myself up, showered and breakfasted I collected a copy of my regular newspaper and then made my way slowly into town – actually, rushing is not an option as I have to ascend pretty steep inclines to get into town. But passing an Oxfam shop, I purchased a handmade birthday card for my sister which she can keep if she feels so inclined. Once there, I made for Marks and Spencer and eventually located their flowers and plants section. It was quite easy for me to choose a stunning orchid as a present for my sister and although I think it was about 30″ in height, the checkout have a specially designed triangular-shaped carrying bag for the safe transport of flowers and plants. I also purchased a magnum of Prosecco for the mutual enjoyment of everyone at the party and this is the first time I have ever in my life purchased a magnum of any sort of wine. As I traversed the Harrogate streets, I came across a specialised phone accessory shop so that I could always ensure that I had a spare charging cable of the relevant type for my iPhone. I made my way towards a very special kind of coffee shop which some have claimed in the past to be the best in Harrogate. The original owners were Italian and they always have a range of excellent pastries all crafted on the premises. I made my way up some steep stairs to a beautifully comfortable lounge furnished with settees as well as tables and chairs and with the bonus of a stunning TV display showing drone generated images of continental landscapes. Meg and I, as well as my niece, know this upstairs room well and always made a beeline for it. I enjoyed a cappuccino and a very tasty almond pastry, warmed and then delivered up the stairs for me, I got into conversations with other groups of visitors, the last two being a Yorkshire man and his wife who had left Harrogate to settle in Brisbane, Australia but had returned to Harrogate to settle up some property matters. As I was in no rush to go anywhere this morning, these conversations were very welcome, after which I returned to my hotel bedroom to have a cup of soup for lunch as I had brought some packet soups with me for such a contingency. After lunch and a wash-and-brush-up, I know there is a direct link with a local taxi firm to arrange my transport to the afternoon’s tea party. I had been in contact with one of nieces who informed that her sister (another niece) would be attending, together with her two girls.

Apart from stories of a natural disaster in Nepal in which many Britons may have died, news percolated through of the results of a massive court case in America. Meta has agreed to pay up to $18bn (£13.2bn) to dozens of US states to settle claims that its social media platforms harmed children. The landmark trial – the biggest ever of its kind – saw Meta accused of knowingly and deliberately designing features that get children addicted to its platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. According to court papers, the company has denied wrongdoing while agreeing to the settlement. Alongside the payments, the company has agreed to make major changes to Facebook and Instagram, including daily ​usage limits and a restriction of nighttime usage by children who use Facebook and Instagram. The company will also enhance measures ‌to prevent children from accessing age-restricted content. The settlement ​resolves claims brought by 29 US states and ends a federal trial that had been one of the highest-profile tests yet of allegations that social media companies harmed young users. The settlement will be paid out over 10 years. California will get the largest sum of at least $1.5bn, but several other states will still collect hundreds of millions of dollars each over the decade. In order to put this seemingly enormous sum in con context, in the last full fiscal year (2025), Meta Platforms generated $200.97 billion in total revenue. After deducting all operating costs, taxes, and expenses, Meta brought home a net income (pure profit) of $60.46 billion. So the payout sum which extends over several years is less than a third of one year’s profits. Personally, I am surprised that Meta succumbed so quickly in this court case which I thought would drag on for months or even years so the case against them must have been pretty overwhelming. Turning to domestic issues, the evening that I arrived in Harrogate, I went out for a long anticipated drink with one of my nieces and her husband in the pub immediately opposite the hotel which serves a magnificent and locally brewed dark mild beer. We had a wonderful evening together and I had taken along with me two little items of Meg’s jewellery to pass onto my great nieces. At the same time, I had brought along with me the card that had been signed in a variety of European languages by members of an international linguists conference that Meg had attended in the past before her bad back put paid to international travel. But one of the early testaments on the card mentioned about Meg dancing on a table on a restaurant in Thessaloniki (Greece). Meg had mentioned this to me and she knew, even at the time, that it was going to be her ‘swan song’ and the extraordinary sequel to this story is that whilst my daughter-in-law was going through mountains of family snaps, we actually managed to discover ‘the’ photograph which is the definitive proof of Meg dancing an a restaurant table. By the way, exuberant acts like dancing on tables are much more common in diaspora communities (such as Greek-American celebrations) or entertainment-focused tavernas than standard domestic dining. Just as our evening was concluding and my niece and her husband were on their way home, I discovered another piece of the jigsaw that is my family history. I mentioned that I thought that it was probably the case that my mother had worked briefly in WW2 in the Crown Hotel (in which I am staying) when it was commissioned as an operations HQ for the Air Ministry. I had known that my family had moved from a small village on the North Yorkshire moors (Levisham) to Harrogate but why Harrogate? Apparently, a lot of research has been done locally and during the location of ministries to the large Harrogate hotels, there was a massive demand for trained secretarial labour so my mother (and my grandmother) probably moved to Harrogate as my mother being Pitman shorthand trained would have some of the skillset which was very much in demand at the time. This, of course, is conjecture rather than proof but I think the chances of it actually being the case are probably very high.

