Two magpies – one for sorrow, two for joy which means that the sorrow is part of the joy.
We say “always remember” of DDay and I do, but the best moment of the very little I saw of the events was Zelensky of Ukraine talking to an old man in a wheelchair. As the conversation ended, the veteran bent his head to kiss the younger man’s hand which he gently withdrew and embraced the sitting old soldier.
A heart lifting moment between two men.
And somebody tell the Prime Minister that leaving early was a regrettable diplomatic discourtesy to his host and the assembled mass of the British politico-military establishment, veterans, North American and European colleagues and allies, Germany for the first time. Remember, “don’t care was made to care” and it’s not a good look .
Having a gardener sounds grand but there are things I can’t do and things I am not good at so Josh came to take away the dead white rosemary replacing it with a bustling daphne. He tidied up, cleared away, to leave me swept and garnished with the sea thistle
I have been longing for in a big pot.
The weather changed up and down and up again, leaving us all bewildered and me tomato faced (always get the clothes wrong) but the three or four things I needed at the supermarket brought me to Nabila, a goodlooking woman (incredibly 60) with a white shirt I admired. She asked why. I told her. She said it was old Gap. We commiserated about how poor the quality of affordable clothes was and I said I was hopeful that the Chinese clothing monster Shein would not get its projected City float. “Shein ?” said Nabila, a Pathan from Kashmir. “I call them “shame” !”
(75 hour weeks, pennies per garment and why do we never seem to suspect what else we get when we open the door to invite such a monster in ?)
It is said that nobody but the Chinese understand the complexities of the notion of “face”(please look into it)
and I am not going to attempt analysis of something I know so little about. But it is to be hoped the owners incur loss and damage to theirs. We don’t need any more cheap clothes – we need better ones – and not to add to that 30 mile long dump of unbiodegradable discard, visible from space, in the Atacama Desert.
I read that a banker, the head of the World Gold Council,
was abused as a child but that – obviously bright – he parlayed his emotional damage into power in a career of note. In an interview with Andy Coulson of Crisis,What Crisis ? (podcast), he says that he wasn’t a brave person or a brave trader, he just didn’t care – and that gave him the edge. You have to live with this, he says, “and decide – I’m not going to let it beat me.” And there is a price to that too of course.
If I haven’t used an adjective to describe abuse, it’s because ALL abuse is appalling – incurring pain that goes on and on. But what an insight into a business career from a man of 60 plus who isn’t a footballer or a pop star or a celebrity – young and socially viable – and bless him for that . Life is long and pain lasts with it, like frostbite.
When Pam the Painter came to lunch, she asked all sorts of questions about the dress she was wearing (never seen her in such a thing before, terrific success ) – about line and cut and why and belts – and I was thrilled to be asked. “But you know” she said. “You can do this.” And I remembered seeing a film of the Bolshoi Ballet and noticing the toe shoes were different.
I remember dancers explaining that the leg was “made” differently through the classes, that the “line” was different. And I could see it.
Wal said the other day” Who else would I discuss cut with ?” and we laughed. But to see, to perceive, always to look again, to look further – that seems like riches to me. And I never tire of looking.
Annalog 