The night was interrupted but otherwise alright. I prepped us coffee and toast at some silly o’clock which settled me down until I awoke again much later.
The day ahead beckoned in a gentle stress free manner. It was a grey, damp day with a forecast boasting of heavier rain to come. In fact the next few days are unsettled.
T found cooperating tricky this morning and I had to nag him to get him to daycare.
Once he was delivered, H and I visited Castle Meadows. I haven’t been there for a few days and the grass is growing thick and fast. When we arrived, there was so one about. No cars, no people, nothing. H made full use of the space and time. I sat on bench, in contemplation, enjoying the peace.
Next up was grape replenishment at Lidl. I was going out partying this evening and wanted to leave T with a few of his favourite things. And a prawn sandwich. Lidl prawns are a bargain. The giant ones.
Finally I made it to Goring surgery to pick up the tablets which were almost all ready.
Then home to chores and a sit down.
The dandelion patch (lawn) is annoying me. But I have bought some weed and feed granules to sprinkle over it. It instructions are precise about not doing this within 2 days of mowing it, how it must be dry but the soil must be damp, how you must water it if no rain for 48 hours, how you can’t mow it for 48 hours. And so on. No chance of using it at the moment.
It was a dismal afternoon which sent me into another realm of consciousness, from which an alarm rudely awoke me reminding me T needed collecting.
I felt mean leaving him on his own when I went out this evening. It is getting harder to leave him. Brenda very kindly offered to have him at her place – I could drop him off as I passed through Newbury. I might take her up on it one day but she has enough health issues of her own to manage at the moment.
It was lovely to see Jane and Sue again. Their lives continue as usual. Sue’s ancient mother who has dementia and has been in a home for years, having self funded her existence to the tune of £300,000, is by now out of money and is being funded. She has two rotten, painful teeth. Dentists will no longer visit care homes. Apparently. No one will see her. Transporting her is problematic as she has to be hoisted. She is now on a 6 month wait list for Bristol Dental Hospital. To me, this seems terrible.
Jane has a friend who works in the immigration service who works interviewing refugees. Mostly Albanian ones who know how to play the system. Arrival here gives them 3 years here before they can be returned home with the £1500 cash our country gives them to help resettle. They then get a different passport in a different name. And reappear. For another 3 years and cash handout. While being accommodated in hotels like the nice Hilton at Exeter airport. By this time many of the ladies have become Mothers whilst British men have ( via cash payment) allowed their names to be put on birth certificates so these ladies can stay for ever.
Biometrics might help- Ukrainians had to have biometric passports or biometrics done once here.
It had to be pointed out to one lady that she arrived on a certain date and was made pregnant the next which was not a long relationship.
Another claimed to gave been trafficked at gunpoint as she flew from Paris to London.
The situation is not helped by France and Germany refusing to accommodate any.
I’m afraid my support for refugees has thinned where Albanians are concerned. I know many to be hard working and lovely people. My one time dentist, the lawyer student we met, Bona and others. But there is another side. As in The Accursed Mountains by Robert Carver. I read this a long time ago but residual attitudes seem to remain. There are the gang and crime issues too.
I drove home westward, beckoned by the orange tinged sliver of a moon. It was a twilight sky as it was just after 21.00. The sky had cleared of clouds earlier and the evening had been bright. The skies were quite a distraction as I used country lanes. The A34 changed things.
T has been busy at Daycare today. Making coronation pom-poms and quoits.
Thought for the Day
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