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Election 2024
What a wonderful day! A truly awful period of Tory governments comes to an end to be replaced by a Labour government carrying so much hope on its shoulders. Good luck, Sir Keir.
Thinking back to previous elections, I would usually stay up through much of the night, hoping for the outcome I wished for. This time, full of cold and not sleeping well, I didn’t have the will to stay up beyond midnight, and of course the exit poll made it perfectly clear what the result would be.
In my own constituency the Lib-Dems gained the seat from the Tories. Judging from the amount of communication we received, they deserved the win they achieved. I tactically voted Lib-Dem, as I have for most elections, in order to get a Labour government. Success after 14 years of trying!
I like this comment by Revoltaire to a Washington Post article about our election:
Britain has just illustrated why it remains head and shoulders above America in terms of democratic machinations. The election result announced within 24 hours. The defeated congratulate the victors and concede with grace. No heavies at ballot stations. No banning of drinking water at ballot stations. No life-time politically appointed judges relegating the government to a side-show.
As a Brit, this is fact – not gloating. Americans could do well to look to the UK to haul itself back from the tragedy it has become. The way Britain impeccably conducts elections, its judicial system, its globally respected police-force, its hugely loved free NHS (national health service – available to all its citizens since 1948!), its utter aversion to guns, its belief and adherence to the secular state, and its proud inclusion of socialism in a free market society are all what I believe makes Britain a great nation, despite the utterly unforgivable vandalism of the Tory’s tenure, a tenure that included the most destructive act against Britain since WWII, i.e., BREXIT, made and executed by The Conservative Party.
Goodbye, Tories – good riddance! May you never return in my lifetime for what you have done to my country! And, DEMs – decent Americans – trust me: Brits everywhere stand with you! Take heart: evil can and shall always be banished. Onwards and upwards to Roevember[*]! Godspeed.
[*] Roevember – an overturned Supreme Court case that protected abortion, and November, when elections in the United States typically take place. [Wikipedia]
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Green Border
The film Green Border is a drama set on the Belarus / Poland border, and depicts the plight of refugees / migrants trying to get to Europe. It’s a harrowing story of heartlessness and hope, and is well worth going to see.
This was the first film I’ve watched at our new, independent, Throwley Yard Cinema. (I was one of four watching!) The cinema is still not finished, the bar area is depressingly barren, but I’ll hopefully enjoy viewing some good, foreign films.
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Throwley Yard cinema
A new, independent cinema has opened in my town. We called in for a preview at the beginning of the week. It didn’t look as if it was going to be ready for it’s opening four days later. I went in yesterday to pick up my membership card (for £26 annually including 3 free cinema tickets plus discounts it seemed worth a punt). Well it still didn’t look ready for the opening later that afternoon, but I’ll see how it goes.
Interestingly I had assumed that being an ‘independent cinema’ meant they’d be showing non-mainstream films, but looking at the current programme this doesn’t appear to be the case. I think I had it in my head that ‘independent’ implied ‘art house / foreign’. ie Like the Curzon cinemas, which I’m also a member of.
I’ll see how the new cinema develops. Interestingly it claims to have “a strong focus on the local community, our four cinema screens are only part of a wider offering, which also includes a café, bar, live events, DJ academy, socialising and much more”.
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A lovely walk to Brockham
Today was a lovely day – warm and sunny. This walk from Dorking to Brockham has just about everything I could wish for.
Lunch was coffee, croissant and a Belgian Bun whilst sat outside at the very nice Brockham café. Just before I left the village I had a lovely conversation with a charming, elderly, Arabic lady who has lived in the village for ten years, had been in the UK for forty years and who used to live not far from where I live.
A glass of wine (£10.10p!) at the Watermill pub just outside Dorking was an end-of-walk treat.
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A bike ride on foot
I picked a walk from the Ordnance Survey app. I’ve done many sections of it on previous walks, though mainly in the reverse direction. Interestingly the route was originally done as a bike ride, so I was curious to see what it would be like when walked. There was one long and steep section which was hard enough walking let alone biking. More interesting was a long section (see picture 1) that was so narrow I couldn’t see how it was possible to ride along or even to push a bike along. The path was uneven and sloped, with a barbed wire fence on one side making it potentially dangerous for a walker let alone a biker.
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Lyme Regis, Sidmouth,..
We’re just back from a week in an apartment in Lyme Regis. The grey, English weather took a break and the sun emerged. For most of the week we had sunshine and warmth and only a little, light rain. Lyme Regis is at the bottom of a hill, and the fairly short climb to our accommodation was a struggle by the third climb of the day. We liked Lyme Regis and also Sidmouth (a nice place to retire to!). We weren’t so keen on Weymouth, though the fort is well worth a visit.
We had a lovely time, with fine weather and a very comfortable apartment. A good journey home made up for the dispiriting outbound journey via the notorious A303.
(I’m not happy with these pictures. Are they too dull? I may redo them…)
Lyme Regis
Sidmouth
Weymouth
Charmouth
There’s a free and very interesting fossil museum by the beach.
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Standen House & Garden
The National Trust’s Standen House & Garden is just south of East Grinstead and about an hour’s drive from home. There are delightful grounds, an interesting house, a small second-hand bookshop and a very pleasant café, and is well worth a visit. We tried to walk the mile or so to the large reservoir but were defeated by the muddy path.
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Muttering to myself #1
Saturday’s routine is a wander into the village to get The Times and maybe a coffee. Today I’m on my own and I’m collared by a Lib Dem man – it’s the same one who collared me a few weeks back. I would usually take a wide berth but I don’t get to speak to many humans so I thought why not. He wanted me to sign a petition (as he had the previous time) but I never sign petitions (pointless). We want more bobbies on the street, he said. I disagreed – there’s not a lot of crime in this part of the world. An amiable guy and we agreed to disagree. Then on for a tea in Piggies and a read of the main part of the paper. Piggies once renamed itself to Caffe-Neo but due to negative customer feedback reverted a couple of years later. Weirdly, Piggies (aka Caffe-Neo) is directly opposite a Caffè Nero! Maybe it reverted to it’s original name for another reason….
Incidentally, I didn’t realise that café is French, whilst caffè is Italian and I hadn’t noticed one has a forward accent, the other a backward one. I’m so ignorant.
On the subject of café/caffè, this article looks worth following up: (11 Of The Most Charming Book Shop Cafes In London)
Yesterday we drove to Hatchlands Park, a National Trust place. The café doesn’t look as if it could cope with the summer crowds, but this time the wait was just about acceptable. After a stroll around the woodlands we needed food and headed home. I can’t believe I forgot all about the second-hand bookshop which from the outside looked sizeable – damn! Neither did we visit the house – unforgiveable.
Hatchlands is not a great place for taking pictures, but here’s a handful of not very interesting ones.
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Richmond Park
A 5-mile stroll in Richmond Park on a warm, sunny day.
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One night in Southampton
A night in Southampton visiting old haunts.
The return ferry from Southampton to Hythe and the rickety train along the very long pier.
A browse around the Southampton shops – nothing bought, followed by very decent pasta for dinner in Carluccio’s. (But there’s no excuse for serving pasta on cold plates. Checking out Tripadvisor this appears to be a not-infrequent complaint at several of this chain’s restaurants)
An early night and a long sleep before a hotel breakfast in the morning. A visit to my sister in Warsash was followed by the ferry across the River Hamble to Hamble village and a snack lunch at the waterfront cafe, and then a return ferry to Warsash and the problem-free drive back to Surrey.
What a nice couple of days.
And here are videos taken on the two ferries.
Ferry from Southampton to Hythe Ferry from Hamble to Warsash
things change 