It was raining quite hard when we woke up this morning. I contemplated going for a walk in the rain to pick up our supply of the Sunday newspapers but eventually concluded that after about 40 minute walk in the rain, I might just about get soaked to the skin – and I did not particularly want to catch a cold. So I made life easy for myself and went down to collect the newspapers in the car. When I returned, Meg was in bed and in fact stayed in bed for most of the day, as she was feeling rather tired and ‘wobbly’. When I returned home I turned on Classic FM (which I am rarely without, particularly when I am on my own) and heard an incredibly beautiful rendition of the hymn ‘Abide with me‘ which, as well as typically being played at funerals up and down the land, is also traditional sung at the English Cup Final each May. I had always imagined that the tradition arose because an aged family member had died and therefore had missed the Cup Final. I had always assumed that the tradition arose because those attending the Cup Final had wished that their older family members could have had the same privilege. So I decided to do a bit of research on the web and discovered that it was first performed at what was then called (according to the programme issued for the day) the ‘Final Tie’ (not the Cup Final) when Cardiff City beat Arsenal 1-0 (the only time a Welsh side have won) The General Secretary of the FA had approached the King (George V?) and asked if there was a particular anthem or tune that he would like played as well as the English and Welsh national anthems. The King replied that he would like his wife’s favourite hymn. The hymn was actually composed by an Devon Anglican vicar – Henry Francis Lyle – who composed it  when consoling a dying friend – he and the friend searched for several Biblical texts for comfort until they found some phrases that conveyed the sentiment of ‘Abide with me‘ and it was subsequently set to the music we know – it was first sung at Henry Lyle’s own memorial service in Brixham.

Upon researching all of this, I discovered something else I did not know. I dare say we are all familiar with the expression ‘Back to Square One‘ but do we know the origin of the saying? It dates from the time that the BBC were going to provide a running commentary on the Cup Final for the first time in 1927. In order to help listeners build up a mental picture of where the action was taking place, the Radio Times published a diagram in which the whole of a typical footballpich was divided into a grid of eight squares – four in each half, with two squares contiguous with the centre line and the other two with the goal line. Rather confusingly, although the squares are numbered 1-8, the numbering started on the right hand side and proceeded leftwards i.e. grid squares 1-2 being on the right hand goal line and 7-8 being on the opposing goal line. This is where, apparently, the phrase ‘Back to Square One‘ originated – but my sources do not indicate for how long this system persisted. Another curiosity in the diagram published in the Radio Times is that the familiar ‘D’ shape which forms the front of the penalty area was not shown in the diagram – and subsequent researches revealed that the penalty arc was added later in1937. The ‘D’ is technically called the ‘penalty arc’ and no player may enter it when a penalty kick is being taken and I now know that it does not form part of the penalty area itself. The idea is that no other player other than the penalty taker can be within 10 yards of the penalty spot.

I had quite a busy morning because my Irish friends invited me in a for a coffee and a natter (welcome as it was still raining) nd I subsequently onto the park to meet with our University of Birmingham friend. When I got home I made Meg and I some lunch and then after a little read of the Sunday newspapers, I wondered if the weather would hold up for a spot of gardening in ‘Mog’s Den‘ as I intended. As it happened, the little spots of drizzle turned into a more prolonged downpour but I did manage, before the heavens opened, to make drainage holes in two the four planters I purchased yesterday.

The latest COVID news appears to be that after ‘Freedom Day’ on 19th July, the wearing of face masks will be a matter of personal preference rather than being mandatory. I would imagine that all of the younger generation will still be wearing masks but not the other way around (which it should be – the young and unvaccinated are more likely to be transmitters of the virus than the old and vaccinated part of the population). Personally, I am waiting for the enterprising manufacturer of a face mask to print supplies with the slogan ”This is keeping you safe – are you keeping me safe?’ or something a bit snappier and more direct which conveys the message.

Today is the day which most of the English population have been waiting for – that is, the quarter-final match between England and Ukraine (the slayers of Sweden when the decisive goal was scored in the first minute of injury time added onto the second period of extra time)  This morning, Meg and I walked down into town and I left Meg sitting on our normal park bench. Fortunately, though, I had the foresight to take with us our old bit of tea towel plus one or two sheets of ‘big’ kitchen paper to mop up the inevitable damp park bench.Incidentally, there are two park benches almost next to each and a third which we often used to sit on as it was shaded under a large tree (horse chestnut I think).  However, this third bench is by now almost completely unusable because several of the local birds have taken to roosting in it and to relieving themselves liberally on the park bench below. I wonder if the park workers have noticed this and are prepared to take any remedial action- I will mention it to them if I happen to see them. For lunch, I made a kipper fillet risotto (made with cauliflower rice to radically reduce the carbohydrate load) and I finish this off with a bit of grated cheese and yogurt which makes it additionally tasty.

