Concerns

Saturday 24th April, 2021

Another gorgeous day with sunshine but not as warm. A friend was having her family to lunch and holding it out of doors. She was worried it would be too cold. " Tell them to wear thermals, " I said unsympathetically. I knew she was giving them a hot stew with chilli and that she has a supply of hot water bottles. This is Scotland and the cold is part of the fabric of life and one can wear long johns except under a kilt!

I popped down to the village as I do every Saturday morning for the newspaper. I bought some celery with it at the Co-op. at 65p. I then popped in to a very posh shop next door where the celery was £1.25. I bought my special Tony's chocolate as a gift to myself. I noted their superb olive oils and cheeses...it really is a grocers with a difference. The quality is so high and the goods esoteric. Asparagus, artichokes and much exotica was on display and very tempting. Then I went on to the Community Centre where they are holding a jumble sale. Five books for £1. A designer bottle of olive oil with peppers for £2 and a designer vinegar and olives for £2 also. There clothes were 5 items for £10. A slow cooker was £1.50 and a watch was £2. There was so much jumble and some really good quality. In the space of 20 minutes I felt I had gone through the whole gamut of cost and style and type in the shopping world. It fascinates me especially when I noted the other day a vintage designer handbag had sold for £2,450.

Back home I read the Telegraph and noted the usual scandals and comments from Dominic Cummings and his views of the Prime Minister to the Conservative Party's accusations against the SNP and the waste of £4.5 billion. Some times it all seems surreal. If it were not so important I would ignore it. But how do you ignore the pandemic crisis in India for example? We must not just ignore but support by knowing if nothing else. To me it is a major concern re Navalny's treatment in prison for we are all part of the same world, the same human race.

I then walked for over an hour. It was good and only one bag of litter. One man I met told me that he used to collect litter as he walked but had not enjoyed a car stopping and the driver telling him it was about time the Council had cleared it up. I told him that was less offensive than having someone empty their car ash tray out of their window and shout that they were keeping me in a job! I came back via the local Park's lake to check up on the six ducklings. Three ladies sitting on the bench nearby asked me what I was looking for and when I told them they said that they too come daily and had seen the six just a few minutes before! I then noticed that the duck and her ducklings were sunning themselves on the small island next to the swan sitting on her nest, probably ensuring protection from herons and gulls.

Back home I rang friends who had just celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary. Their children had asked me to ring or zoom to give a blessing. Such a kindly thought.

Finally I watered the rhubarb. One of the helpers at the jumble sale has a superb walled vegetable garden. She gives me rhubarb and many other such like over the year. She told me that my rhubarb having flowers was a definite sign of stress and that it was probably a shortage of water as I had myself thought only yesterday. Her expertise confirmed my fears. Now for a cup of tea and a book.