25 January 2026

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"Durham" by J.M.W. Turner (c.1835)

You may be relieved to learn that I did not die on The Great North Road - though one or two of you may now be yelling, "Shucks!" at your screens. Since I departed for our forty eight hours in the county of Durham, masked American ICE agents have killed another decent citizen in Minneapolis. Not only did they do that, they also lied blatantly about what had really happened.

In Trumplandia, truth seems to be an inconvenient barrier to be negotiated. 

Please  rest in peace Nurse Pretti - you were the best of us, no matter what the fascist liars might say.

The house in Shincliffe was marvellous - so clean and roomy and warm and well-appointed and historical and "lived in". It was a joy to stay there even though when I was lying in the emperor bed, the empress seemed to be lying in an adjacent parish. 

And it was nice to spend time with Carolyn. She and I have always got along easily.

On Saturday, I walked into Durham and met up with the sisters in the cathedral. Then we drove to the coast and parked in the seaside town of Seaham that was once home to a productive coal mine.

We enjoyed  excellent meals out in Shincliffe's two  village pubs - "The Seven Stars" and "The Rose Tree Inn" and I began a colourful jigsaw called "The New Arrival" which Carolyn intended to finish after we had left.

I have not had chance to look at the photographs I snapped in the last two days and expect that they will feature in my next blogpost. 

So there we have it bloglurkers, I am back.

16 comments:

  1. I'm glad you had a good time and I'm looking forward to the photos!

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  2. The Great North Road is a good place to rest and take stock of the world.
    Trumpism is imploding into crypto-fascism. Trump called Renee Good vicious.
    The chaos he has unleashed will blow back on him. Then they will ditch him.

    Seaham, once a place where they dug out coal from the belly of the earth.
    *Inside drug-ravaged zombie town where crumbling homes cost as little as
    £5K.* YouTube.
    Horden in County Durham. Like Seaham, it was a once proud coal town.

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  3. As we used to say on IRC, wb!

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  4. Welcome back! I am looking forward to seeing the pictures you've brought back to share with us.

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  5. Welcome back, looking forward to the photo.

    Re Trump, can you remember to his “grab them by the 😸” tape. PEople thought that would be the end of him…simpler times. His supporters are still defending his actions. HIs comments about NATO troops were “said in anger” and he corrected it through the tweet. HIs reference to Iceland instead of Greenland was just a slip of the tongue and Leavitt’s response was just her doing her job. The Minnesota killing? Well the person shouldn’t have been there and the good thing is if “some liberal lefty court finds the law enforcement officer guilty then Trump will just pardon him.” If you think there is anything wrong with those comments well you clearly have TDS.

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  6. I am glad you had a lovely weekend. Why did you eat out in pubs? Did you not have staff to serve you at home?

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  7. I'm having a hard time thinking of anything other than the horror taking place in this country. The murders of Pretti and Good are just the beginning, I'm afraid. Dark times are here, and darker times are coming. Sorry to be such a downer but we're living in hell here.

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  8. Welcome home! Hope you had a great time.

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  9. We are in deep trouble here.

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  10. It sounds like the perfect weekend, good company, good food, pleasant surroundings.

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  11. Glad you had a good time and you haven't come back as the Emperor (of where I wonder?) The brave people of Minnesota are fighting back as well whatever that man says.

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  12. Welcome home! Can't wait to see some photos!

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  13. Turner s northern work , that’s new to me

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  14. Glad you had a good time on your break.

    Every day Trump manages to exceed the last in buffoonary, if people weren't dying it'd be funny.

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