I knew that I wanted to go into town scouring the local supermarkets in search of forest bark and a few other gardening consumables. My first port of call was Aldi where I was delighted to see that the simulated oak planters that they. used to sell are still in stock. These particular planters are made of recycled plastic and from a distance, they look incredibly realistic complete with a ‘faux’  simulated copper band around the top. To be honest, these look quite sophisticated as I am getting a bit fed up with the large 42″ black planters which are starting to look a little ‘naff’ by now. The only downside is there is no evident weak point in the base through which one can drill a drainage hole. This is absolutely essential as otherwise, in an outdoors location, they would gradually get filled with soggy water and one’s plants would perish. The little label inside says ‘inside or outside use’ so I can see why are intact at the moment but some careful drilling is absolutely called for.However, no forest bark was in evidence and so I took myself off to a local ‘Home and Garden‘ cheapish store across the road to see if they had any forest bark. As it happened they had not but I did buy some ‘Growmore‘ (which I badly needed) ‘Blood,Fish and Bone’ (which I also badly needed), some concentrated seaweed liquid fertiliser, some weed control fabric pegs and a 6-litre watering can, all for less than a tenner. Finally, I shot off to my local  Asda where I purchased three bags of multi-purpose compost again for a tenner (but no forest bark) So then I struck off for home feeling moderately pleased with my afternoon’s set of purchases.

As is normal on a Saturday evening, we attended church for the Saturday evening service. However, I suspect that everybody’s minds was on the football match which was due to start in Rome at 8.00pm. I have promised myself a beer if England are leading at half time – which they are. However, having scored only 3½ minutes into the game, England have had a fairly pedestrian ‘keep ball’ first half and I fear that a certain degree of complacency might creep in as the Ukraine look dangerous once they have players in the penalty area. I think I will wait are two goals ahead before I relax sufficiently to open the beer! 

There is some interesting COVID news tonight. It looks as though half of the countries in Europe are planning to vaccinate school children over the age of 12 – and a further six are planning to vaccinate children with underlying health conditions. Meanwhile we know that schools are a repository of the virus  and whilst not suffering COVID themselves, they can certainly transmit it to their elders and grandparents. Evidently, there is a groundswell of opinion against the vaccination of UK school children but I am not sure whether the resistance is coming from the scientific community, the government – or a combination of the two.

Earlier on, I said the Ukraine players looked utterly dejected – as anyone would,  with two goals scored within about 4 minutes early on the second half and at that point, England were three goals ahead (and I opened my beer) A fourth goal was added later on the half and after that, England just coasted to victory. There is a semi-final next Wednesday against Denmark (the winners of another of the quarter finals) – if we get past Denmark (which must be a 50:50) then we would meet either Italy or Spain in the final next Sunday.

Today was one of those rather cloudy and humid days and we were a bit delayed making our usual venture down into town. We spent quite a lot of time chatting with our domestic help who comes round on Fridays. In particular, she was was eager to know how we had got on with our AirB&B in North Wales and her own view was that the catalogue of little things that were not quite right (no kettle in the room, parking at a distance, dodgy toilet) was such that she, too, would have found it unacceptable. Anyway, we are over that by now and have emerged home with one or two items of Meg’s clothing such as a gilet and a lightweight waterproof anorak (not to mention the kettle that we eventually purchased) all of which will prove useful to us. To save a bit of time, we decided to go down by car to collect our newspapers and I treated Meg and myself to our usual fare in Waitrose. When we eventually got home, we neither of us felt particularly hungry so we indulged ourself in some fruit and ice-cream which is all we fancied. In the afternoon, I had set myself the task of getting our communal lawns cut and this task generally takes about 40 minutes for the main grassed area, then a rest period, followed by another 20 minutes to do our back lawn. In the interval between the two cuts, Miggles the local cat who had adopted us popped round to say hello (and to get a few cat treats, courtesy of Waitrose) Then quite unusually, Miggles decided to have a period on my lap which is quite unusual for him/her – she tends to prefer the lap of my daughter-in-law whenever she gets the opportunity. Anyway, I just about got the lawns cut and everything put away before it was time for the Spain vs.Sweden European Cup quarter-final which Spain won eventually on penalties (although their record in winning matches by penalties is not at at all inspiring) Later on, I watched the Italy vs. Belgium match which was pulsating, end-to-end stuff and incredibly exciting to watch. It was such a contest in styles between the way in which the Spanish play (keep possession and have a long slow buildup) and the way in which the Italians play (go direct for goal with long ranging passes to assist) These two teams are to meet each other in the semi-finals so it is pretty obvious who is gong to win (I think)

