A saint in disguise? – not just another gardening job!

I have a gardening job to do which I visited yesterday. The woman who asked me to do the work had a rather over friendly dog, but there was something about her speech that made me worried about her mental condition. She would be speaking, and then pause for no apparent reason and then forget what she was saying. I just wondered whether this was the sort of job which we wanted to be involved with. It consisted of cleaning a small patio, and mowing an area of grass and doing some clearing away. Technically, it was not difficult and would be enjoyable. I texted her a quote which I thought might be too high but she agreed straightaway.

We turned up and unloaded our stuff. She had requested on the phone that she be taken to the local shop to pay her phone bills, complaining that she had done enough walking around so far. That is the first time I have ever been asked to take some shopping that something within me said that I should at least offer. The local shop could not help so she asked me to take her about a mile away to Radstock where she could both get my money and pay her electricity bill. We then returned together.

I then asked her where the nearest electricity plug was because I needed to plug in my jet wash. She took me to the front of her house and showed me the control box. I have to demonstrate using sign language that I wanted a place where she would plug in the kettle.

We both thought she had had a stroke but I talked to Angela, the lady who lived upstairs, who said that she was an alcoholic and it ‘was very sad’. The customer offered us some coffee and, knowing that Françoise was from France, made a special effort to get some biscuits that would remind her of her hometown of Lyon. I was very moved at this. We did the work and finished after about four hours. As we were concluding, she bought us a thank you card in which she thanked us for our hard work. I have never had this happen before though I have had one or two e-mails thank you’s.

I saw this lady as a very sweet soul, who had possibly fallen on difficult times and sought solace in alcohol. She treated us far better as individuals then I have been treated for some time and this is in the case of a person with every excuse, a medical condition and bad back, not to take much notice those who work for her. This event will teach me not to judge by appearances (again).

This area is one of the forgotten corners bypassed by main roads which have a considerable amount of community spirit. I enclose a couple of images of what I saw on the same street.

A brief tour of Mask-land (Wells version)

A bright(ish) morning so bearing in mind the rain of recent days we decided to go off to Wells. Our annual pass to go around the gardens expires on 14 October so we thought we might as well make the best of it. We parked and went to the high Street. I can never get used to the sight of people being masked up in the street never mind a country walk but some people have become wedded to it. Is it becoming some sort of fashion statement? I have approximately 135 links on the attributes of masks and most people who study this sort of thing find them to be of more harm than benefit. This is the biggest psy-op in my lifetime.

First, to the market, where social distancing rules apply and there were far fewer stalls but each stall was doing good business. We had timed our visit to coincide with the inauguration of the new mayor who for some reason has a term of 18 months (normally one year). I assume it’s something to do with the disturbance of the lockdown.The market, busy as ever, under a huge plane tree.

To the Bishops Palace. No matter how many times we visit, it is always different. I had not seen this notice and we seem to have a new ‘people’s ticket’ where you pay once (£15) and get free entry for 12 months. That is a good improvement upon the joint price of about £64 per couple for ‘membership’ which entitles you to visit other places over the same period.

Wells Cathedral view from the allotments that abut.

We had two meaningful conversations. I went up to a chap who was sitting on the bench overlooking the spring and chatted to him naïvely about the muddy state of the spring water. Little did I know that he was a caving expert and I got a long explanation of the sources of water, their comparative power and purity, and why this phenomenon of muddy water occurred after rain.

The second conversation was with the lady teacher who taught schoolchildren about trees. She said that all children thought of trees as “oak trees” and she does her best to educate them.

Both of the people were not wearing masks. It is part of my defense mechanism that I do not to speak to people when I cannot see their faces. You never know, they could be snarling and preparing to attack.

It’s amazing how people are conforming to these arrows. From a scientific point of view it makes no difference if you walk one way or meet someone coming the other way. The active period of the Covid virus finished about April. the scare tactic is being maintained for other reasons. I noticed that one of two people steered clear of me when I walked towards them but more than 50% did not abide to this so-called guidance.

This was once a rather beautiful carved hand but the years have taken their toll and it’s almost at the stage of decomposition. A lovely idea.

This can be seen in the arch on the way out of the gardens.

The Swans regard the moat as their own property and do indeed swan around. Advice, do not get between them and their offspring.

This was taken from an adjacent field and shows how the Cathedral must have looked in previous centuries. Wells is a truly delightful place with a creative is slightly snobby population. Be prepared to part with substantial amounts of money if you are thinking of living in the preferred areas never mind something historical.

We then went home via Hartley’s tea rooms. Françoise had a roulade and I had sticky toffee and custard with a latte. Afterwards we went into the adjacent grocery and bakery and bought some bread. I was impressed by the fact they didn’t ask for track and trace nor did they wear masks. The lady behind the counter who I think is the co-owner, called Tara, was totally up to speed and said they don’t believe in masks, distancing and anything else.

I gave her one of my leaflets and she said that her husband would be very interested. Our leaflets are not for everybody. They are for researchers. Most people are totally besotted and convinced by the mainstream media, the BBC, and will not even listen to any other explanation even if you say that the masks are a device to cause us to submit to something which is counter intuitive.

