The Rain It Raineth Every Day!

 Thursday. 5.00 a.m. So, the usual time I take Alfie out, it's raining, although very light. I have to say, it is something of a relief, after the heat of the past couple of weeks. So much so that there are a few tiny snails along the path towards Oldbrook Green. I suppose they prefer it wet. Well, it bought them out of their shells, in the literal sense.

8.16 a.m. It would appear that the rain has stopped, although, looking out of my kitchen window (complete with the lovely hole in it, although not including the infamous extractor fan!) it's quite difficult to make out whether it is raining or not. My eyes play tricks on me, so it can appear to be raining, but it isn't. I can't explain it, but I think if you are expecting rain, your brain has a way of suggesting to you that it is.

3.45 p.m. The current temperature, according to the digital thermometer, is 25ºC. Definitely a far more pleasant temperature. It's also a good deal more overcast. No sign of rain.

Friday. 5.05 a.m. Here we are again. Another day dawns. It's mild. No sun. No rain. Just pleasant. I've been out already with Alfie, around Oldbrook Green. I'm intrigued to know why the grass has been cut and the loose grass removed. This doesn't seem to be a normal procedure. I am trying to think why they've done this, but I have no idea. It looks like a cricket pitch. Perhaps there's going to be some sort of event on the Green. Time will tell.

The current temperature on my digital thermometer reads 22ºC.

I have finished reading 'Les Misérables.' I've now read it twice, both in different translations. Some sections of the text are really heavy going. A great deal of it was excised from the stage musical but kept in the recent BBC television adaptation done by Andrew Davies. The musical lacks a narrator which makes comprehending the story to some extent, but I suppose, being what's called a 'sung-through' musical, you wouldn't expect to have a narrator. However, several of Andrew Lloyd-Webber's shows have a narrator, such as the character of Che in 'Evita.' It wasn't until I read the novel that I understood the relationship between certain characters, such as Thernadier, Eponine and Gavroche. 

12.35 p.m. It's quite windy out, as I write this. I was considering going to the Grand Union Canal to do some more videoing, but the wind has put me off, so I will have to make the trip once the wind drops. It will make it difficult to do any sort of voice recording, which I can do with a lavalier microphone which clips onto my shirt and connects to my iPhone via Bluetooth.

3.55 p.m. I went out with Alfie, but I didn't get far, because it began to rain, so we came home. Just as well I didn't decide to go to the canal to do some videoing. Besides the rain, there was quite a strong wind, which would have made any filming virtually impossible and would have made the sound recording difficult.

The digital thermometer currently reads 22ºC, so things are cooler than last week.

Saturday. 6.35 a.m. I awoke from my slumbers at around 5.30. It wasn't really vital to my day, but I got myself together, dressed and took a somewhat reluctant Alfie out onto Oldbrook Green.

I am now reading 'Peterloo', by Jacqueline Riding, about the awful massacre of around 15 people in 1819, and the basis for the Mike Leigh film of the same name. It has surprising resonances with current history, the riots in France and even with events portrayed in 'Les Misérables.' It's an incident that I wasn't aware of before only a couple of years ago. You would imagine that, after a little over two-hundred years, things might have improved, but they haven't entirely. We do have open elections in this country, the old expression 'one man, one vote' etc. But not everything is as it should be. Read it if you don't know about this shocking incident, or watch the film. I have it on DVD, but I believe it's on Amazon Prime Video (I think Amazon may have funded it.) It certainly makes a change from stupid 'superhero' movies.

The Excitement Is Too much!

(Sunday) It's mild, windy but clammy. There has been a blustery wind in force. How would Winnie The Pooh manage? Or Mary Poppins? Would she be able to manage with her flying with her umbrella if there was a high wind? Would she be a danger to aircraft? How does she manage to hold on to the handle and still manage to travel so far? Does she ever get cramp in the arm she uses to hold on, her hand never loosing it's grip? What happens to her? Does she fall to earth? Why does she not have a parachute? Doe she have insurance? Can she fly at night? Doe she have lights? Has she ever been hit by aircraft, or other forms of propelled flight? Has she done any sort of risk-assessment? How does health and safety come into things?  When I was at school, about the time the first film was released in the 1960's, one of my teachers made the rather obvious observation that, did she never worry about people seeing up her skirt? It does occur when you think about it. Not that I ever did. Like, later, when I was at college a good deal later, when Evita, the Lloyd-Webber/Tim Rice musical about Eva Peron came out, why would anyone want to see a musical about the wife of a fascistt  dictator? I suppose he had a point, but it didn't put me off buying the original concept album. 

I'm continuing with my writing. It's going gradually, having now found a way to move forward. It's taking a while to write but I'm getting there. As the day progressed I managed to get quite a considerable amount written. I will leave it until tomorrow and hopefully get this particular section completed, but I'm not rushing it.

Dominic Cummings is in trouble. His name is just about right as he's been coming and going and as a result some people, including members of the government, think he's getting away with breaking the lockdown regulations by going all the way to County Durham, but I'm not entirely sure why, to care for a child and his wife has been infected by the coronavirus apparently and so has he. He's a naughty boy. Who is he? Boris Johnson's political advisor or something. What does that mean and is he actually a Member of Parliament? Is he part of the Cabinet? What is his function? From the pictures I've seen in the Sunday Times today as well as on line on the Sunday Telegraph website, he just looks plain odd. Creepy, even. Why does he always wear that stupid wooly hat and go around in a thick jacket when it's so sunny and warm? No, he's not an M.P., but described on his Wikipedia profile as a 'Political Strategist,' whatever that means. It would be better if Boris Johnson go rid of him because if he doesn't watch out it will get out of control, as some sort of damage limitation. The left wing press, which I have to include the BBC as it seems full of lefties, is the biggest culprit, infact I would include most of the British media, who are doing more harm than good to the Conservative government, mostly the Remainers who are still not happy with the results of the 2016 EU referendum and the fact that we've left the failing EU. They keep picking away at it, rather like someone with a scab. As my mother used to say 'I'll never get better if you picket,' which someone should have said to Arthur Scargill duding the Miners Strike. Sorry about the dreadful pun, but it just came to me as I was writing this.

There have been people at Dexter House who shouldn't have been here at all, totally flouting the lockdown regulations. I had a sleep this evening, and woke up to hear voices. I imagined it was outside the confines of Dexter House, the sound of children, shouting and general noise. I went into the kitchen to do some washing up and could see in the garden below through the window people, mostly children, I don't know who they were, family members of others who live here, but clearly not observing the two-metre social distancing rules. I don't know what they were thinking, the parents just being irresponsible. We can apparently meet people outside, but only on a one-to-one basis, not in groups like this. Just making a nonsense and very likely to spread this wretched virus by their behaviour. If nothing else, putting themselves and others at risk of catching the coronavirus which has been causing all the problems over the last few months.