In the morning, I caught the train to Knaresborough actually missing one by 2 mins but there was another half an hour later. My sister seemed to be quite in good spirits and we reminisced about family matters. The residential home provided me with a lunch which was good of them and then I left in giving myself 15 minutes before the rain back. But this had a fault on it and the running of it was delayed so after a wait of 45 minutes we limped into Harrogate where they immediately took the train out of service. And it was raining when I arrived back so I was thankful for the shelter provided by my broad brimmed Australian style bush hat. My sister had been taken out yesterday by the residential home where she is lodged and had been to an art exhibition which was ‘so-so’ but afterwards had been taken for tea at Betty’s Cafe in Harrogate which is almost a national institution by now. The care staff were also talking with my sister about another ‘day out’ but this time to Harewood House which  is a very well known day trip out in the Harrogate/Leeds area. Naturally, I am every pleased by this because it means that my sister had some existential stimulus instead of staring at her own four walls. Meanwhile I have just been contacted ‘urgently’ by a local hospital to enquire whether I still am in need of an ENT appointment which was requested more than 12 weeks ago – I was informed that failure to fill in the online form would mean that my place on the waiting list would be forfeited and the pending appointment cancelled. I just wondered to myself how many of the ‘information poor’ in our society may be adversely affected by such waiting list management practices and, however good the intention, I do get the feeling that all of this reflects a political imperative to see what can be  done by getting waiting lists ‘down’ by hook or by crook. Now that I am safely back in my hotel room, it has stopped raining but I suppose we can hardly complain as the rain is so badly needed. Although I had put a light raincoat on one side before I left home, I did forget to pack it which I now regret somewhat. But the restaurant to which I shall repair in the evening  to dine with nephews and great nephews/nieces is only a few minutes walk from the hotel and I think should be quite easy to find.

So the evening before I was due to travel, I made a journey to one of our local supermarkets to see if late in the day, they were discounting any of their sandwiches. As it happened they were not, but I did pick up a triple chicken and bacon wrap, a little bowl of fruit, a tray of sushi and a small bottle of mineral water which was all discounted by about a quarter if you bought them together as ‘meals deal’ So these were popped into the fridge and will be transferred into my food bag in the morning. During the course of the evening, I had a brief conversation with my American friend  now recovering from the virus which had afflicted her but she has a doctor’s appointment in the morning. I spent some time filling in an insurance claim for the travel ticket which my friend cannot use but they needed documentary proof of a medical condition which, of course, we were not able to provide. Quite unusually for me, I intend to turn in and have quite an early night tonight and will set the alarm to get up at 6.00am in the morning to finish off my packing. I am relieved that my son is giving me a lift to the station which alleviates the overall stress of the long journey somewhat although I generally enjoy travelling by train if the carriages are not too bulging with people and/or noisy and the direction in which I am travelling there may, of course, be holiday makers returning from the South coast to the North of England. The death has been announced of the Country and Western singer Dolly Parton who, it must be said, was a national icon in the USA. She died at the age of 80 and it always comes as a bit of a shock when well known figures pass away who are younger than you are. Although it must be said, the repertoire and stye of Dolly Parton is hardly my cup of tea but one can only admire the philanthropy. It is said that she earned about $600 million but gave almost all of it away. She had a passion for helping the youth. The Dollywood Foundation was created in the 1980s during her career peak, helping children in Sevier County, Tennessee – where she grew up – to achieve educational success. Through it, she created the Buddy Program, which gave $500 to every seventh and eighth grader who finished high school. The foundation’s website claims the initiative saw the dropout rate go from 35 per cent to just six per cent. Parton also began a scholarship program in 2000, giving $15,000 to five high school seniors from Sevier County who wished to go to college to follow their dreams. The Dollywood project became one of her most incredible legacies, and as of 2025, it gives over 3.4 million books per month to children in the USA and internationally. Practical philanthropy on this scale is almost unparalleled and can only marvel at the good that she did, and will continue to do. She was the 4th in a family of 12 children but never had any children of her own. Returning to practicalities, the Chinese have a saying that a ‘journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step’ so I got up an hour earlier than normal and will concentrate on the final packing of toiletries, food and important things like daily medication (which I have forgotten before) and things like spare batteries which the remote control in the bedroom inevitably needs.

