WORDS

A new word – to me this year is egregious meaning outstandingly bad; shocking.

And some words I had not come across for a while – scrumptious, ravenous, yum.

And some of my favourites – baobab, granite, cumulus, cirrus, sesquioxide.

And one I dislike sayings it makes me sound like I have a speech impediment –rural

A few more – efficacious, aplomb, excruciating, superfluous.

LEVELLING UP AND THE NORTH

The fact that thousands are still without electricity 9 days after a storm is a snapshot of its importance to the Government. It quite likes the new ‘red wall’ blue seats – but not enough to really care. Axing investment in Northern railways is a symptom. A truly concerned government would be investing in the northern infrastructure.

COMPUTERS

I know they are wonderful but also so f****** frustrating. Firstly I try to contact the council about a broken food waste bin. I must have registered some time in the past because it tells me my email is known. So it asks for a password I wrote probably 8 years ago – send reminder. Cool. Get new email and punch in the new password they have sent me – not recognised. I try a few times and get told I have been timed out.

SANDFORD STORES

My local shop and staff have been nominated as “Local heroes” for their efforts during the Covid Lockdown. They are into the last 20 in a competition run by Boost Energy Drinks.

The reasons why I think they should be in with a chance for the winners title are as follows. At no time did they ever ask for anything in return – shopping was done, drugs and prescriptions collected, co-ordination with volunteers was arranged without fuss. Days off were not contemplated. All done quietly and efficiently. Local councillors were hiding in their nuclear bunkers. Thanks should also be made to Thatchers Cider who set up a dedicated help line for locals. All this was co-ordinated by Aaron Bleach who fortunately is still an invaluable member of our community.

FOOTBALL WEEK 10

The gunners take the foxes down 2-0 away. After a rather atrocious start to the season the Gooners have something to celebrate. They move up to 5th and with Spurs playing ManU and Brighton at Anfield they may well be heading for top 4 soon. WHU versus Villa might be interesting tomorrow. Villa are a very rich club with big ambitions, whilst the hammers are negotiating for an input of cash from some Czech sugar daddy, and have a huge stadium thanks to the London Olympics.

RANDOM THOUGHT

I have a lot of indoor plants – 60+ – and probably use about 3ltrs a day in watering them which is presumably either evaporated or transpired. What impact does this have on my living environment?

Ig NOBELS

I had never heard of these until today. Established in 1991 by an American magazine called the Annals of Improbable Research awards are made to … just that, the zany and the improbable. A previous winner, Andre Geim went on to win a Nobel prize for developing graphene (although his Ig Nobel was for research levitating amphibians! I have no idea what that is about! But the key is that research can sometimes throw up something unexpected, and that means we should encourage a certain amount of eccentricity in our lives.