The peregrine falcon born this spring is still living at home although was seen earlier this month visiting Richmond Park for a meal.
The skeleton of a new Premier Inn is getting ever taller and the east facing offices in the Ark have lost their view and light. Cannot remember how high it will be.
Bertie is getting better but it will be a while before he can go out. When there was no rain he could go in the back garden but now the agapanthus bed is wet Robert has constructed a safe, clean, dry area for him. He thinks the Astro-Turf is carpet and only reluctantly uses it for a pee and a poo. Bertram Beagle Esquire is fastidious. (He has a boot to protect his bad paw but doesn’t like wearing it.)
The new branch of Gail’s bakery by the tube station still hasn’t opened. The Chesterfield style sofa in our parlour dates back to 1984 and needs re-springing and re-covering. I’m entrusting it to Simon who made such a good job of the old stool.
National news: I have voted, online, for one of the candidates standing to lead the Conservative party and be Prime Minister. Last time I went to the hustings in the ExCel centre in Docklands; this time I am over-familiar with their policies – Truss will destroy the economy swiftly, Sunak may allow a lingering decline. It’s going to be a tough time over the winter for many low income households and individuals. Here is a strangely prescient extract from Behind Closed Doors.
“For all the prosaic aims around self-improvement and fellowship, the working men’s club had another major draw to working-class audiences: heat, light and warmth. At a time when homes were still heated – if they were heated at all – by coal and gas, the cost of energy was high. Poverty meant rationing heat in the winter months, or forsaking it entirely. Sharing rooms with others, from the pub to the club, meant a few hours of respite from a chilly home.” (Behind Closed Doors: The Secret Life of London Private Members’ Clubs, Seth Alexander Thévoz)
I’m sad to have to agree with your depressing analysis of our potential glorious leaders. Either one will have a nearly impossible task dealing with the endemic inflation brought about in the last two years, whatever other comments one might make.