Opinion

The Litterati

WARNING! POSSIBLE RANT BELOW! WARNING! We have just got back from our morning walk down the prom and through Happy Mount Park. We love this walk. Linda and I do it each morning (weather permitting) and it is wonderful to see the park change as the seasons pass. During the pandemic the amount of wildlife has proliferated, apart from the ducks, they seem to have vanished. Squirrels, blackbirds, song thrushes, dunnocks, robins to but name a few. They have become quite tame while the park has been quiet and are enjoying the long grass in parts of the park. This …

Covid-19 Lockdown Opinion

Masks at the ready!

It would seem that from 24th July, we are mandated to wear face coverings in shops. Any face covering will do but masks would appear to be the way forward. Interestingly, this does not appear to be mandated for retail staff! ‘Environment Secretary George Eustice told BBC Breakfast the new mandatory rule for face coverings in shops does not apply to retail staff.’ No, I don’t get that either! Still, we have to get used to this for all our sakes. I have already started. I don’t see any point in waiting until the 24th. I suppose the delay is …

Local Business Lockdown

Lockdown at The Dog & Partridge

Nigel Pearson, the Landlord at the Dog & Partridge, sent me this for the blog. Thanks Nigel On March 20th pubs were told that the lock down was going to happen. Greene King contacted me and they required all premises to close at 9.30pm on the 20th March. Lockdown begins at the Dog & Partridge. More communication from Greene King would follow on the 21st March and information was given along with a list of tasks to be completed. These included such things as emptying the beer lines, removing all stock from the pub, removing all monies from the site and taking …

Humour

What is it about teaspoons?

Springtime is here and it’s time to clean the kitchen cupboards. So you take everything out, clean and put back. The cutlery drawer is always interesting. Five forks of 2 different designs, 6 knives, interestingly of one design, the usual fruit spoons, desert spoons, soup spoons and tablespoons of various vintage. After living in the house for 30 years it’s amazing what you accumulate! So, what is it about teaspoons? I mean, there are about 30 of them! Several different designs and shapes. Different sizes and angles, some with long handles. Where do they all come from? We got the …

Nostalgia

Radio Nostalgia

I was listening to talk radio one morning this week and the discussion turned to old radio shows. This took me back to a time when, assuming you had a TV at all, there was nothing on during the day apart from test transmissions and the radio was king. As a family we would sit down to lunch at a weekend, turn on the Roberts radio (it had a spinner on the bottom if I remember correctly, so you could angle it towards you) and listen to Two Way Family Favourites with various presenters including Sarah (Bunty) Kennedy from Singapore. …

Covid-19 Opinion

A New Normal

And so it begins. Relaxation of the lockdown is starting and pubs and cafes can reopen. This is not without strict rules and will require patience on both sides. You will have to prebook a table, or wait in a socially distanced line outside for a table to come free, assuming they are not booked all day! Table service will be the norm and it is all going to seem very strange indeed. Non-essential shops will start to reopen cautiously and again, social distancing will still have to be respected. I suspect I will be seeing more people in masks …

Uncategorised

2020

What a year this has turned out to be! Who would have thought we would end up in the grip of a world wide viral pandemic? When I was asked to run as chairman, I had no idea how quickly things would change. There were rumours of a new virus in the Far East but no hint of what was to come in the next couple of weeks!  For us here in the BCA, it has been a very busy period as we have tried to keep up with the businesses in our village and their opening times, trying to …