5 November 2019 (Tuesday) - Bonfire Night



Finding myself wide awake far earlier than I needed to be I watched the end of “The King”. I’d started watching it last night and eventually turned it off about two-thirds of the way through. Like most “blockbuster” films, it went on for about an hour longer than it might have done. Mind you it made me think. Set six hundred years ago and based on true events, politicians of the time conspired to unite England by fabricating lies about a possible attack from the French.
And now history repeats itself.

I then had my morning peer into the Internet. It would seem my brother-in-law’s Facebook account has been hacked as he’d (apparently) sent me a video advertising some diet or other. Other than that, not a lot had happened overnight really. And with no emails worth having I spent a little while looking at lawnmowers on the B&Q website. I typed in “lawnmowers”, told it to sort from cheapest to most expensive, and all sorts of irrelevant nonsense came up. Strimmer blades, tins of oil… with one hundred and fourteen items found, the first actual lawnmower came in as the one hundred and third suggestion. Interestingly B&Q are still selling the same make of lawnmower that blew up yesterday; now some ten quid cheaper than what I paid for it in August 2017. The blurb on the web page says the thing comes with a two-year manufacturer guarantee. I suppose it lasted just over two years, so I’ve no cause to grumble.

There was a minor disaster as I got dressed; the new light bulbs took no notice of the dimmer switch and lit up at full power regardless of how much I twiddled the knob. So I just pulled the duvet over "er indoors TM" 's head and hoped for the best.

I drove to the early shift through a dark and dismal morning. Once I'd negotiated the road closures I was soon on the motorway and listening to the radio. Apparently lots of children are re-sitting their maths exams (GCSE?) today. One of the questions was "Anne is buying a car costing £1400. On top of this, tax is to be paid at 20%.  Anne pays a deposit of £500, and pays the rest in ten equal payments. How much is each payment?
Is this *really* the level of question for a school leaver? Really? I can remember answering this sort of thing at primary school.

There was then loads of political talk. With so much of importance facing the country, Parliament wasted all of yesterday electing a new Speaker. Surely that could have been done in a five-minute on-line ballot?

I got to work; I did my bit. And with my bit done I came home again. I eventually found a parking space. Once home I stood in the front garden and started at Treacle who was on the back of the sofa. I had thought she was on guard; she was actually fast asleep. I eventually got bored waiting for a reaction, and just had time to walk the dogs round the block before it got dark.

As we walked we heard one firework explosion. The plan for the evening had been to go down to Hythe for a family firework extravaganza, but I didn’t want to leave the dogs alone with fireworks going off.
As it happened there weren’t *that* many fireworks going off this evening (which was probably for the best). Part of me wonders if fireworks have priced themselves beyond the budget of most people, and part of me wonders if they’ve been superceded by the craze of Hallowe’en.
When was the last time you saw children doing “Penny For The Guy?

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