And now for the story of my journey. I caught an earlier train into BNS (Birmingham New Street) and all seemed to be going well as the platform for the departure of the train for York was just around the corner from which I had alighted. At first, the York train seem to have been delayed by about eight minutes but this grew and grew until the delay was of the order of 25 minutes. Then 5 minutes before the train was due to arrive there was a sudden platform change and I was fortunate not to board a Leicester bound train that has just ‘snuck’ into the gap. When the train arrived it was a five coach train and I was one of the first to board the correct carriage but the luggage compartment was already filled with huge suitcases. So I located my seat but there was no way or indeed room that I could have hoisted my large suitcase aloft so it occupied my seat space and I sat on a seat next to a young lady who turned out to be a PhD student at Oxford University. The train was having to go quite slow in case any of the rails were damaged and so the train actually got into York about 1 hour and 50 minutes behind schedule. When I started to speak with the yong lady next to me (actually we were both having a little meal break, sushi on my part which was delicious) we found we had quite a lot in common. My travelling companion was either Ukrainian or Serbian but spoke these two languages as well as Russian and Spanish as well. We exchanged a lot of linguistic stories as well as stories about submitting a PhD but when we were getting up to get off at York, a rather extraordinary thing happened. Another young lady smiled broadly at both of us and told us that she hoped we didn’t mind but she had overheard a lot of our conversation and was absolutely enthralled by it! She herself was a student at Henley Management College in Oxfordshire but that was all we gleaned in a quick snatch of conversation. I had to locate a train to Harrogate but this was easy to find and I only had a 20 minute wait. When I got to Harrogate, I immediately went and bought my ticket to go to Knaresborough in the morning to see my sister and then got a taxi to go to Crown so that I didn’t wear myself out. Having got myself installed in me temporary home for the next five nights, I went shopping to the little store across the road where I bought some milk and, as it cold from their fridge, immediately transferred it to some vacuum flasks that I had brought with me. Thinking  about the things I had forgotten to bring with me, one is some light rainwear so I hope to dodge the showers in the next day or so. 

More and more news is emerging of the horrific crash at the weekend – and in fact, so many new details are emerging that Sky News has paused some of its reporting in a very responsible fashion so as not to prejudice any trials that may be forthcoming. But one or two details that are in the public domain have emerged. One of these is that four of the five young men killed in the crash had previous convictions and some for assaulting police officers as well as motoring offences such as stealing a car for later joy riding. It is also extremely likely (and there is an audit trail to this effect) that the teenagers who lost their lives were engaged in an activity that was going to be filmed and posted onto TicToc which has hosted such footage in the past. I learn that a highly dangerous social media trend has sparked international outrage after multiple teenage joyriders were killed while filming reckless driving videos to gain popularity online. The phenomenon, heavily present on TikTok, involves groups of young men stealing high-performance cars, taunting police officers, and driving at extreme speeds. The crisis peaked following a series of fatal head-on collisions caused by teenagers driving the wrong way down major motorways. The deadly ‘wrong-way’ driving craze linked to social media has caused 12 deaths across the UK and Ireland. This terrifying subculture, fuelled by groups like the ‘Lucky Dip’ gang, involves masked teenagers hot-wiring high-performance vehicles, provoking police chases, and filming the reckless stunts to secure online kudos and likes. The escalating crisis has triggered severe international outrage following two catastrophic head-on collisions. Five teenage boys were killed instantly near County Kildare while driving a stolen BMW at extreme speeds on the wrong side of the motorway. The crash also critically injured a family of four travelling in the opposite direction. Less than a week later, five young joyriders speeding the wrong way down a dual carriageway near Middlesbrough slammed head-on into a police armed response vehicle, killing all five occupants and two police officers. Once again, we have an activity to which TicToc has given free exposure but the damage has been done before the offending material is taken down. The evening before last, I started packing for my Yorkshire trip which I will now be undertaking alone. My packing nearly always consists of a three stage process i which the first  part has already been done. This is is to pack enough for the six days of my absence, The next task is to assemble together a range of household goods of little things that make my stay so much comfortable. For example, I must remember to pack a little alarm clock to have by my bedside and I always ensure that I have packed an extension cable so that I that  can take my laptop with me and carry on blogging whilst I am away and one is never sure until you occupy a hotel bedroom what the distribution and accessibility of available wall-mounted plug sockets is likely to be. Finally we have extra toiletries and foodstuffs but the latter is largely a last minute affair. I will also be reliant upon the discounted sandwiches which  I can pick up when I pay a visit to a supermarket store in town late in the afternoon. There are some photos that I have put by on one side to take with me and to show to other family members during my visit.

