There we were with our spicey butternut squash soup when the dog who lived in the pub was given a prawn cracker. It paced round the offending article, barked at it a few times, growled at it and then leapt upon it as the poor cracker begged for mercy.
But the dog was having none of it and pounced and in a trice had consumed the cracker, safe from any further attack.
It was probably the rain that did it. There was bright sunshine until we got onto the M Car Park (sorry M25) when it began to bucket down, reducing the visibility to practically nothing.
Last time this happened, and we were on the M25 we decided to get off the motorway and stop at the National Trust property known as Nymans. We decided to do that again, but being half-term, we couldn't even get into the car park and so gave up the idea and stopped half a mile up the road at a pub that I believe was called the Three Turnips or the Three Maltsters or the Three Tanners (the latter us oldies of course know as 1/6d or 7 1/2p).
We ended the day in Eastbourne where the sun does always seem to shine.
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I'm not going to comment on the new prime minister. I'm not even going to comment on our own MP apart from to quote from his official website. I took the following details from it on Tuesday after Rishi Sunak had been named the new leader. let's give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he's been too busy to welcome the next PM.
Richard welcomes appointment of Prime Minister Liz Truss
On 6 September we saw a change in the leadership of the United Kingdom, from Boris Johnson to Liz Truss. Our new Prime Minister has already outlined her three early priorities: the first is to grow the economy, which will make it easier to pay for the public services we need. Her second priority is to deal with the energy crisis caused by Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, including a recently announced package of measures which will help families and businesses tackle the coming huge rises in energy bills.
Thirdly, and of such importance to all of us, the PM has reiterated the importance of getting the NHS on a firm footing, ensuring that people can get appointments with doctors and access the NHS services they need. I wholeheartedly agree that these are among the most urgent issues to solve right now and I will be continuing to work closely with my colleagues to make progress.
I am particularly pleased that our new Health Secretary (and new Deputy Prime Minister) Thérèse Coffey was very quick to identify her top priorities within the NHS as “ABCD” - Ambulances, Backlogs, Care, and getting appointments with Doctors and Dentists when needed. These issues all feature in my constituency casework and they all need urgent attention. I would add mental health care too – our own mental health trust has longstanding problems which have garnered national news headlines for the all the wrong reasons and it too needs a proper fix.
We are facing unprecedented change and uncertainty in our nation at this time, but as the Prime Minister said in her first speech to the nation on Tuesday - “As strong as the storm may be, I know the British people are stronger”.
Another cause to give me hope is the fact that we now have our third woman Prime Minister, (who also is a Norfolk MP to boot), and a woman Deputy Prime Minister (from neighbouring Suffolk – but we won’t hold that against her!). As we head into autumn, with very real and serious problems facing the country, I am glad to be working with such excellent and determined colleagues.