Yesterday,
the second day of our being on Level 1 of Lockdown rather than being at Level 0,
we had our first Menu del dia for ten weeks!
We sat outside the restaurant on well-spaced tables in bright sunshine
(Toni in the shade of course) with a gentle brisk breeze to keep things
pleasant. The food was good (apart from
the mediocre melon for postre) but the ambience was wonderful, the freedom of
someone else making the meal and being surrounded (though not too closely) by
other people. An absolute delight!
Before
lunch we both went to the Chinese supermarket to get wire and netting to repair
our broken fences. It was the second
time that I had been to the supermarket as I had cycled into town to go to my
dental appointment. Except I was a week
early! Rather than waste the effort I
went further into town and got myself some money. Getting money was related to my first visit
to the Chinese Supermarket where, after I had collected the materials that Toni
needed to put the fence up I was informed that the card machine was not working
and they only accepted cash. I have not
used cash for two and a half months and had none. I rather resented having to return to grubby,
virus laded notes!
As we were out and about in the car we
called into our medical centre because I have lost my prescription and I needed
to replenish my stocks.
We were able to park outside the centre –
which was unusual – but the locked metal doors of the centre indicated
why. A notice on the door informed me
that the centre was permanently closed and urged those who needed attention to
go to another centre.
Now we get to the part of the story that
is specifically for my friend Squidge.
She is the sort of person who always gets served last in any restaurant
grouping; she is the one whose choice is “off”; she is the one whose eventual
meal is not what she ordered – you get the idea. Whereas good things (usually) happen to me!
Anyway, the door to the medical centre was
firmly closed. But, as I stood there, a
window opened and, lo and behold! my doctor magically appeared and asked,
“Stephen what are you doing here? I was
going to ignore you, but then I saw it was you!” Needless to say I got my prescription, printed
out then and there! When I got back to
the car I began to explain what had happened, but I didn’t get far before
Toni’s expressions of exasperated recognition of my typical good fortune made
us both laugh, though Toni’s laugh was a trifle more wistful than mine!
The
Cummings fiasco continues. There are
many elements of this farce that are comment worthy, but I will choose just
one.
Out of the baying pack of fanatics than
have chosen to junk their morals and support the upside down logic of breaking
the rules not being breaking the rules I would like to highlight one sparking
example of Conservative doublespeak: Robert Edward Jenrick, presently drawing a
salary as a Member of Parliament and serving as Secretary of State for Housing,
Communities and Local Government.
You
may recall his 2014 Newark by-election that was mired in accusations of
overspending with the Electoral Commission judging that the accusations were
valid. Or perhaps you recall more
recently that Jenrick was against Brexit, until his career demanded he think
otherwise. Or perhaps we should look back no further than April of this year
where during lockdown he travelled 150 miles to his second home and then 40
miles to visit his parents AFTER going on television and urging people to obey
the rules and not even visit their mothers on Mother’s Day. And to bring us bang up to date with his
career, the scandal of a timely planning permission that appears to have been
given to a major Conservative donor saving the developer millions! And this is the sort of hypocrite asking us
to excuse Cummings! Why should we even
be remotely surprised!
As I
have not fully recovered from the double brain-numbing whammy of Johnson’s
defence and Cummings’ defiant ‘explanation’ in the Rose Garden of No 10, I
couldn’t face listening to Johnson’s performance in the liaison committee and,
as John Crace’s excellent parliamentary sketch in today’s Guardian adequately
shows, I didn’t miss much.
What is abundantly clear is that this
appalling government appears to have reformed part of the ‘law’ around the
arrogant reinterpretation of a governmental aide. Johnson has junked his reputation and the
authority of his government to save Cummings.
God help us all!