Today has been one of those days with a fair degree of frustration but I attended Pilates in the middle of the day. There I was sorry to learn that one of my class members was coping with a horrific set of domestic circumstances in which her own son had experienced appendicitis but she was having to cope with her ageing parents who were starting to exhibit signs of dementia and some of the sequelae which goes with all of that.  I really did empathise with the problems that are assailing her and so far she is keeping her head above the water, as they say. In the last month or so, my own son had attended a reunion of the Psychology  class of which he was a apart in the 1980’s When this little group met, they went around the table giving each other a quick résumé of their lives over the past 40 years and, if my memory serves me correct, practically every one of the group meeting up with each other for the first time in decades had had the experience of dementia afflicting their own family members. I am still thankful that Meg had a fairly peaceful and tranquil end, dying with her family and friends surrounding her but only about 12% of dementia patients actually die in their own homes. I suppose given the level of care needed, most patients end up in a hospital ward or a hospice so part of me is eternally grateful that Meg could have an end of life in she which she gradually drifted away (and she was asleep for most of the time towards the end)

A lot of the day has been spent not on the packing which I promised myself but trying (unsuccessfully) to negotiate a refund for the room which my American friend cannot now occupy as she is too poorly to travel. All I will say at this point is that hard lessons have been learnt which I shall apply in the future. On the advice of one of the Waitrose staff that I know well, I made a journey down at the appointed time to pick up sandwiches for tomorrow  only to be told that the reduced (‘stickered’ items) were at the manager’s discretion and nobody could tell me when this was likely to be. So most of the evening will be spent completing the packing which is now more than half done and ensuring that I have the necessary cables and chargers for everything that I will pack in the main suitcase. The trick is to ensure that you have everything that might be needed but without overloading the case and making it burdensome to trundle around. My plans for the trip are in a certain amount of disarray at the moment but I shall probably make a journey to see my sister on Thursday morning in the small market town of Knaresborough and I have a nice dinner to which to look forward with my nephew and family. Whilst I am about it, I might pack one or two books to read because I have the feeling  that I may have some time on my hands rather than making the trips out which I had anticipated. 

A new week is dawning in which I travel up to Yorkshire to see my family but I wonder what else is in store. My American friend is undergoing a bout of illness at the moment so will not be able to accompany me on my journey which is a source of great disappointment to both of us – but then there is never a ‘convenient’ time to be ill. The evening before last, I was not particularly enamoured of the choices before me on the TV although the film on Churchill’s life was very well made but I did not feel in the mood to watch it again. Instead, I trawled through what the BBC iPlayer and YouTube had to offer and came across the ‘Evening with..’ series and discovered a delightful hour with Peer Ustinov, the famous British actor and raconteur. He told some wickedly amusing anecdotes and this was one transmission even though I had seen it before was well worth another look. I had a look ahead to see what the weather might hold for me this week and although the next day or so will be fine and dry, we might look forward to some wet, windy and squally weather towards the end of the week. There is an interesting snippet on Sky News about the fact that UK is not building reservoirs at a period in our history when our need for water is increasing. I was a little shocked to discover that due to planning hurdles and financial constraints, the UK hasn’t completed building one since 1991. Water supply is a major problem facing the UK, with the Environment Agency estimating we will experience a shortfall of 5 billion litres a day by 2050. But the winters have been getting wetter at a time when our summers have been getting dryer and so far, we have just managed to muddle through.  As with so many other areas of our national life, we seem to have lost the foresight and the will to invest in long term infrastructure planning as the HS2 disaster shows us, But when the cost of living is so high and national finances are so stretched, then planning and providing for infrastructure seems to be a luxury which we cannot afford but the paradox becomes that these essentials become more expensive the longer a decision is delayed. We in this country always seem to have a very short term view compared with Germany for example. It is sometimes said that the typical British company is up for sale every single day as investors in the UK want to see a return after only two years whereas the German view might be to only expect a return after five years i.e. there is a much longer timescale as part of the national consciousness. Britain struggles with infrastructure due to chronic underinvestment, a slow and litigious planning system, frequent political shifts that disrupt long-term strategy, and exceptionally high delivery costs compared to European peers. Projects frequently face severe delays, scope changes, and budget escalations and the ‘Nimbyism’ (Not in My Back Yard) seems to have taken over a pernicious hold of our national life. One is forced to the sad conclusion that once communities have established a pleasant environment for themselves, they will fight tooth and nail to preserve their advantages in perpetuity and the idea of the common good has disappeared over the horizon. But I am conscious that as I write the house into which I moved some nineteen years ago is now faced with new housebuilding on literally ever side and by every side, I mean that literally and adjacent actually means to the north, south, east and west of the plot of land upon which my house sits. 

