The
fact that I refer to 9.00am, when the builders reforming next door begin
unlocking the gates to get to the next stage of their noisy work, as “bright
and early” is a sign of how things have changed. Pre-Covid my normal time of rising was 6.30am
so that I could get to the swimming pool by the time that it opened at
7.00am! What different days those now
seem.
The work on the house next door has meant
that we have been subjected to almost constant noise almost every day of the
week for months, literally months! The
people re-doing the house have treated the house as a normal building site
rather than as one house joined to a terrace of others where ever hammer blow
is seamlessly transferred to all the other dwellings.
They have now started on the replacement
of the garden fences with a breezeblock wall.
We have had to be nimble on our feet to go and question (wearing our
masks) where exactly they think the borderline between our houses lies. Of such stuff is the most acrimonious
argument made! To be realistic, given
how tatty the previous fences were, virtually any replacement is bound to be a
positive, but still one’s land is one’s own – even if the property is rented!
The only positive aspect of this
resurgence in building activity by our neighbours’ workers is that the waste
sacks that have been lying in the car parking spaces opposite our houses for
the last six weeks are, at last, being taken away – thought I wonder if they
will take all four of them or leave a couple there just to mark out the
territory as it were!
As new neighbours, one has to say that
they have taken no trouble whatsoever to keep the families that live on either
side of them appraised of what they are going to do and the inconvenience that
results from their building activities.
Not a good start to the prospects for convivial cohabitation in the
future when this bloody house is (eventually) complete. We will then find out if the family we have
seen from time to time taking a proprietorial interest is residential or
speculative!
In
Catalonia we are waiting to find out the details of the adult exercise that we
will be allowed to take this weekend. It
appears that there is going to be some sort of timetable for exercise depending
on the group to which you belong. I look
forward to details that will allow me to use my bike once more!
Talking of bikes. My electric bike is a Mate – that is the name
of the manufacturer, not an anthropomorphic designation by me – and generally
speaking I am pleased with it. In spite
of the supply delays of the ‘Classic’ version of the bike, I was sufficiently
enthused to purchase an ‘improved’ fat wheel version of the bike when it was
suggested.
With the basic bike I bought a back rack,
a front light and born, mudguards and, most importantly, a throttle.
The light and horn arrived before the bike
and when fitted the light worked for less than a week. You can’t replace the light because it is of
a unique designed. You can’t replace the
light because the service from Mate is less than useless. The throttle did not and has not
arrived. It is paid for and should have
been delivered last August. And that
delivery date was one that had been delayed itself! I have written, I have pleaded and the end
result is nothing.
In an astonishing piece of effrontery Mate
have actually had the gall to announce a Special Limited Edition of the
bike! They haven’t supplied customers
who have paid for items over a year ago, but they can, apparently tool up to
produce a new bike! I am more angry than
I can adequately express. But I am sure
that I will give it a go in future posts!
PRIME
MINISTER JOHNSON SHOULD RESIGN AT ONCE.
I am
glad that Johnson has survived Covid-19 and I congratulate his partner and him
on the birth of a son. But, he should
resign for his criminal irresponsibility not only for the grotesque mishandling
of the early stages of the crisis, but also for his deliberate flirting with
Covid-19 in visits and the Twickenham match.
MATT
BECKETT SHOULD RESIGN AT ONCE.
Beckett
made the 100k actual tests per day by the end of the month (not the potential
for tests) a cast iron policy for which he took full ownership. He has failed and he must resign.
Johnson’s
performance at the press conference showed an almost surrealistic disregard for
the actual hard facts of infection and death in the UK. That his bloody government can actually talk
about “success” for anything that they have done is beneath contempt.
RESIGN
NOW!