Anyway, I’m getting my hobby horse again so I will get off and upload this diary.

Starting the day peacefully

It is some time, about six months, since I have listened to Trans World Radio which is an evangelical Christian radio station broadcasting not only by the Internet but the way I get it, via Freeview TV. This morning I woke after my usual assortment of dreams and decided that the best remedy was hearing the gospel of Jesus being preached. My favourite preacher is Colin Smith. He is from the Free Church in England now working in California I believe and is a very good academic as well as preacher. You can find out about him by searching for ‘unlocking the bible’

Choosing between BBC ‘News’ and TWR is a no-brainer so I listen for half an hour to remind myself about values, priorities, things to bear in mind when leading the good life and soul. From now on – touch wood – plus the weakness of the flesh permitting I will do the same every morning.

This evening, we had a ZOOM meeting with the men’s group in Frome. The best sort of discussions happen from a simple enquiry like “how are you”. We were discussing the ways that God has protected us and were asked to give an example. I said rather scurrilously and if we were protected we would not be aware of it because nothing would happen to us.

We also discussed in this Covid society context about touching and was then how important it was. I pulled up a study piece from the Bible saying that Jesus had healed on 16 separate occasions by touching the people concerned including replacing the ear of the soldier that Peter had cut off, healing a woman from bleeding and a man who had leprosy.

Even amongst Christians, awareness of the real nature of Covid is very low and I think most people prefer to switch off and do what they are told. I have to be very careful how I mention it in case I alienate people so I just content myself with the occasional comment about the absurdity of masks etc.

The organiser of the ZOOM meeting said that he had a mailing list of 90 men. I was surprised to see only four people show up that is apart from me and the organiser. I suggested that he write a letter to everybody, not scolding them saying what a good time we had and the topics that we discussed hoping that they would feel free to join next time. When we write e-mails we need to see it from the point of view of those who receive it not from our point of view.

People who write stuff – and I’m sure I’m included in that – tend to take others’ knowledge for granted. For example I have no fear of ZOOM but I know some people don’t like any form of technology and put this ‘needs must’ phenomenon into that category. It is indeed a very useful piece of kit and you can for example chat to one person or everybody, the organiser can run a poll to get people’s opinions and can be more efficient than a real-life meeting.

I celebrated evening for more than one reason. This was the first time in my 76 years that I’ve heard the word ‘previnent’ never mind used it. It is an adjective with framing news, one of which is going before or preceding, the second is anticipating or expectant of something, or thirdly and antecedent to human action. I don’t know how often I will use that word but it’s nice to have it in my toolbox.

What I hear you ask am I wearing on my head

I have designed my own particular face covering to defend myself against Covid 19. You may spot certain weaknesses in the design of my original concept. I can tell you that it is no more effective than facemasks. A Covid 19 virus ( actually quite a useful worker in the body) has no trouble getting through all round the side of masks aided by the ingress or explanation of air. These viruses are very small as I have mentioned so I thought I would make a small contribution to society which I intend to mass produce and see how many people are stupid enough to wear them.

Off to Bath to take Françoise to have a tooth removed, the one in the front top, and have it replaced. By some miracle I got her an appointment at very short notice at Wellsway Dental Practice in Bath.

Enlarge by viewing in print mode (click on icon at the top of the page)

Whilst she was in the surgery I went for a wander around and saw this leaflet which impressed me quite a lot. It shows me that the locals are looking after each other and have got themselves organised.

I went to get a coffee for the takeaway variety made a mistake as I discovered of asking for soya milk which according to a report by my digestive system contains some artificial chemicals. I will get it right one of these days. I love Bath stone. I spotted a sign of Halloween in the window of an adjacent house.

Françoise emerged in a semi-anaesthetised state and found it very difficult to talk because she had a tooth in an unfamiliar position; she was told that it would take a few days for the new brain connections to be made.

Our weekly ZOOM meeting to discuss Covid went very well. We had 12 people. Evidently in Spain the conditions are far worse than here in the UK. Everyone without exception has to wear a mask in the street and police are going round with smug smiles equipped with guns and batons. All this for a virus that stopped being dangerous about five months ago. Is there any limit to what the public will put up with?

A trip up Cley Hill, Somerset

Well, when I say trip I really mean scramble because although it looks very beautiful from a distance the gradient is very steep and when the ground is wet as it was today you have to be very careful not to slip and slide. It is 244m in height.

Cley Hill has lots of legends attached to it. There is a legend that the hill was formed by the devil, when he dropped a sack of earth with which he had planned to bury the town of Devizes. He had retrieved the earth from Somerset and was travelling to Devizes when he stopped to ask an old man the distance to the town. The man replied that he had been walking for years to reach Devizes, so the devil abandoned his plan.

The National Trust in their wisdom accepted it as a gift, and the 66-acre of chalk grassland was notified as a biological sites of special interest in 1975. It was gifted to the charity in 1954 by the six Marquess of Bath.