Before I started my mowing, I did a quick reconnoitre of the garden to see if there any hidden shrubs (or even little trees) that I can relocate into Mog’s Den. I did discover one healthy looking shrub that was being a bit crowded out and would not be missed from its present location, so that is one candidate. It is a laurel I believe and they are generally quite vigorous growers given enough light and space. Also, I think I have discovered a hazel lurking away in an obscure part of the front garden – it was probably self set but it, too, could do with a bit more light and won’t be missed from where It is (as I hardly knew it was there in the first place) Some time ago, I bought a very speciall kind of spade which has a very long thin blade. They go by a variety of names none of which are very descriptive – I think Spear and Jackson call their version a Tub Laying Shovel and as the blade is narrow but long, a lot more force is concentrated on the cutting edge (and therefore it slices through roots more easily) It is particularly useful, though, when transplanting trees as it helps to ensure that you get the entire length of the root (in which the tap root is much longer than in a shrub)

The extraordinary thing about today’s political news is that the Labour Party did not lose a bye-election. This was Batley and Spen and Labour won it by only 323 votes. The noteworthy thing about this seat is the seat held by the Labour MP (Jo Cox) who was murdered by a far right fanatic in 2016. Campaigning for the referendum was in full spate – but the campaign was halted for a day or so an then carried on. The seat is now won by the sister of the murdered MP and the campaign, by all accounts, has attracted a lot of candidates and there were masses of dirty tricks. It was hoped that a negative result would help to unseat Keir Starmer and the was the motivation for some of the shenanigans in the by-election. In the event, although the Tories hoped to take another seat off Labour, it was not to be and the seat was just kept within the Labour fold.

I suspect that we all know that the moment we wake up we know we are not really going to look forward to the day ahead. Today was one of those days for the following reason – down in the lower area of ground below the main lawn, there is an area known as ‘Mog’s Den‘ which as an area in which I am trying to cultivate a slight ‘woodland’ feel. The slope is very severe and there are several overhanging trees so what will grow in the area is severely limited. Some of the area is planted up with periwinkle (Vinca major) which seems to be spreading over the area that I wanted it to, making it quite a pleasant and tranquil site. But the rest of the area which can be in full sun has been neglected and I was horrified to discover that some annual weeds and shrubs had gone absolutely mad – in particular, rose bay willow herb, nettles and a shrubs called Leycesteria formed an absolute jungle where the weeds had grown to an average of 5′-6′ high. I tried to reflect how this part of the garden had got into such a terrible shape but I think I know how. We had a terrible May with it being the wettest on record and I did not think about doing any gardening under these conditions. Then, of course, we had some periods of intense sunshine in June and the combination of these circumstances (plus neglect on my part) resulted in the jungle which I now perceived. However I asked our regular gardener for a couple of hours assistance and between us, we got the worst of these weeds taken up (and they themselves make a pile 5′ high!) So after a couple of hours of intensely hard work, we got things restored to the point where I can do lots of fine tuning myself. In the midst of all of this, our local neighbourhood cat Miggles made an appearance from out of the jungle and we also came across a frog which is always nice to see. I also discovered a self-set foxglove, a young lilac tree I had planted from a cutting, a little tree we cannot identify but which may be a young cherry and diverse other plants I have nurtured in the past. I have decided to cover sub-area of the whole with forest bark and, fortunately, I already have some in stock which I can deploy in the next day or so. So after a hard morning’s work, Meg and I treated ourself to a trip down to Waitrose in the car where we picked up our newspapers and then treated ourselves to a coffee and a cake. Then we came back home and enjoyed a curry. 

After lunch, I know that it was time for ‘Gardening Session No. 2’.   I had  2-3 yards left in the front garden gully still to clear and fortunately the sun came out and I got this done under quite pleasant conditions. Needless to say, I had my usual quota of bracken, nettles and couch grass to deal with which is always a foot-by-foot clearance by hand but this, too, got done eventually. Our gardener identified the young plants I had been saving in my clearance activities as wild hazel plants – I have taken a photo of my plants and compared them with images I have discovered on the web and there seems to be quite a good match but I am not 100% convinced. Nonetheless, I will grow my little plants on and then can always be used to make a natural border between one section of the woodland garden and the next. I think that after today’s exertions, I may treat myself to half an hour earlier in bed and a session with an electric blanket to soothe aching muscles. A few years ago, I could have thrown off some hours of heavy gardening with ease but now I have to take a bit more care of myself. I am determined to make sure that I spend about 20 minutes every day from now on (so long as I am not completely rained off) to keep things ticking over from now on.Needless to say, I am determined to make sure that I never let ‘Mog’s Den‘ get into such a run-down state ever again. Although I have some forest bark in stock, I will do the rounds of some of the local supermarkets tomorrow to see is they readily available supplies of forest bark. Just over a year ago, I did treat myself to a ton bag of forest bark from a garden supplier I had used before- and was dismayed to find subsequently that I could have bought the same quality cheaper from my local Asda and in easier to handle plastic sacks as well.   