Late in the morning, I thought I would walk into town although most of the morning had gone. On my way down into town, I reflected upon the fact that in the almost nineteen yeas that I have lived at my current address, a lot of people around me have ‘moved on’ The most extreme form of ‘moving on’ is dying, of course, and I reflected upon the fact that including my wife, Meg, some eight of my near neighbours have actually died and another two have moved out of the area. On my walk down  managed to have a chat with one of my church  friends who lives down the road, as he was about to contemplate giving his car a wash (although it looked immaculate to me) In Waitrose, I picked up a copy of my daily and then availed myself of a ‘free’ cup of coffee. I asked one pf the staff that I know pretty well by sight at what point they start to either mark down or even throw away the day’s sandwiches (because nobody would want yesterdays) and was given some useful information so in the next day and before I travel down to Yorkshire, I shall equip myself  with some sandwiches which may be my main sustenance for  the day. On my way back up the hill, I thought I espied my Pilates session member who was wheeling her very poorly dog in a special wheelchair down to the park. The dog itself had experienced a repair to one of its ligaments and could not walk very far but it was a good opportunity for us to discuss her pet’s condition outside a few snatches of conversation in the Pilates class tomorrow. As I got nearer to my own house, I bumped into my Italian friend again as she had been doing some gardening and so we extended our conversations of the day before. After I returned home, I made sure I was well hydrated with a big glass of cold fluid (as the weather was quite warm outside) before I cooked a ham omelette for myself and started watching a BBC programme on the history of AI before I got interrupted by a couple of nuisance telephone calls which I have now discovered how to report and to block in future. Tonight I really must start packing in earnest as tomorrow will be the last day in which I can actually buy anything  that I need before I go away. I have tried to think ahead to the things that I might need for a 5 day stay and have already ensured that I have some little presents destined for family members put adjacent to the suitcase so they do not get forgotten. I have also ensured that I have some lightweight rainwear packed away in my rucksack in case I get overtaken by a sudden sharp shower whilst I am on the road.

So the day before yesterday panned out in a rather unexpected direction. My American friend, who was unwell, decided to come and spend some time with me in my house and this turned out to be quite a good policy instead of sitting for hours in A&E with the possibility of acquiring an infection. After a sleep and then a light meal that we prepared between us, we watched a very good podcast of the type that we both enjoy because it was the British pairing of Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart. After this was finished, we started to browse the TV channels and found that we were half way through a transmission of ‘Paddington’ which we both thoroughly enjoy. Disappointed that we had missed some of it, we turned to the BBC iPlayer and were delighted to find that we could enjoy the whole film from the very beginning which we promptly did. This film has many visual gags within it and also some quite apposite political themes (such as how the UK reacts to ‘strangers’ in its midst) and is always fascinating to watch over and over again. One of the jokes that I particularly enjoy is when Paddington (bear) sees a notice on an escalator in the Underground that ‘Dogs must be carried’ and thinks this must be taken quite literally as an instruction. So Paddington goes and finds a pet dog to carry on the underground. I also enjoy the ‘ride’ that Paddington undertakes in a bath down the family staircase after he has flooded out the bathroom. On consulting the internet, I find that Paddington in Peru (the third movie) is not the last film in the franchise. StudioCanal has officially confirmed that Paddington 4 is in active development, alongside a planned television so these are pleasures left to enjoy – I wonder whether Paddington in Peru will be shown this Christmas alongside other Christmas classics? A domestic story that has rather filled the nation with a degree of shock and horror is the news that two policeman lost their lives whilst pursuing a group of teenagers who drove their car the wrong way down the A66. Two police officers were among seven people killed when a car travelling the wrong way down a dual carriageway crashed into a force vehicle. A Volkswagen Passat with five occupants said to be in their late teens struck an oncoming marked Cleveland Police vehicle on the A66 near Middlesbrough. A pursuit of the car had ended before the crash, with the police vehicle just happening to be in the South Bank area. The occupants of both cars were pronounced dead at the scene. My American friend is quite emotional about all of this news as her own father was a policeman and she can imagine the devastating effect upon the families when the police leave for their shift and do not then return home. Meanwhile, Trump is still issuing dire warnings about what he will do in Iran but we have heard this story before so a well known joke is that we have a ‘TACO’ situation, the initials standing for the phrase ‘Trump Always Chickens Out’ The tariff talks between USA and Canada have broken down and so we are entering a period of ‘tit-for-tat’ sanctions in which we know that all Californian wines, as well as other imports,  are being shunned like the plague.

