Okay. Time for another blogpost before Monday October 18th 2021 ends. Trouble is I haven't got the faintest idea what to blog about so I will just ramble on about this and that - nothing in particular. I don't feel like giving you a blow by blow account of the football match I attended on Saturday afternoon. It was a Yorkshire derby between The Tigers and The Terriers. Perhaps if The Tigers (Hull City) had beaten The Terriers (Huddersfield Town) by two goals to nil it would have been a different matter but we lost by that score.
Furthermore, having just written a glowing Trip Advisor review for our local Miller and Carter steak restaurant, I don't feel like returning to that subject. Suffice to say that it was my friend Mike's seventieth birthday and I was there with our other quiz stalwart - Mick - for a lovely meal that was made even lovelier because Mike paid the entire bill. Strangely, I think it is much more common for women friends to arrange special meals together than male friends. I asked the two Michaels to get my own seventieth birthday meal pencilled in their diaries - just two years from now. I hope I make it but if I don't at least I will save myself some money.
Here in England the news is all of the traumatic killing of a much-respected Member of Parliament. His name was David Amess. He had been a hard-working and cheery elected representative for thirty eight years. He was assassinated by a wicked nobody with a knife. It's awful to contemplate and just now I don't feel like writing any more about it. You can imagine what I might say.
On the family front, Frances, Stew and Phoebe will be sleeping in a hotel room in Ottawa, the capital of Canada tonight while our son Ian will already be sleeping in a luxurious hotel room in Dubai with his lovely girlfriend Sarah.
And that's that. Midnight is fast approaching and I need to click "Publish" before October 18th 2021 disappears forever. Hopefully, there will be better blogposts ahead.
That killing was awful. We have so much gun violence here and I worry that we are desensitized to it.
ReplyDeleteFortunately, access to guns in Britain is very difficult. I do not know anybody who owns a gun. Not one single person.
DeleteI know too many. In fact, I'm one of the few people who doesn't own one.
DeleteGood on you Margaret though I might be anxious about the very small possibility of intruders with guns.
DeleteI am not skilled with a weapon and in fact have never held a firearm, and have rarely even seen an actual one. So, I would put myself more in danger trying to use one if there were intruders with handguns. In my opinion.
DeleteThis October has sucked so far. Lets hope for better times ahead.
ReplyDeleteYour October certainly has. Surely, as the song goes, "Things can only get better".
DeleteSometimes we need an etcetera post. You had some things you just had to say. So for a couple weeks I had one kid on the east coast and one on the west.
ReplyDeleteDid they wave to each other?
DeleteThe murder of David Amess was all over our news, too. For several years now, politicians - especially on a smaller, more local scale, such as the mayors of small towns, who sometimes do the job as unpaid volunteers - have been targeted by hate speech on social media, attacked verbally or physically at public events and generally their life made hell. They have been crying out for more protection, but so far, little has happened. Of course, as with almost everything in life, there is no easy, quick solution. A good politician wants to be approachable, but they (and their families) also want and need to be safe.
ReplyDeleteYou are right. It is a terrible conundrum. The bad people who threaten democracy are so undemocratic.
DeleteAn etcetera post is just as interesting as any other. I like to read about other people's thoughts and everyday life.
ReplyDeleteI feel immensely sad about that killing. So utterly senseless.
A good man. A decent man. A man who had done so much for others over so many years. His life extinguished by a cowardly man. A nothing man. A man with a huge chip on his shoulder. The contrast is so vivid.
DeletePersonal and heart on the sleeve blog posts humanise the author, so I think you are probably a real human. I've had my doubts.
ReplyDeleteCut me. Do I not bleed?...Probably inappropriate given what happened in Southend.
DeleteI thought I had commented the other day on Phoebe's introduction to Canada but it must not have sent. She is becoming a seasoned traveller like her grandad. The killing of MP David Amess was dreadful, more so as the suspected killer grew up a mile or so from me - I may have even passed him on the tram or in the streets. That's the third murder in as many months not far from me - the other two being Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa. It's all very worrying.
DeleteThank God we don't have easy access to guns in Britain or there would be a lot more killings.
DeleteA good constituency MP, not one for self-promotion. A similar age to you Mr. P.
ReplyDeleteIndeed. I was born in 1953. Generally speaking, I don't like Tories but it seems he was a good one. His murder was utterly dreadful.
DeleteThe murder of Sir David Amess MP brought back traumatic memories of Jo Cox, shot and stabbed multiple times in 2016.
ReplyDeleteJo was MP for Batley and Spen, and like Sir David, much admired, indeed loved.
As Meike said, mayors of small towns are now subject to abuse and violence.
Bernard Shaw said that the murderer has destroyed another life, and wasted his own life.
I wonder how many convicted killers reflect on that truth?
The murderer could have taken another path in life; rescuing someone in distress; saving someone from despair; volunteering for a charity; working to improve the community. All the good we might have done.
*One kind word can warm three winter months.* (Japanese proverb.)
Haggerty
A sorrowful but worthwhile comment which mirrors my own feelings almost entirely John. The evil murderer has let down the law-abiding Somali community in Britain, bringing shame upon them.
DeleteSometimes it's just all too much, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteIn a cheerier note, I imagine that you will indeed be paying for a steak dinner on your 70th. Better start saving now.
Any chance of a loan Ms Moon?
DeleteI admire your kids for traveling. We've dialed back the traveling once again but now I'm thinking maybe we should just go somewhere.
ReplyDeleteShirley and I still don't feel good about air travel. Maybe next year.
Delete