The latest Covid-19 news is that the number of new infections is now 28,000 which sounds to be horrendous. Several commentators (particularly In Germany as it happens) are arguing that the Euro competition is helping to spread the virus as ‘super-spreader’ events. When you see the results of crowds celebrating when England overcame Germany the other day, it seems no wonder that the virus is spreading so rapidly. On a slightly more reassuring note, Public Health England are indicating that two AstraZeneca jabs give 94% protection against dying with coronavirus in over-65s.

It seems extraordinary to me that here we are on the very last day of June which means that after today, the year is half over. To add the air on unreality about it all, as well, we are waking up with the realisation that England has beaten Germany and knocked them out of a football competition for the first time in 55 years. Moreover, England progressed to the quarter finals by winning the game within 90 minutes and therefore having to endure extra time or the almost inevitable penalties. When I got my copy of ‘The Times‘ I see that in their regular supplement (called ‘The Game’) they have devoted no less than 9 pages to analysis and comment. What happens if we are get to the final (which now seems less improbable than it did), we shall have to wait and see. But there is a strange feeling in the air that life is not supposed to be like this – the normal order of events is a national malaise and breastbeating after we lose to Germany on penalties. I suppose a fair comment is to the effect that here were two teams with a moderate ability to excite crowds with scintillating football but England manage to make the most of their very few chances whereas Germany fluffed theirs. If Mueller’s shot hd equalised very late in the day then Germany would probably have gone on to win the match. Enough of football – except that that the plucky little Ukrainians (with whom we had considerably sympathy when they were giant killing Sweden) will be our immediate opponents on Tuesday next.

We were a little delayed this morning whist I completed my Waitrose order, ready for delivery tomorrow. I was more than a little disconcerted when my Apple mouse seemed to have given up the ghost and I had to make do with a little temporary one that I use on occasions like these. I think the system had updated itself during the night and the mouse charge might have run down to zero – but recharging it seemed to have no effect. My son hearing of my plight took the mouse, rubbed it on his jumper for a second or so, clicked it and everything sprung into life again. I am at a loss to understood what had happened or why but at least all is now restored to normality. This morning Meg and I were due to make a visit to the dentists, not having been for about 18 months or so. Under more normal circumstances, we would see the hygienist for one appointment  and then see the dentist some three months later and repeating the pattern so that we seem them both each six months. We were a trifle apprehensive about how today was going to go, but in practice it was fine. Whilst Meg was being seen by the hygienist, I was examined by the dentist and then we swopped over. After so long a gap, I was fearful that our dental health might have deteriorated somewhat. But it was the most pleasant of news for both us that our teeth and gums seem to be fine and have stood up well to the deprivations of the last year and a half. So it was a quick run home and a lunch of quiche which is often our Wednesday bill of fare. 

This afternoon, I had set myself the task of trying to get more of the gully/border cleared by the side of our communal area. This is no easy task and there is no substitute to getting on a kneeling mat and doing a painstaking foot by foot clearance. The most important thing is to get hold of the invading bracken and pull it up so the stem is pulled up from the rootstock. Then, there are the nettles but the ivy and the counchgrass  prove to be the most troublesome to remove. I reckon that on average it takes about 20 minutes a foot to restore some sense of order and I think I have another 8-10 feet yet to do before the job is completed. Tomorrow, our regular gardener and I are due to tackle the overgrown ‘Mog’s Den‘ and I am hopeful after a couple of hours of hard work, we will have got this, too, restored to some sort of order.

The latest COVID-19 figures are 26,000 new infections which seems to be a horrific increase on yesterday. Yet the government seems curiously unconcerned about all of this as the link between infections and subsequent hospitalisations and a consequent death rate seems to have been broken, at least in part. It also looks as though ‘the vulnerable’ are now to receive a third, booster, jab in the autumn onwards, so the government is evidently trying to make plans for when we see a resurgence of the virus in the winter months, perhaps coupled with a ‘normal’  flu which will no  doubt fill the hospital beds (and the mortuaries) quite rapidly.