Yesterday did not exactly turn as I intended. I went to church at the normal time and was delighted, on my way out, to see my Italian friend who I have not seen for a few weeks now. We had quite a few bits of news to impart to each other so I readily accepted her invitation to pop into her house for a delicious cup of freshly brewed coffee. Our friendship goes back well over fifteen years now, I should imagine, and I have promised her that when the Methodist Centre reopens in about mid-September then I shall take her down in the car each Wednesday where we can join the ‘chatty table’ and re-establish old acquaintances, attenuated whilst the centre has been closed for its summer renovation. After our coffee, I ran the two of us down to Waitrose and then returned my friend to her home before going off and giving the car its weekly wash.  I had been contact with my American friend who had been sick during the night and I wonder if the meal I had prepared for her yesterday had proved to be a too heavy on the olive oil, I consulted the web and cooked what I hoped would be a bland dinner of some (tinned) salmon in a creamy mushroom sauce and this worked out pretty well except I think I may have over estimated the strength of the garlic that I deployed. So after my American friend phoned up, I told her about the portion of lunch I had prepared for her but concluded it was too rich for an upset stomach. So instead, I made a special journey down to Asda to pick up some bland foodstuffs and Evian water to deliver to my friend and then returned home for a bit of a doze. Following the international news, it now looks as though the UK is losing patience with the very right wing Israeli government and a war of words has commenced. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband and the Israeli government were in dispute over a controversial settlement project in the occupied West Bank. Mr Miliband summoned Israel’s charge d’affaires – the country’s top diplomat in the UK – on Wednesday to set out the UK’s profound objection to Israel publishing a tender for the construction of about 1,200 homes, as part of the E1 programme of expansion. He called it an unacceptable and destructive act and said the UK would not stand back and accept the destruction of the two-state solution, as he demanded an immediate reversal. Israel for its part had indicated that it was no business of the UK to determine in which part of the Occupied West Bank Israeli settlers choose to live. Even the name of the territory itself alters according to who is speaking because  the Spanish refer to the territory as cis-Jordania (literally ‘the other side of the Jordan river’) whilst Israelis refer to the northern part of the West Bank as Samaria and the southern part as Judea, combining them as Judea and Samaria. These biblical names date back over 3,000 years to the ancient Jewish kingdoms, whereas the term ‘West Bank’ was popularised later, during Jordanian control from 1948 to 1967. Whatever it it is called, international law is in no doubt that the occupation of what we term the West bank is illegal having been subject to Israeli occupation, whereas the term ‘West Bank’ was popularised later, during Jordanian control from 1948 to 1967. The West Bank was captured by Israel from Jordan during the Six-Day War in June, 1967. Before that, Transjordan (later Jordan) had occupied and annexed the territory following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

