Police presence

A bit of a fuzzy photo as taken at the end of the afternoon with my mobile phone but I was struck by police tactics at today's Trade Union demonstration in Sheffield. There were a few horses, some motorbikes, a van and a barricade of three bicycles.
I was impressed by the age-range of protesters and the applause from shoppers as the demonstration made a circuit of the city centre. I stood in a crowded square in front of the City Hall for an hour or so to listen to the speakers, the most impassioned coming from a student - a product of a decade of Citizenship lessons. No damp squib, as our PM reported at Westminster but a heartfelt protest not just about pensions but at the erosion of our easily targeted public services, the stealth tax increase in contributions which will go not into the pension fund but to the government, and the across the board raising of the retirement age when there are a milllion young people unable to find work. 

I foresee that most teachers will be ill with stress or have been sacked for incompetence by the time they reach retirement at 68 and many nursing staff will be crippled with back pain or arthritis. As for firemen...

TV Day

Today I finally succumbed to the virus that has been making me feeling so peculiar. After five days I still have a sore throat and a cough that threatens to turn my insides out.  So I have taken the day off to be ill for only the second time in about 16 years. It feels like time has stopped still, that I am left on the platform whilst the train speeds by, but looking about I discover it is quite an interesting place to be.  I have spent the afternoon spaced out in front of the TV. I gawped at the Megacities, pondered with some amazement the science of our Brave New World and switched off quite a lot of rubbish.  I don't like being off sick but I want to get better so that this cough stops hurting.   So here I am.  Just waiting, watching and coughing.

Autumn

Autumn is late this year.  I can remember a Novembera decade ago when the trees were already bare, the russet leaves piled high in crunchy heaps for children to toss into the air.  This year, in Sheffield, our pavements are treacherous, layered with a magnificent golden carpet.  I hesitate to stride lest I slip and fall.

But, it is a glorious time of year and a season of life to be treasured. A time to for the world heave and change, bend in the winds, before settling down for winter.

Princess Elizabeth

Princess Elizabeth is looking very regal now.
Determined to hold her head up high she is in complete command of her besotted subjects. Just five weeks old she is already turning her head and following movement with her eyes. She will copy me to open and close her fingers.

With the luxury of partial detachment I am fascinated by the changes I see in her every week. Other members of the Granny Club agree that spookily, babies seems to be doing things sooner than in the distant past of Our Day - that's its not just wishful thinking. Such is the speed of accelerated evolution.

However, wind still makes babies cry and food makes them quiet although the rule these days is that they sleep on their back with their feet to the bottom of the crib.

But baby talk, silly songs and pacing the room haven't lost the magical power proven by generations. Granny knows.