Lest we forget
Do you ever remember your dreams?
I don’t normally, but I did remember one this week. You know how dreams are - a bit hazy on some details, but some things were quite vivid.
I was sailing around azure blue waters in a boat, and could see another boat sailing around - apparently a competitor or in some kind of conflict with me. Next thing I know I’m wading through the water towards two people. One is facing away from me and the other in Nigel Farage smiling in my direction. They have a football or beachball floating between them and for some reason I had to get that ball. I was wading towards them until I was close enough then I dived to get the ball.
At that point I woke up, having just banged my head on the wardrobe door, coz I’d thrown myself out of bed. No serious harm done, but not something that I’ve done before and I’d rather not repeat it.
In biblical times it was believed that dreams contained a message or prophecy. What was that dream trying to tell me? That I should stand for the Reform Party at the next election?
I hope not! - I’ve never understood why anyone would want to be an MP - its a thankless task and I never understood (or was good at) office politics, so I’d probably be no good at the real thing.
Thankfully I clambered back into bed and slept soundly for the rest of the night. Just as well as we were getting up early (for a weekend morning - I know you’re supposed to get up the same time every day, but I do still like a little lie-in at weekends) to drive up to Stowe Gardens in Buckinghamshire.
We were meeting our niece there, who’d told us about an ‘art installation’ which has been attracting a lot of attention. We set off at 8 - no traffic, so we whistled up there arriving by 9:45.
The art installation consists of 1,475 life sized figures in black metal, representing the soldiers, sailors airmen and a few locals who died on D-day 80 years ago.
The picture doesn’t quite do it justice - we hear numbers like 1,475 and they sort of wash over us, particularly in the context of a world war where millions died - these ‘statues’ at Stowe very graphically illustrate how many people 1,475 is - it’s a crowd, a very large body of people. All the troops going into battle that day had written letters home. They knew they would probably die that day. 1,475 did.
I’m pleased to say that Stowe was flooded with visitors who, one hopes, all appreciate the significance of that day. With global tensions higher than for most of my lifetime, it is more important than ever that these lessons are remembered and acted upon.
This seems to have been a week for things to breakdown. The Northern Line made me late twice this week. Once getting to work and once getting to my Spanish Class. I’d booked the Spanish class on Wednesday evenings because I work from home most Wednesdays, but so far since starting Spanish, on 2 out of 2 Wednesdays I’ve had to go into the office.
Another thing that went wrong this week is the fridge. When I opened the fridge door, it made a very odd sound - just like the pod-racers in Star Wars. This then got worse to the point it sounded like the fridge was preparing for take off. There’s a fan inside which I presumed had a worn bearing or something, but then after a day or so the sound stopped.
So two things could have happened.
the fan has completely failed
the fan was hitting some obstruction (ice most likely) which has since melted/ or been chipped away.
I’m going with option 2 - anyway the food is still cold, so hopefully no further action is necessary.
That’s it for this week.
Have a good ‘un.
Jerry