Long hot Summer?

A lovely Spring day at last. Earlier, the unmistakable roar of a military jet so high that it is invisible even in a clear sky. Either that or I was looking for the speck in the wrong place. I would bet that they are limbering up for Iran's inevitable reaction to Netanyahu's latest attempt to make Israel a safe place.

Whatever happens in the Middle East we will be right behind the USA, because they are the only meaningful allies we have left after Brexit. A food delivery convoy was shot-up by the IDF again a couple of days ago. Amazingly, nobody was injured but a British UNICEF worker was left with three bullet holes in the side of her car and the convoy had to turn back because the incident made them miss their allotted slot.

There was a huge riot in London a few days ago which was not reported by the BBC. In this case I can understand why they did not report it. The rioting season in the UK has been postponed by months of cold wind and rain, but when they begin they attract people who will travel from afar just to have a good fight in someone else's neighbourhood. The media can show rare moments of responsibility by not publicising civil unrest unless it has gone completely out of control.

We don't hear much about the massive anti-Netanyahu demonstrations in Israel either. Even the group calling for the release of the hostages has joined them. Whatever you think about Hamas or the atrocities committed in its name on October 7th, it is very difficult for any outsider to believe that Netanyahu has acted in the interests of his own country. At first it seemed unlikely that one individual could order such destruction simply to save himself, but as it all escalates out of control it is not so unbelievable. The situation has taken on a life of its own and will continue with or without him.

Edible Fibonacci

 Seems a shame to eat it.

Sun

 I thought I would capture this rare moment of sunshine to remind myself what it looked like - what it felt like, even.

The original Guildhall is the centre building and the two wings either side are late Victorian additions. They demolished some picturesque 18th century houses to add them. 

In the good old days, felons would be tried in the court inside and a gallows would be erected outside in the street roughly where the bus stop is now, so that the citizens could watch justice being done. 

To the right, there was a lovely covered market hall similar to the ones in places like Malmesbury and Tetbury, but it was demolished by the Georgians who did not like references to the past spoiling their vision of a Palladian city.

The Victorians completely rebuilt the Abbey, altering most of the 16th and 17th century features.

Now we have the Hilton Hotel. They used to say that the Hilton had the best views of central Bath because the only place you could not see it was from the inside.

The restaurants opposite the Guildhall have been taken over by Albanians, because they are the only people who can afford to run them. They park their Mercedes supercars in front of it because they can afford the parking tickets as well.

Disproportionate does not describe it

I have had it with Israel now. To be specific, the IDF and Netanyahu. I have some good Israeli friends and I am not condemning everyone in the same way that Israel kills Palestinian innocents like they are all Hamas terrorists. Collateral damage my arse. 

The U.S. and Britain have sold Israel more heavy weapons. Yesterday they dropped some of them on a humanitarian food supply convoy after they had informed the IDF on their plans and clearly marked the trucks for aircraft, and they killed 8 foreign aid workers.

The aid workers have suspended operations in Gaza now, so the starvation will continue and escalate, just as Netanyahu wants.

I have run out of words for my feelings about the genocide.

The monk who never was

There is a man who I have known for about 50 years here, but all I know about his personal life is that he once almost became a monk.

We first met because he - in the 1970s - tried to take my girlfriend away from me. Faint heart did not win this fair lady either, and I don't think he ever had a girlfriend before or since.

He is one of the many people in this small town who I am obliged to say hello to every time our paths converge, for no other reason than having been introduced once. He is always on his own and now has the air of a defrocked priest to me, but maybe I am just projecting what little I know about him using a scanty, 50 year-old nugget of third-party information. In my eyes he will always be the monk who never was.

When my German friends visited me for the first time they were astounded at how many people I greeted when walking down the road to the pub. To them it seemed as if I was acquainted with half of the population, but they did not take the size of the town and the length of my stay in it into consideration.

Some years before that when my patience began to wear thin and my claustrophobia wore thicker, I would refuse to acknowledge strangers who I saw on an almost daily basis. One man stopped me once and suggested we should say 'hello' to each other when we next met. I explained that I had far too many familiar strangers on an unwritten list who I was supposed to acknowledge in the street already, and I could not mentally afford to take on any more. We avoided eye contact thereafter.

I had a brief moment of celebrity once after I had been interviewed on national TV by a real celebrity, and that taught me something. For around a week, people would double-take me when they walked past and shop workers would ask me if I was that man they had seen on TV.

I learned that fame brings responsibilities, one of which is to be polite and kind to strangers who think they know more about you than you do about them. Van Morrison does not agree with me.

Brand loyalty

I used to be brand-loyal much more than I am now, but since the government has pretty much destroyed the economy over the last 10 years (or thirty if you take Thatcher into account) I am less so. I suspect that the most brand-loyal country in the developed world has to be America - HAS to be Helmans - that sort of thing.

I try to buy British as much as possible, but that is proving quite difficult in most supermarkets. Sometimes you just cannot stop yourself from buying seasonal vegetables which are grown in vast Spanish poly tunnels.

H.P Sauce and Marmite used to inspire ferocious loyalty, but since they are both made in Europe by large multi-national companies I have even lost my affection for them, let alone loyalty. I have discovered that Aldi and Lidl make identically good versions of them for about half the price.

I have just renewed my car insurance. The insurance market is not known for rewarding customers who stay loyal to them over the years, but the NFU has just rewarded a Land Rover-driving friend of mine in a very meaningful way.

Last year my car insurance premium was £330. This year they wanted £1,021. I eventually found a policy for £670. I asked the broker why the premiums have doubled in a matter of weeks and he said that a lot of them have tripled. 

He explained, "It is mainly to do with Brexit", and gave me multiple examples of how we will continue to be punished for leaving Europe. He was completely unemotional about it.

It isn't even as if we are back in charge of our own laws and decisions. I don't think any sane person can deny this any more. Even Canada is getting cold feet because we have a popular policy decision not to import hormone treated beef.

The only benefit we have had from Brexit was the ability to hog the market for vaccine during the pandemic. The rest is utter shit and it is going to stay that way.

Essentials

I bought 4 reduced Waitrose 'Essential' burgers the other day with the intention of turning them into meat balls for a pasta dish.

I sweated-off some of the fat before making the sauce and this was the result - a quarter of an inch deep in a large pan. They were still too fatty even after sweating.

If you ate two of these burgers 4 times a week for a year, I reckon you would have a heart attack fairly soon after.

Tonight I am making a very lean venison casserole...