Tuesdays are a little bit of a rush round because of the Pilates session which is my weekly commitment (and has been for a good few years now). After our return from our little holiday in Wales, the time had come for us to make an evaluation of our B&B which will be published for the clients to read. The system that AirB&B utilise takes part in three stages. First you can send private comments to the owner of the B&B which are ‘private’ and not intended for publication – so I took the opportunity to mention the malfunctioning toilet which kept us semi-awake for most of our last  night with its constant burbling. Then you write the review which is actually going to be published on the web for others to read. When this has been done, you can then read the comments that the B&B owner has said about you, the clients. So an interesting little set of procedures.

Meg and I in order to save a little bit of time altered our normal routine a little. Now that Waitrose has liberalised itself a little, it has some benches outside for the use of clients to eat and drink (presumably?) Waitrose food and drink. So whilst Meg sat and waited, I popped round the corner and got  our newspapers – our newsagent is very much a tennis fan and is following Wimbledon intently including the career of Any Murray. For him. the attraction of the game is the fact that ‘much of it is in the mind‘ and that ‘you have nobody to blame but yourself’ I suppose this is quite true but I have stopped being a very keen of Wimbledon ever since the big serves (and grunts) dominated the game. I made a lightning visit into the store to pick up some milk and oranges and then we headed homewards. I always have a quick turn around on a Tuesday but as the weather was so humid, it was one of those occasions when you feel the need to change one’s shirt in the middle of the day. I undertook my Pilates class with my by now ‘normal’ three Pilates class members and as usual, a few jokes went chasing round the room. As we exercise with the door open, shielded only by a screen we often wonder what the reception staff make of the peals of laughter which occasionally emanate from inside our exercise studio.

We have a quick but conventional lunch of fishcakes on Tuesdays and today was no exception. After lunch and a bit of a rest, I put in a 20 minute shift ‘gully clearing’ in our front of house communal area. I discovered quite a few little young saplings but I am not quite sure what they are – they could be ‘Acer Campestre‘  or field maple saplings but I shall ask our gardener when he calls around on Thursday to make sure. In the meantime, I have transplanted them to a safer ‘nursery’ bed area where I can keep my eye on them before I grow them on. I have to say that about 12 years go, I discovered a little field maple sapling under one of our hedges. This I grew on in a pot and then transplanted into my neighbour’s garden whilst I was looking after it for him. When this tree was about a metre and a half tall, I relocated it into a gap in one of our row of trees and it is now quite mature and must be some 7-8 metres in heigh (and is my pride and joy).

Of course, we knew that the impending football match between England and Germany was going to be the highlight of the afternoon. I thought that the result was going to be quite predictable in that I suspected there would be a 0-0 or a 1-1 draw, even after extra time and that Germany would eventually win the game on penalties. I have to say that the England team after an initial ten minutes were reasonably good without being outstanding – and the German team certainly lacked the penetration, menace and sharpness of German football teams we have known in the past. The second half was a fairly pedestrian affair with no team seeming to have the ‘killer punch’ but with about a quarter of an hour left to play, Raheem Stirling scored a stunning opportunistic goal and suddenly England were 1-0 ahead. Then the English captain, Harry Kane, who had had an arid time over the last few games and hardly seemed to have touched the ball in this entire game scored an incredibly good header and there we were 2-0 against Germany. The very last time we were had knocked Germany out of a major competition was the World Cup which England won in 1966 – as this was 55 years ago, I doubt whether I shall ever see the likes of it again in my lifetime. England will now meet the winners of Ukraine vs. Sweden (currently being played) in the quarter finals and, whisper it softly, now that we have beaten Germany our route to the final does seem within the bounds of of both hope and possibility.  

