Saturday 23 May 2020

Pritti Patel meets P.G. Wodehouse


Listening to Pritti Patel the other day, I was trying to think who she reminded me of when she spoke. Then I realised - Bertie Wooster. She misses the 'g' off any word ending in 'ing', just like the old English toffs used to up until fairly recently.

What are your bank holiday plans? Mine involve the two household activities which I hate the most - plumbing and decorating. I have to change a tap-washer in the kitchen (which I am also re-painting) and fit a new water-softener cartridge to the water heater. Sounds simple, doesn't it? Believe me, it isn't. I won't go into the reasons because I don't want to think about them. My excuse for the conversational use of apostrophes dotted all over my posts is that it would sound (in your head) too formal and stilted if I did not. See what I mean?

The last hot weekday brought thousands of people to the beaches to crowd together in huge groups, so God knows what will happen on this bank holiday Monday, which is set to be warm and sunny. There is a local beauty spot near here called Warleigh Weir, and for years people have swam there, leaving literally tons of rubbish behind when they go home.

Last week (or was it this week? I lose track of time these days) We drove past it and there were never as many cars parked on the verges as there were then. Literally hundreds of people must have crammed into the short stretch of water which has the weir. There were so many cars that the police had put warning signs either end of the half mile of illegal parking. It must have been horrible, even without the threat of death by virus.

Everyone thinks it is their right to walk in the middle of the road now. There was a father carrying his toddler daughter on his shoulders, strolling down a fast stretch of the A36, on his way to Warleigh Weir. I had to brake hard and sound the horn.

My prediction is that either a second lockdown or a second wave will be triggered by people like this. Oh well, back to the plumbing.

22 comments:

  1. You'll possibly find that the second wave will be started by either a large number of people drowning or being attacked during road rage over not being able to park.

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  2. I really don’t understand the overwhelming desire for loads of people wanting to go to the beach with Covid-19 flying around ? ...... I wouldn’t want to go to the beach on a Bank holiday without the virus either ! Do you think it’s the people who bought hundreds of toilet rolls 🤣 ? XXXX

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  3. Could be a lot of people who have just spent the last three months locked up in flats, apartment blocks, houses with no gardens and children that are climbing the walls with boredom. Now that hot, sunny weather is making being inside those places even more unbearable, it seems reasonable that they should want to get out for a slice of fresh air and change of scenery.

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    1. Agreed, but do they all have to go to the same small place?

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  4. Hope they have strengthened the road for all those cars. Like Derek I find it hard to yell at people for wanting out of their homes but then, looking at those terrible films of inside the corona virus wards I would try to frighten them more into social distancing.
    That was a lovely walk from Bath to Bradford on Avon via the Claverton water pump though ;)

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    1. I can well understand them wanting to get out on a hot Summer day, but the desire to jump into water with 500 other people leaves me mystified, even without the need for distancing.

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  5. However hard it is for anyone, surely nothing can be worse than being laid in a hospital bed for days in the hope that one day soon I might be able to breathe again.

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    1. What I find worse than that - socially - is the complete disregard for others. They might not care about being infected themselves, but they should think about the older people who might not survive.

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  6. as somebody who has not even been out to the local shop for the past eight weeks - I shall probably be the one to catch the virus. Life's like that.

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    1. You'll be ok Weave. Just don't kiss the gardener.

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  7. I agree with The Weaver of Grass: I've been making several trips for the past two months to the local hospital for various tests where it's been much like a sci-fi movie with everyone wearing masks and empty hallways. People appear to be so much more pleasant now. "Life's like that."

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    1. I believe the non-Covid wards are as safe as anywhere else.

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  8. Tom, the hospital is not doing any elective surgeries, etc. so it's actually fairly empty. They are maintain the ER with very strict testing and questioning to maintain as much safety as is possible. I think they're doing a wonderful job here. We're lucky enough to have not had huge numbers down with Covid-19. I'm grateful for that.

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    1. They have been rescheduling recently I believe. I try to stay clear of hospitals even in normal times.

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  9. I have a job trying to decipher what day it is as well. Lottsa luck with the plumbing and decorating. xx

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    1. Well I fitted the cartridge today. One down, one to go...

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  10. My car is on the fritz, so no beach trips planned for this weekend unless I nab a rental.

    Our long weekend is also slated to be warm. I wonder if we'll see loungers at the beach. Walkers are permitted as long as they 'keep it moving'. May the plumbing job be easily done!

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  11. Two neighbors and I congregated on my deck all afternoon, enjoyed an impromptu picnic and conversation with neighbors who passed in the street. One little three year old ran up to Cathy, the local Pied Piper, looked way up into her face and asked "Aunt Cathy, will we go to the beach again when the virus is over?"
    I'm up there with Derek; put on you mask and let the unwashed be. Your strands indeed are smaller. Stay home and you'll have no problem on the A36.
    Pax, dear friend.

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    1. When the chief government advisor breaks the rules that he helped to impose on the rest of us, we will see more of the great unwashed flocking to the beaches.

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  12. We'e got thousands of the idiots swarming on the beaches from Highcliffe to Studland. It's scary, and I agree, these will be the reason for a second wave. It's almost inevitable. I find copious amounts of beer always make household tasks easier, especially decorating, which I can't stand.

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    1. I try to pretend that everything is normal by not drinking beer until about 5.00. If I did. the jobs would never get done.

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