Cool and cloudy start to the day, with occasional light showers again. Good for the gardens, as people say routinely. Clare harvested the first of our home grown tomatoes to turn red. Lots more to come from four spare plants she was given. We've also benefited from a surfeit of apples from the garden of a house in neighbouring Llanfair Road, advertised as a free take-away on the local WhatsApp residents group. Some were used in making Jasmine's batch of bramble jelly, so Clare took a small surplus jar around to the apple donor's house as a thank you gift. While she was out at her study group in Penarth, I paid the TV license for the year, then went for a short walk to Thompson's Park, before cooking lunch early.
Kath and Anto have been sending us lovely photos of Florence and Rome this past few days. This morning they are on their way by train to Trento in the Alto Adige region, of wide glaciated valleys flanked by tall but rounded mountain peaks sculpted during the ice age. They're staying in a hotel surrounded by orchards and vineyards. The mini-bar in their room has bottles of wine from the terroir. Anto expressed his delight at the speed and timeliness of their train, wondering why the Italian rail network is so superior to ours. The second world war inflicted such damage to transport infrastructure that it gave an opportunity in the years afterwards to upgrade and electrify the whole network. Italy was an early innovator, having its first electric train line in 1901. Britain's rail network was established over 150 years ago and the only major change to the infrastructure has been the closing of so many rural branch lines. With the HS2 infrastructure project foundering, on grounds of cost, and bad planning leading to many objections obstructing the development it seems we're destined to remain stuck with our national heritage.
I was due to take Clare to the Vale Hospital for her physical check before her hip replacement operation on 1st September, but her friend Linda volunteered to take her instead. It was just as well the meal was ready when Clare returned at twelve thirty as Linda wanted to leave half an hour earlier than I would have done. I walked down the Cowbridge Road and took a bus to town to buy Clare a new Kindle at John Lewis'. Her existing one has a 24 hour battery life now instead of six weeks. She reads a lot so her device is forever on charge. It's not great if you're away from home for any time, and better if you don't need to remember to take a charger with you. The 2024 Kindle charges through a USB-C port, like newer phones and laptops. It all adds up to less cable clutter in your hand baggage. On my way to catch a bus, I popped into Wally's deli to buy a tin of pimenton dulce, and into Beanfreaks to buy a jar of sauerkraut.
Clare returned just after I did, at half past four. Both of us wanted to go for a walk and Clare went out first, as I wanted to listen to the five o'clock news. I fell asleep for twenty minutes while listening and then went out into Llandaff Fields where I met Clare on her way back. We are such creatures of habit nowadays! After supper Clare set up her new Kindle. It's a long time since she did this so it was a question of figuring out what needed to be done from scratch.
There's been no change in the continuing onslaught on Gaza, where the death tool from bombs and bullets is now being augmented by deaths from starvation. The world looks on helpless. Four fifths of the Israeli population are said to be in favour of a cease fire and an end to hostilities but the Netanyahu regime insists on pursuing the remnants of Hamas into the city of Deir al Bala, expelling inhabitants and destroying one of the remaining urban centres less ruined by the war.
Outrage by global political leaders and calls for an end to the assault continue to mount, and probably diplomatic efforts too, but none can or will intervene. To do so would be a violation of sovereignty. Some nations might favour it while others oppose, and this in itself could precipitate a war. Meanwhile, the entire tragedy of the Palestinian people and their Gaza homeland is made visible in mass media live reports every day. What will happen when it all comes to an end as it will sooner or later. How will Israel, Palestine, the international community of nations recover from this? What lessons will be learned and acted upon?
I spent a couple of hours reading my Gabriel Garcia Marquez masterpiece of a novel. Despite my often flawed comprehension the intimacy of his manner of storytelling makes me feel as if he's present with me talking about people he knows inside out. And he's so funny, observing the quirks in relationships of people as old as we now are.
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