Interesting few days

We took a trip up to London last week for an evening reception for promised benefactors of a certain Scottish institution.  They had organised a talk by their prof of international political theory on the subject of democracy in the USA.  The learned prof put a lot of emphasis on norms of political behaviour as much as on the constitutional checks and balances, neither of which seems to be thriving under the current administration.  Nice to have our own observations confirmed by someone who knows better than we.

The travelling was pretty awful.  Our train arrived late, and ran short, requiring a change at London Bridge.  I got a 25% rebate on the price of my ticket, but when Martyn undertook the same application, he was turned down, seemingly because both tickets were bought with the same card.  Hardly a  comfort when our lunch cost more than a similar meal would cost in Switzerland.  Glad to report that the journey home went as advertised.  I have to say I find London exhausting these days: one has endlessly to dodge people on the footways, and the constant noise is tiring.  But we did take a few minutes to rest in Hyde Park before the reception, and enjoyed a walk in the rose garden.

A couple of days later we had a visit from friends Jackie and Nigel for a simple lunch at home: hummus, our usual pizzas, and a fruit salad.  Most enjoyable catch-up. 

Saturday brought a visit from Paul the plasterer, who has patched up the hall ceiling following the leak from the alarmingly young hot water cylinder - it lasted less than three years.  Hoping for better from the stainless steel replacement.  That evening we went to a screening of Conclave at our village hall.  Excellent fillum: highly recommended: though the action was sometimes rather slow, the performances of Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci and Isabella Rossellini (who bears a startling resemblance to her late mother Ingrid Bergman) were superb.  The only downside was the bum-paralysing chairs!

Sunday we were off to East Kent for lunch as guests of cousin Philippa and her husband David, both of whom have recently celebrated biggish birthdays.  Good lunch at the Blue Anchor in Brabourne Leas, and a good catch up with family and old friends, and a chance to meet the next generation.  

Travelling is hellish hereabouts.  It’s bad enough getting out of the village at the moment while work continues on gas main replacement, but then the countless roadworks just add delay and frustration.  Years of neglect have left our roads in an appalling state, and the gas mains seem to need replacing just about everywhere.

Our ride over to Rochester today was just about as awful, but, thanks to various diversions we at least kept moving much of the time, unlike the poor souls on the M2: as we crossed it we could see all three lanes stationary: evidently there’s a fault on the Medway bridge.  Worth the journey, though: it was the first time we’d seen Martyn’s niece Fiona and Alexander in their new house.  Copious sandwich lunch: I fear I may have overdone it.  Egg mayonnaise and coronation chicken sandwiches are the sure way to my heart.  And to my belly, alas.

A good German conversation meeting on Tuesday.  Our host Dave had found a couple of texts from Deutsche Welle about (1) German reinforcement of the Lithuanian army and (2) the doubtful legality of sending away immigrants and asylum seekers at the country’s Schengen area borders.  A small group this time, just us four blokes, but it went well nevertheless.  An amusing incident afterwards: I had parked the far side of the railway bridge next to Dave’s house, and as it was raining I had the umbrella up.  A woman on a horse was coming the other way, and evidently the umbrella scared the horse: ‘would you mind taking your umbrella down: I can feel his heart really pounding!’  One gladly complied.

The garden is growing well - the weeds in particular.  The bees are having a good time too.  I haven’t seen too many honey bees in recent days, but we’ll surely see them in their dozens when the sedum comes into flower. 

The tomatoes are coming along well at the second attempt, so I’ll get them planted in their definitive pots in the coming days.  The spuds meanwhile are also doing well, so we’re hoping for a decent crop this year.  The apple tree has set a lot of fruit, but the June drop seems to have started a few days early!  Most of our strawberry plants have been eaten by slugs and snails, but we have a few plants left, and hope for the best.  We aren’t expecting much of a crop from the blueberries this year.  I think a combination of local competition and drought have sent it off into a sulk.  Ah, the frustrations of suburban gardening on heavy clay!