Today was a rather gloomy day with quite a lot of low hanging cloud without actually raining. I was somewhat delayed this morning for a variety of reasons. For a start, Meg was not feeling very well and decided to spend the morning in bed. I needed to make two medical appointments – one was an eye appointment and the second was with my GP for some checkups.The first appointment was quite easily made as it was all done through the web but the second involved a long wait on the telephone to make a GP appointment. I do not find it any surprise that several conditions are not being treated in time when it is so difficult to make a GP appointment. After listening to all of the routine messages, I then had to choose an option from a list none of which was the normal ‘Would you like to make an appointment with a GP?’ Instead you had to choose option No. 5 (Other) and then hang on the phone for 15 minutes until the phone was actually answered and you got a human being at the other end who could book an appointment. For some reason which I cannot comprehend, the all-singing, all-dancing website which my practice offers does not give you the opportunity to book an appointment with your GP – or at least, when I have tried I get  a ‘Service not available’ message. I do not know whether it is like this all over the country but an effect of the pandemic seems to make make life almost impossible for what you might term ‘routine doctoring’  Having got these appointments made, though, I started to go into town but coincided with our gardener who was busy doing a neighbour’s garden but was scheduled to come to us next Thursday. This was a heaven sent opportunity for me as I have a little area of garden known affectionately as ‘Mog’s Den‘ which is at the bottom of quite a steep slope on the edge of our property. Under normal circumstances, I like to keep this well tended but this year things have rather got out of hand and this area had got tother neglected. Some of the nettles are several feet high but I feel sure that it can soon be got in hand if I can spare the time. Anyway, I have enlisted the help of our gardener so that we can put in a couple of hours and I feel that working side-by-side, we can probably make enough impression on the plot to make it quite manageable from now on. I carried on walking into town and collected our newspapers before getting a few provisions for our daughter-in-law from our local Waitrose. Then it was s straightforward walk home (meeting no-one on the way as I bypassed the park) and finally came home to make preparations for lunch.

After lunch, I gave myself a little bit of time to read ‘The Times’ and then I was determined to do half an hour’s ‘rough’ gardening on the border by the side of our communal green area in front of the house and then half an hour doing some computer-based work before setting down to watch the football at 5.00pm. In practice, the gardening proved to be a lot tougher (with some historic bracken intruding from what had been a field next to the house before it got built upon) so the 30 minutes became 45 minutes and there was just enough time to get cleaned up and settle down for the football. This was the match between Spain and Croatia and it proved to be one of the fascinating – and tense – of the whole competition. The Spanish gave away a particularly silly goal in the first half when the goalkeeper casually handled a back pass to him from one of his own backs and watched the ball dribble into his own net. The Spanish managed to equalise  and then went ahead to score two more goals so that it looked as they were cruising to victory with only about ten minutes to spare. Then Croatia scored and it was 3-2 and finally Croatia scored another in injury time and it was 3-3 – and injury time. So it was extra time but the Spanish managed to score two quick goals to make the score 5-3 and it appeared that they were cruising for victory but with one or two scares on the way. The relief all round when the final whistle came was palpable.

The Covid cases are climbing quite rapidly now – the latest reported figure ws 22.800 which sounds horrendous. But two additional factor are kicking on on this occasion compared with earlier waves of the pandemic. Firstly infections are not leading to hospitalisation as it did earlier on. An analysis in today’s ‘Times‘ reports research that the death rate from the virus is now 1 in a 1,000 (0.01%) – even amongst the vulnerable 75+ age group, the death rate has dropped from over 15% at the height of the pandemic last winter to less than 2% now. Perhaps this is why the rapidly increasing infection rate is not causing too many alarm bells to ring.

Today being a Sunday, I got into my usual routine of walking down early for the newspapers which promised to be a particularly good read this Sunday, after the resignation of Matt Hancock (the Health Secretary). As usual, I treated myself to a selection of Bach on my little iPhone player and it was particularly gratifying to hear again this morning the organ cantata ‘Wachet Auf‘ (Sleeper’s awake) which I think used to accompany a Lloyds Bank advert years ago. This was the aria that was played as Meg walked down the aisle of the church  (or more technically, the knave) on our wedding day. Later on my little morning ‘concert’ I got the Bach ‘Toccata and Fugue ‘ which of, course, is a glorious and riotous expression of joy which is, of course, why Meg and I chose it to walk down through the church all those years ago (1967 to be accurate). On my way down into town this morning, the only thing that I really noticed were the bikers (i.e. motorcyclists) who often seem to come out in force on a Sunday morning. When I did spent my few weeks in Jakarta (Indonesia) whilst working on the De Montfort University MBA program, I was always amazed to see that on a Sunday morning the streets were often bereft of cars but in their stead one got swarms of cyclists (well, they seem to number anything from 20-50). Then it was home to watch the Andrew Marr Show as per normal but given the gravity of yesterday’s resignation, I felt they ought to have a much more in depth examination of the rampant hypocrisy which led to the resignation of the Health Secretary yesterday. Instead, we had a Tory Minister, Brandon Lewis, who seemed to be defending Boris Johnson for not sacking Matt Hancock immediately. The general type of argument I have heard is something along the lines of ‘Well, because Boris Johnson has hardly lived the life of a monk, has had a plethora of relationships and will not even admit to the number of children he has actually fathered‘ then this might help to explain why Boris Johnson has not received much more explicit criticism himself. The extraordinary aspect of this whole affair hads been the way in the infamouus ‘passionate clinch’ was captured on a camera, apparently installed (and disguised) with a smoke detector. Two questions stand out. First of all, who installed the device? Was it MI5, MI6, The Chinese or who? The of course the video clop had to be transmitted to somewhat and release to all of the media. Is it normal for all minster’s offices to be bugged in this way? Whether we shall ever know any of the answers to these questions is a moot point.

