After terrible stories such as the stabbings on the train near Huntingdon over the weekend, other stories tend to emerge in the aftermath of the tragedy. What is apparent today is the immediate reaction of the train driver undoubtedly saved many lives. He had previously served in the UK Armed services and perhaps some of his military training kicked in. The driver, on receiving the news alerted, the signalling authorities so that the train could be diverted from the fast high-speed line onto a slower ‘stopping’ line so that the train could actually stop in Huntingdon station. From a platformed station, it was so much easier for the emergency services to access and treat the wounded passengers than if the train had been stopped in open countryside. One LNER staff who was severely wounded trying to apprehend the attacker is currently fighting for his life and the word ‘hero’ is rightfully being applied to him. Although the information as not yet been released, the whole incident looks at this distance as a mental health episode which will raise further policy reflections when the situation becomes clearer. My Droitwich friend recently returned from a holiday in South Africa to visit her family has brought me back a little present – actually we had discussed beforehand what this might be. I had asked for something that could not be bought in this country or Europe so my friend, with the assistance of her sister, had bought me a a collection of eight different African spices. These seem a wonderful present, but I am going to have to question my friend as well as other friends and relatives how I might deploy these spices to good effect to find out what the particular flavour of each one. My initial thoughts are to cook either a simple omelette or a vegetable ‘curry’ without the curry powder and then add the spices one by one to ascertain the flavour. Anyway, this is a pleasure that will unwind for me as the months go by. I had bought for my friend a little kitchen ornament which I thought she might not like but actually was quite tickled her pink and this was a little kitchen plaque with the motto on it ‘Wine improves with age but I improve with wine’. So that November is upon us, we are entering the long slow grind in the run up to Christmas and we are already starting to think in broad terms what our Christmas arrangements might happen to be this year. My immediate family have already agreed with me that we are going to have a Christmas this year, as it is the year in which Meg died, as a traditional family Christmas at home as it were and have started to think of alternatives to the traditional turkey which meat none of us particularly enjoys so we may have some lamb or beef instead. Somewhat later in the year but before Christmas, I might lay on a special little ‘at home’ party for Meg’s carers as I did last year and which proved to be a great success (and was, of course, Meg’s last social event)
One can never quite predict how the day is going to turn out and that was certainly the case yesterday. Firstly, I did attend church for a special service on the occasion of ‘All Souls’ day which is the day when the liturgical calendar enjoins that we pray for the souls of our departed and loved ones. Our church had ‘moved’ the celebration of all Souls Day which this year fell on a Sunday to the next day i.e. Monday. All Souls’ Day is focused on praying for the souls of all the faithful departed and a day to remember and pray for loved ones who have passed away. I felt that I really ought to attend in this year of Meg’s death and indeed the service was not devoid of emotion for me, particularly as I know that her name had been inscribed in a special book which is to be displayed in the Sanctuary during the whole of November. After the service, I went along to Waitrose to have a coffee and to pick up my newspaper. One of the ‘partners’ (e.g. Waitrose employees) was very happily displaying to anybody who wished to see it a photograph of her first and newly delivered grand-daughter born at just 4.00am this morning (I must admit it really did look a most attractive looking baby which is not usual as often new born babies look a bit on the wrinkly side) Then, over coffee I got into conversation with a Asian lady who was extolling a virtues of a special kind of Italian baked bread which the store happened to stock. She was explaining to me hew her Asian mother-in-law treated her terribly and this contributed to the breakdown of her marriage which is a story that I have heard elsewhere as well. I told her about Meg’s passing and showed her a photograph of Meg and, emboldened to ask the question of how old she thought I was, she replied that I was probably in my early 50’s!
I had rather been looking forward this afternoon to see if I could watch the whole of the England vs. Australia Rugby (Union) match played last Saturday at Twickenham but which did not seem to be broadcast by any of the major TV networks. However, I did find some highlights i.e. the four tries that England scored in defeating Australia 25:7 and this was better than nothing. Also a source of particular pleasure was watching Scotland defeat the USA 85:0 which was probably Scotland’s greatest ever margin of victory. There is a series of rugby internationals this Autumn but the rights to the broadcast are held by obscure channels such TNT and I think only one match may be broadcast and that on the BBC iPlayer as well. Only the keenest rugby fans are going to subscribe to these channels so the rest of us shall just have to wait for the ‘Six Nations’ broadcast in the spring. I have discovered, though, that the BBC has published a series of 15 programmes on the history of Western Philosophy starting (naturally) with Plato and concluding with Wittgenstein so I may start to watch these on a daily basis probably in the afternoons when I shall not fall asleep watching them.