Contents
India: Mitchell Jack Love
Morton
Rose Petals Caught in a
Spider Web: JD Morton
Race Round the Remparts:
Roger Morton
Stephen O'R's Sydney
Cover: winter wood, Roger
Morton
18 September, 2012
This is my birthday month, so I always
expect miracles to happen, while I pretend the summer is not ending and the
autumn is not approaching. In fact, until I emailed a friend yesterday how much
I was loving the warm weather, it was perfect. By contrast, today is dull and
grey, which is fine as 2 ebooks have arrived for me to edit – so now I can
knuckle down and not feel I am being deprived of a gorgeous summer day.(I
wasn’t being totally idle under the blue sky sunshine, I was cutting and
weeding the irises, which were almost completely hidden by pis en lit and
brambles. A task I should have done at the beginning of July.)
We have, however had lots of friends
and family visit during those weeks. I just went with the flow. No big social
occasions here, just treading water until Roger sees the lung specialist on 24th.
Nonetheless, we have been taken out for various meals. These days I am so happy
not to be shopping or cooking, my critical facilities have all but shut right
down. However the young friends from Ireland who took us to hotel Perigord in
Verteillac, said they cooked up a feed when they got home, they were so hungry.
The helpings were tiny. Also there is
something lacking with the ambiance in the dining room. There is no vitality,
the guests are too staid, too reserved. You feel they always stand on the
sidelines. I know we didn’t go there to eat the guests but still, if there is a
negative charge in abundance, then the food struggles to dazzle. Mine, I
remember was beautifully arranged. My entrée had a finely threaded magret and
rocket leaves crown and something charming in the centre. I’ve forgotten what.
Maybe the chef should have been a costume designer. (The one on Game
of Thrones is very innovative. I really like a lot of that clobber.)
I think from now on I am going to
resist an invitation to a moules et frites meal. If there are two kinds of food
in the world that don’t commute, it is moules and frites. Mind you, if you had
seen me gobbling mine down, you would never have guessed I didn’t care for
them. It was well after 11pm when they finally appeared on the table. I was so
hungry I would have eaten dead bank robbers boiled in their own broth. (Yes I
am probably being influenced by Breaking Bad. Roger and I have
watched a lot of television lately.)
On Sunday, we were lunched in fine
style at our friend’s birthday lunch at the Hotel Perigord in Aubeterre. I
loved the waiters. I guess I’m just ready to be spoiled. The food was once
again beautifully arranged but I don’t think anyone had tasted it at any stage
of the cooking. The melon guacamole nearly worked because of the fresh mint,
but really it was bland beyond belief. The salmon mousse could have been any
mousse, the flavour was so subtle. The potatoes in the plat de jour were tired
and tasteless and the boeuf should have been less and a better quality. I
perked up at the ice cream but not enough to understand all the Dutch that was
being spoken. My language skills leave a lot to be desired.
I’ve heard two alarming news items
about British children today. Firstly, they are arriving at their schools in
their hundreds, hungry. That is shameful. Secondly double the number of women
have been imprisoned in the UK, than previously. This means thousands of
children are separated from their mothers. Not good. All that claptrap about
‘how important family life is’. Also there are more women in prisons in the UK
than anywhere else in Europe. Why? What’s going on?
This is one way to create a new
generation of ‘motherless children’. Even if this situation only lasts for a
short time, it can cause anti-social behaviour or mental problems
Who is running the prisons? Is it
another Private profit-driven enterprise? Then they will be like theatres and
cinemas – they will want people to come. But that’s not what society wants with
prisons. Supposedly, they want to reform their prisoners, so they don’t
reoffend and return to prison. Evidently it costs £56,415 a year, per prisoner
in prison. Even I can see the possibility of profit in that figure! ‘Prisons
are not for Profit' campaign started in 2009. It believes that private prisons
tend to operate with lower staffing levels in order to maximise profit and that
this inevitably leads to less security in prisons. There are currently 137
prisons in England and Wales; 126 of these are run by the public sector through
Her Majesty's Prison Service and 11 are operated by private sector partners.
OK, so it is not yet a major problem.
Hungry children are, however, a major
problem.
I realise we need prisons. I read with
horror, the accounts of the family gunned down in their car in Annecy and the
French cyclist who was killed alongside them. Who could shoot young children?
The killing continues in Syria and now the World of Islam has been upset by an
American film, anything could happen. Religion is such a powerful force. If the
American Christian (Mormon, no less) Republicans win the next election, I fear
the fanaticism which could result. Atheists and moderates could well be caught
in the cross-fire of the ‘My God is better than yours’ mentality.
The West used to condemn China and USSR
for forbidding religion. Quite frankly, with everybody all steamed up, it seems
like a bloody good idea. But then there’s drugs and alcohol, nicotine…. Still
that would leave sex and rock and roll. It’s possible - but probably not
feasible.So good luck with everything.
JoselynMorton