In the park, we were delighted to be joined by our University of Birmingham friend who we have not seen for days- we exchanged some texts and telephone calls to make sure we actually coincided this morning. Meg started to feel a little wobbly even whilst we were sitting on the park bench so my friend and I walked Meg home slowly between us to make sure she didn’t do a sudden collapse on us. Once we got her walking, she seemed to recover some of her composure but her balance mechanisms are not very good these days. We used to joke that Meg’s mother was probably a mass murderer because she used to stagger and knock people over (once in a shop in Wigston, Leicestershire and one in the residential home in which she eventually lived). We suspect that either one or both of the people sent flying may well have suffered broken hips or other life-threatening consequences as a result of being sent flying. Of course, we shall never know for certain. 

This afternoon, we watched Holland v. Czech Republic, in which the Dutch were beaten 2-0 (probably quite deservedly) Tonight is going to be a clash of the titans as Belgium take on Portugal and th rest of this is completely too close to call.

An interesting little story tonight on Sky News is a report on the numbers of police officers who have broken the COVID lockdown rules but not been sanctioned. At least 167 officers were found to have breached coronavirus restrictions since March 2020 – but the actual number is likely to be much higher as nearly half of UK police forces failed to say how many had flouted the measures . This raises the old question ‘Quis custody custodes‘ or ‘Who guards the guards?’ and no doubt adds to the general air of cynicism when the vast majority of the population agree to abide by the rules but they are flouted by those in authority. What is a little under-reported, I feel (and for good reason) are the numbers attending the demonstrations in London. One in the last few days attracted several thousands of protestors, some of whom threw  tennis balls with messages written on them into the garden of 10 Downing Street (apparently)

Well, I have to say that today has turned out to be a really curious day. Last night, we noticed the the WC in the ensuite bathroom in our B&B room had started to malfunction – specifically, the ball cock was evidently not functioning and so the loo was burbling away, loudly, right throughout the night. This meant that Meg and myself had a rather disturbed night’s sleep as the burbling kept us semi-conscious for most of the night. So when 6.00am came, it was as a kind of blessed release as we could get then up and start to pack our suitcases ready for our return journey. The total packing did not take us too long – just over an hour actually – and, of course, it so much easier to pack to come home because you basically pack everything that you have within the room. So we got down to breakfast some time after 7.00 and were on our way at about 8.15 which is quite early for us. The roads were relatively uncluttered at that time of the morning so we retraced our steps along the A55 Express Way towards Chester and cut south down the A483 to eventually link up with the A5. We know that places where we can stop for a coffee break and a loo visit are relatively scarce along this particular route but I half remembered that there was some sort of ceramics centre and tea shop just north of Shrewsbury. What we landed up in was some kind of strange ‘adventure park’ full of animals both familiar and unfamiliar all quite realistically made, some with natural materials and some in steel. After we followed the winding path, we had to wait for the establishment to open (as it did at 10.00am a few minutes later) and we followed the path to a point that indicated the coffee shop. Then we came to the entrance and we could only be let in after paying an admission fee of £3.00 each. So we abandoned all of the and went on our merry way, looking for the place that I had confused it with. So we resumed our journey and eventually found a strange place that advertised itself as ‘services’ This turned out what looked to be an old railway carriage with a queue of about 20 bikers outside it and a rather obscure toilet block, adorned with warnings that the whole block was under constant police surveillance and any illegal activities (such as what!) should be reported to them immediately. So Meg and I spent the proverbial penny  and decided to look for a third place to actually have a coffee break. Eventually, we did find a place which was Telford Services area and by stage already we have travelled about 90 miles we reckoned that we were only about 45 minutes from home by fast motorway, so we decided to press on. Eventually, we did get home a little frazzled by the events of the morning and made ourselves an earlyish lunch. After lunch, I went down into town and picked up our newspapers for the last few days and also popped into Waitrose to pick up a few fresh vegetables to keep us going for the next few days. In reality, we were just waiting for the Wales-Denmark match which is one of the first matches in the knockout stages, which starts today. Apart from about the first 10 minutes when Wales made quite a bright start to the match, the rest of the game became more and more dominated by Denmark. A stunning goal from beyond the penalty area put the Denmark team ahead and after that, it started to turn into a defeat and then a rout (with a score of 4-0). Of course, Denmark had a lot of support from the neutrals because in their opening match one of their players had a heart attack on the pitch. Also they had a lot of supporters who managed to get into Holland where the match was being played but this is not to detract from an excellent performance by the Danes where every single player performed excellently.

