POST 496. HERE WE GO AGAIN.

THE DISTRACTIONS

DULY  DISMISSED.
It is amazing how many distractions you can find when you're of a mind to begin a blog post. Storm Isha has blown down the trellis archway in the garden and chucked the empty garden refuse bin across the driveway a couple of times but, in comparison to the Midlands, North, and Scotland, we on the IoW have been lucky. In our house, with blinds closed and curtains drawn, we almost eliminated the sound of Isha, and this area still has electric power. Now storm Jocelyn has joined us. Ah well. At the moment my little chores are done, Mo has been ironing for England (for our part of it anyway) and I have made her the customary second cup of tea. I can find no further distraction to deflect me from the keyboard. So here we go. 
TELEVISION.

Opportunity to mention an actress who was born on the IoW. Dame Sheila Hancock's performance in the 2017 film Edie (written by Elizabeth O'Halloran and directed by Simon Hunter) was worthy of any acting award you care to name. Sheila was 83 when she tackled Suilven, a mountain in Scotland. She later joked that the role of stubborn Edie would have previously been offered to and rejected by Judie, Maggie and the rest. Well, thanks be she took it. Wonderful.

We also watched the 2012 film Quartet, directed by Dustin Hoffman and starring Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Michael Gambon, Pauline Collins and Billy Connolly. It was the second time around for us, but a cast of talented oldies is a magnet to a couple of oldies like us, and this film was packed with elderly talent, bolstered by the charming young Sheridan Smith. Loved it.

Watched the first of the series Dave and Jay, too. Oh dear.

And finally in this post:

NO! NO! NO! TO NATIONALSERVICE.

I wondered how long it would be before a call for the reintroduction of National Service came from some high ranking professional serviceman or warmongering idiot MP. It would be a disaster.

I was a regular soldier during the second (1939 - 1960) period of conscription. Decent young people made the best they could of it: the troublemakers remained troublesome, no matter what the outcome. There was a constantly negative atmosphere, particularly among those called up when WW2 was over. They didn't want the army, and the army didn't want them.

Speaking as one who actually lived through the second world war, and experienced the blitzing of Portsmouth, I would gently bid sabre rattlers: Stop. Look, Think. Two world wars with the promise of a better future, and - millions of lost and shattered lives later - we're still no closer to it. 

WW3 will probably make the entire planet uninhabitable. National Service wouldn't help that.    

Enough. I hope to be back on a jollier note at the end of the month.

Careful how you go.