The evening before last, I had intended to watch a Prom devoted to the work of the jazz trumpeter Miles Davis but instead I found my attention drawn to an Athletics competition. The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fifteen invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics one-day meet competitions. I found that the transmission of the events were such that one event followed another in quite quick succession and therefore it quickly became fairly compulsive viewing. By the time that this was over, I watched the News followed by Newsnight. I got myself to bed but could not resist seeing the late transmission of ‘Today at the Test’ where England overcame Pakistan by winning the match by over an innings and with a couple of days to spare. It is true to say that the Pakistani resistance was quite feeble and one must not get too excited but it was an excellent start to watch what one call the Joe Root 2.0 era, as he is now in his second spell as captain. The English fast bowlers were outstanding but a curiosity of the match was that England did field a spinner. Pakistan’s Ali Usman, on the other hand, became the first visiting spinner to take a five-wicket haul in a Test at Headingley since Australia’s Ashley Mallett in 1972 and the first spinner to do in the whole of the UK series of Test matches for 16 years which is quite a feat. Turning to more domestic matters, I gave the two stainless steel vacuum flasks that I bought yesterday a thorough test of being leak-proof as I have had some unfortunate experiences in my last few trips out with a vacuum flask. I discovered after a series of tests involving filling them with boiling water and then leaving them inverted inside another jug, that a faulty cap was the source of the problem and I have now worked out the correct way of putting these onto a filled flask (which involves fitting the cap with the plunger in the down position and then releasing it into the up position once the flask has been filled which, without instructions, is not necessarily intuitive). I now 1.5 stainless steel flasks available for use, the 0.5 being the half size flask originally sold by George in the Asda store for about £5 but which I purchased for 50p in a local charity store. This will prove to be a boon to me in several ways because it means that when I go away I can carry a normal complement of coffee in one flask but a supply of cold milk (or another cold liquid) in the other. It also means that if I were to take walks in the park in the autumn and winter months, then this half size flask will snuggle well into a trouser pocket and provide just about enough hot drink for the venture. So now my flasks can be properly field tested when I undertake a train journey to Yorkshire next week. Having undertaken a peregrination along the High Street yesterday morning, there is no pressing reason for me to repeat this in the morning so I may start to ensure a comprehensive packing of my suitcase for the forthcoming journey.

I popped into town fairly early in the morning to secure my copy of the newspaper which tends to sell out quickly at the weekend. Then I paid a visit to the Salvation Army charity shop where I was in search of a chain upon which to hang one last piece of Meg’s jewellery and was fortunate enough to find just what I wanted which was a fine chain but without a pendant attached to it. So, I was pleased to acquire this and used it to make the medallion which I had into a wearable piece. Then, after a delayed breakfast, I realised that the microwave was badly in need of a clean and I consulted the web for the easiest way to clean up a badly stained microwave and there were two popular remedies, the first of which involved the heating up of some cider vinegar (or normal vinegar for that matter) and the second of which involved baking powder. Although I followed the instructions to the letter, neither of these remedies made much impact upon the stains on the so-called ‘stainless steel’ interior so I made do with the job half completed and thought that I would attempt a second batch of more intensive cleaning a bit later on.  My day was a little interrupted because my American friend phoned up and was feeling rather unwell and was wondering whether to make a visit to A&E which was all that the NHS 111 service could suggest. After some consultation between the two of us, my friend decided to come round to my house where she could have a period of tranquility which might be more therapeutic than hours of waiting in an infection-prone A&E so this is the plan that we put into effect. We learn this afternoon that the Ukrainian war has intensified with a further drone attack deep into Russian territory. The Ukrainian regime are conducting the conflict against Russia by targeting their strikes against oil refineries so that the typical Russian motorist now has to join a long line of vehicles in order to get fuel. A huge oil refinery strike has deprived Russia of ‘millions of dollars’ and Volodymyr Zelenskyy has confirmed Ukraine’s strike on one of the largest oil refineries in Russia. The Novokuybyshevsk refinery sits around 1,000km away from the frontline. Ukraine’s president said the long-range strikes are limiting Russia’s military and economic potential. He said this attack will deprive ‘the Russian war machine of millions of dollars in export revenues’. Ukraine has been able to set Russia on the back foot with its success through its medium and long-range drone strike campaign. Meanwhile, the Russians bombard communities, even residential  communities, with long range missiles and the Ukrainian air defence systems is not capable of shooting down every Russian missile so that when an attack is made on a residential  community then a dozen or so civilians lose their lives. What  I find so amazing is that when Trump orders air strikes against Iran or Putin orders similar strikes against the Ukraine or Netanyahu orders similar in Lebanon, then it is most often the civilian population that bears the brunt of the attack. This never has the effect of lessening the resolve of the population, who are then determined to carry on the conflict despite the bombing so why military planners think this is a good way to conduct a war escapes me. One cannot imagine, for example, Londoners calling upon the government to surrender to Hitler at the height of the London blitz in WWII.