Whilst the football was on, the news came through of the resignation off the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock. To many commentators, this was only a question of time since the ‘still’ of a videoclip was widely circulated showing him in a passionate embrace with an erstwhile Oxford fellow student who had, quite mysteriously, managed to land a plum job in the Department of Health where she seemed, by all accounts, to be as heavily involved in policy decisions as Hancock himself. The whole point here is the rank hypocrisy of a Government minister enforcing isolation and distancing rules upon the rest of the populations whilst fragrantly breaking the regulations himself. Also Hancock was not well regarded in the Tory party – was he too cautious (i.e. not reckless) in relaxing the lockdown regulations for the liking of the modern Tory party? By all accounts, members of the public were expressing their fury with his actions throughout the day and there is the promise of even more juicy revelations in the Sunday newspapers, so his resignation (which should have been demanded by Boris Johnson yesterday) is of no surprise.

Having seen Meg’s Uncle Ken yesterday, today was a day when Meg and I thought we allocate to ourselves having a pleasant little toddle around Conwy. We both had a very good’s sleep last night and so didn’t get down to breakfast until just after 9.00am. As we were breakfasting, we got into conversation with the owner’s mother who was charged with looking after things whilst her daughter was at work. We had quite an extended chat with one thing leading to another – it transpired towards the end of the conversation that our host’s mother had engaged in some missionary work so we swapped quite a lot of stories particularly as Meg’s cousin had engaged in very similar activity in Sierra Leone. It is amazing how many points of contact one can find when you get into a deep conversation and as we had nothing pressing to dash into town for, we were happy to swop some life stories.  When we eventually got as far as the car for our journey into Conwy, the heavens opened and we made our journey in pouring rain and a very blustery wind. Yesterday, as we made our way into our favourite tearooms, we noticed in the Mountain Warehouse shop so thought we would call in there today as we noticed that they seemed to be running some excellent reductions.We saw one particular form of outerware that seemed as though it would be fine for Meg but the very helpful owner directed us towards something that was more Meg’s size and colour and as it was raining so hard we were glad to wear it straightaway. Then we progressed along the street looking for a coffee shop and as it was raining so hard, the places were evidently at a premium. We had the frustrating experience of seeing the last available table go in our coffee house of choice as were beaten to it by a few seconds by another couple. So we wandered up and down for a few minutes more and when we returned to the coffee shop, we were now lucky to be squeezed in and enjoyed a very nice toasted teacake and coffee. By the time we had finished this, it was time for us to visit our favourite restaurant and we delighted to order one of their wonderful home made dishes of chicken, leek and bacon. As  were waiting for our meal, Meg twisted somewhat on her chair and finished off sliding quite gracefully onto the floor. One of the young waitresses was quite alarmed to see a guest of theirs on the floor but I assured her this was quite normal for Meg and the fact she was now on the floor might have been the result of the gin that Meg had been ingesting all morning. How else does explain that one’s wife is on the floor but this is nothing especially unusual as I have scraped Meg off the floor in more establishments than I have had hot dinners. I had taken along a bottle of our our own Damson Gin to give to the proprietor as I seem to remember that the last time we visited, we had promised her a bottle of the same. Rather unfortunately, both the actual owner and the contact we have made over the years were not on duty at the time we were due to leave but I explained the reason for the little ‘gift’ to the bar staff who were on duty and asked them to pass the messages on which is not quite the same)

Meg and I returned to our B&B room and our intention was to have rest and then do the packing. Instead we got rather diverted by writing various emails and watching old comedy programs such as ‘Fawlty Towers‘, ‘The Good Life‘ and ‘BlackAdder‘ and thought that we would leave the packing until the morning. On the way back to the B&B from Conwy, we just happened to pass an Asda store so on a whim I decided to have a quick dive inside to see if they were selling household utensils such as a kettle. I must say I could not believe my eyes when I found they were selling an absolutely serviceable, 2KW kettle for the princely sum of …£5.50, complete with a two-year warranty. I must say that having previously bought a container of milk and now with the facility to have hot cups of tea, then it made our last evening’s stay in the B&B so much more enjoyable. Tomorrow morning, we should be able to pack up fairly quickly, get away soon after breakfast and then be at home well in time to watch the Wales v. Denmark match which is being very heavily anticipated here in Wales, as you can imagine. The weather may be somewhat better tomorrow which might make the trip down the motorway a little less tedious.