I woke up to a cold dry cloudy day, posted my Morning Prayer YouTube link to WhatsApp at half past seven, listened to 'Thought for the Day', and didn't drop off to sleep again, so got up and made breakfast. Clare went into town later, and I went to Boots again to retrieve the rest of her ordered prescription. Again the pharmacy was busy and I was told I had to wait half an hour. It was more like an hour and a half, just before one when the counter closes for an hour at lunchtime, that I learned the prescription had been made up and ready to take away. As well as having supply chain problems and 'flu jab bookings at this time of year, this branch is seriously under-staffed. And in more ways than one.
While I was waiting a man came into the aisle of shelves at one end of which I was sitting. He walked up and down and I thought he was about to talk out again when he discarded his rucksack, have extracted a large 'bag for life' from it, then walked back up the aisle until he was standing at a shelf a metre away from me, with a large display of packets of nicotine chewing gum, which he then proceeded to empty into the bag. Then he moved swiftly back down the aisle and started on another shelf, when the shop's alarm began to sound and then he ran out. With so many customers, the staff, mostly women, were slow to react. One young man noticed, attempted to block his path, then thought better of it, and all this was going on right in front of my eyes. Having been sat down waiting so long to be served I was in a stupor. It happened so fast and so boldly I had difficulty believing what I was witnessing and didn't react. A surreal experience.
The pharmacist who handed me Clare's medication pack said this happens a few times every day, but more so when there's no security guard on duty. Staff are instructed not to intervene. Not even a security guard has to risk exposure to violence. If they are strong enough to tackle or detain a thief physically they can be at risk of an assault allegation by the offender. Shoplifting both spontaneous and done to order by criminal gangs is now an epidemic nationwide. It's disturbing to think that it's driven not so much by poverty or hunger, but by the desperate cravings of alcohol and drug dependent individuals.
As soon as I reached home, much later than expected, I started cooking lunch. Clare got home late as there was a long gap between buses, so it was ready by the time she arrived. When we'd eaten I completed an article about the phenomenon of Marian apparitions, their popular influence over the centuries, how they relate to times of crisis or profound change, and their occurrence among the poor and unlettered at the margins of church life, rather than at the heart of its institutions. Then I went out for a walk which took me to Aldi's on Western Avenue to buy some wine and a few food items to take with us to Tenby tomorrow.
At supper time a much publicised episode of 'The Archers' at which miscreant George Grundy is in court for sentencing, having been charged with dangerous driving and perverting the course of justice. He gets two years in prison, which seems about right and may be released on license after sixteen months. It seems about right to me, but I think an even better lawyer might have made a mitigation plea on the grounds of accident trauma triggering the immature impulse to cover up his errors of judgement, as this has happened on previous occasions when he's made a mistake or done something wrong of a less serious nature.
In jail he's not going to learn what he needs to amend his behaviour. As an immature late adolescent held in a male prison rather than a young offenders institution, he's at risk of becoming a hardened criminal instead. I look forward to the debate that arises from this piece of socially targeted drama, at a time when British prisons are in crisis and penal reform hindered by inadequate funding. After this, I spent the rest of the evening watching two more episodes of 'Bordertown'. More about organised crime and designer drugs and the chaos these unleash among the young.
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