I read recently on Sky News, and I would not want to make too much of this, that the political hard right in Britain are being boosted by a much younger and, it must be said, photogenic white women who have embraced the far right stance upon immigration in general and this view has been enhanced by extensive social media coverage. Some commentators are talking about the ‘White Girl Summer’ and just to emphasise how all of this is a matter of perception, many still believe that the numbers of migrants still arriving is still increasing. The facts on the ground have not really cut through much into public consciousness- small boat migrant crossings across the English Channel are down roughly 40% to 43% compared to the same period in previous years, driven by enhanced French beach enforcement, disruptions to smuggling equipment supply chains, and changes in crossing attempts. One has to be aware of simplistic or monocausal explanations for these cultural phenomena but I think it is certainly the case that the role of the increased social media is significant, Social media and digital news amplification significantly distort public perception of small boat crossings in the UK. Recent polling shows that roughly 40% of Britons incorrectly believe crossings have increased year-on-year, despite official data demonstrating a drop to multi-year lows, showing how online repetition creates a gap between perceived and actual immigration trends. Constant sharing of dramatic Channel footage on platforms like X, Facebook, and Instagram makes irregular arrivals seem more ubiquitous than overall statistics suggest. Small boat events command heavy algorithmic visibility, overshadowing larger, stable legal or structural migration data. Smuggling networks use social platforms to market fraudulent packages, which in turn fuels counter-narratives and intense policy debates online. As well as this subject occupying media attention, the proposed return of the Sussexes (Harry, Meghan and their school age children) to the UK to live near London is arousing enormous speculation. Some commentators are arguing that the Royal family will now be subject to great adjustment problems as they have to decide whether to ignore, or to embrace, what is a de- facto ‘half-in, half out’ state of affairs. The public mood is more nuanced now than it has been in previous years with a view being expressed by some that they are agnostic about the return of the Sussexes but if they are no performing no royal duties, then are they entitled to any public protection or should this be a totally private affair? The body charged with determining the exact amount of public protection that the returning Sussexes might receive hass a tangled and vexed question and it is possible, in the view of Harry’s past pronouncements on this subject, that whatever is decided will please nobody. After yesterday’s much welcomed rainfall, we can now expect a spell of more settled weather according to longer range weather forecasts. Further into September, drier weather may become more prevalent, especially in the south and southeast, with any more unsettled conditions tending to become confined further north and northwest. Temperatures will probably be near normal at first, but may turn warmer later with a chance of some hot periods in the south.

The morning turned out to be rather more interesting than I would predicted. I walked along the High Street to my favourite charity-com-coffee shop which I frequent once a week and I know the owner and the volunteers pretty well by now. But on my way there, I stopped of at Wetherspoons to see if my old acquaintance from  my park-walking days was occupying his favourite seat which he was. Fortunately, he was not busy today (as he uses the watering hole as a sort of office) and he had a long chat about our mutual acquaintance whom neither of us had seen for some time, probably because he has a new found lady friend. So we had quite a lot to catch up on including  some health-related issues but I indicated that I would text so that we can have a longer chat over a coffee in a week or so. Calling in one of the many charity shops along the High Street I managed to purchase a tiny little dish to accommodate one of my washing up brushes, a miniature size thermos flask which was being sold for 50p and a ornament and chain which I purchased primarily to get the chain so that I can pass a little of Meg’s jewellery onto some of my great cousins when  see them next week. As the stainless steel thermos flask I have had for years had started to leak around the top, I junked it and brought a brand new one from Waitrose thinking ahead to when I might take along some coffee to alleviate the rain journey next week. Then I replenished some medications from a cut-price store along the High Street and did not get home until nearly 2.00pm in the afternoon. I had located some ‘cauliflower rice’ in Waitrose which fitted my dietary needs completely – this is not rice at all but resembles it and has the texture of rice but practically zero carbs. So when I got home,  I made myself a mackerel fillets lunch with the cauliflower rice, some petit pois and a sun dried tomato and it made for a very satisfying and healthy lunch. Half way through the afternoon, my American friend phoned and she was experiencing a little bout of illness so I popped out and bought her some fresh vegetables of which she was in need and which we can share in the days ahead if I had bought too much. I already know the result of the Test match which I will view at 7.00pm this evening but it is pleasant to be able to say that it will bring a lot of satisfaction to Joe Root, starting his second tenure as England captain and securing the result that he did on his home ground which is Headingly. I have detailed a BBC4 showing of the Proms for later in the evening because there is going to be a huge slot devoted to the work of Miles  Davis. The BBC Proms concert is celebrating the centenary of Miles Davis’s birth featured a jazz quartet led Ambrose Akinmusire, one of the leading trumpeters of his generation, plus the BBC Concert Orchestra arranged and conducted by Miho Hazama. Although this takes me out of my usual ‘comfort zone’ of Bach, Handel, Beethoven  and Mozart, I suspect that it will be a very interesting and entertaining concert. I remember that the trumpet player who I knew well from my walks down the Kidderminster Road had a very high regard for Miles Davis so this will be an excellent opportunity to become acquainted with his finest work.