My "bump" was in 2016 when, aged 48, I suffered a stroke. This blog charts my recovery. (Header clipart licensed by pngguru.com.)
We had a stormty day yesterday and it was very sunshine-and-showers today. We did manage to get out for a walk, for a coffee, and just about got home as the heavens opened.
This is one of my favourite viewpoints, a place called Castle Hill, just inside the New Forest. About 10 minutes from home. This scenery is why I live here, especially when I worked so far away.
I took a trip into Salisbury yesterday. Here are a couple of images of the Market Square, the platz-like area that I enjoy so much. It was a bit cloudy, so I processed them black-and-white. That’s always a good option when you don’t have the blueness of the sky to work with.
The square is ringed by cafes and is always bustling.
I took a few more photos, where I haven’t applied processing:
Mrs Bump happens to be off today and tomorrow. We usually have an online grocery delivery, but when she started to put our regular items in her basket, lots of them were showing “out of stock”. So, she suggested we go in person, to see for ourselves.
We ended up in Salisbury for lunch. When I first moved to this area, I was struck by the enormous town square in Salisbury, it reminded me of something European, a big place or platz. We lunched there today. Weather was bright and sunny, but not too warm, around 20C (which I think is 70F), and I took a few photos.
Incidentally, when we got to the supermarket (Tesco, the UK’s biggest), the situation was pretty consistent with their web site. We got the shop done, because we could look up and down the shelf and find alternates, but we saw lots and lots of gaps. The bread aisle, for example, was stocked only maybe 20%, and the situation as a whole was reminiscent of the start of the pandemic.
To give an example, muffins (I know, not an essential item) were stocking only two of the normal four varieties. These are items Tesco make on-site, so even the raw materials must be in short supply.
I’m at a loss to understand why this is – the media is reporting a shortage of truck drivers (to get goods from depots to stores) but the numbers can’t be down that much from a couple years ago, surely?
Happy Paddy’s Day, everyone!
From just a few hours ago. I wasn’t going to post again tomight but I thought you might like this:
Unfortunately, Ireland has witnessed several Bloody Sundays in its history. One of them took place exactly one hundred years ago today, on 21 November 1920.
The Irish War of Independence was in full swing, and the day began with an operation by the IRA (the original Irish Republican Army) against their British occupiers, which involved the assassination of British intelligence officers. Sixteen men were killed, five more shot and wounded.
In a totally separate, later incident, British armoured cars of the Auxiliary Division, plus the RIC (Royal Irish Constabulary, disbanded after Irish independence) entered the stadium at Croke Park, Dublin, which was playing host to a Gaelic football match between Dublin and Tipperary. With reprisals on their minds, the British then opened fire on the crowd and the players, killing fourteen civilians and wounding another sixty.
The day was not over. Later that evening, two Irish republicans, Dick McKee and Peadar Clancy, who had helped plan the earlier assassinations, plus a civilian, Connor Clune, were captured, beaten and executed by the British at their base in Dublin Castle.
Militarily, the day is considered by historians as a victory for the Irish. The assassinations would greatly hamper the British (which probably saved many more casualties), while very little damage was done to the IRA.
But thirty-three people…
I’m sorry, I do not have the words. Especially after the news coming out of Wisconsin the last few days.
Today is the 57th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s I have a Dream speech.
57 years.
This was one of the reasons I used to love going over to Normandy regularly. Seen on my Facebook feed a short while ago.
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