On Sunday I went to our village screen and there were about 70 people there, which is possibly the largest audience ever for one of their films. Was it the actual film being shown that attracted that number or something else? Then on Tuesday we had our bi-monthly meeting of the Forget-Me-Not Club. I looked up the word bi-monthly because I wasn't sure whether it meant once every two months or twice a month.
According to the sites I looked up it can mean either, which is a tad confusing. In this instance I take it to mean twice a month.
Anyway on Tuesday we had over 40 people there - our best attendance ever. This included two centenarians from Hethersett Hall - one of whom, Betty, was due to celebrate her 102nd birthday yesterday. My aunt died last year at the age of 105 which has no relevance to this but I thought I would drop it in.
So I had a question. Are these two groups becoming more popular due to publicity and word of mouth or are people beginning to come out again after the spectre of lockdown has dissipated? I guess the answer may well be a bit of both.
On Tuesday we had a four piece band led by Michael Denmark who has moved back into the village. They provided excellent entertainment with covers of music by the likes of The Eagles, Lindisfarne, Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochrane, The Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Nancy Sinatra and many more. They went down a Rory.
And now you are saying what on earth is a Rory? It's a reference to the group that Ringo Starr was in before the Beatles - Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. Rory Storm's real name was Alan Caldwell which again isn't relative to this paragraph but I thought it was something you would like to know. So to me they went down a Rory means they went down a storm.
I am so pleased to be a part of the Forget Me Not Cafe - even if my main task is to put tables and chairs out and put them away - oh and drink coffee... and double oh, eat biscuits.
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I love off the wall people and people who are inspirational. Often it comes from somewhere that you aren't expecting. Like on Tuesday I tuned into Breakfast TV and just for once they weren't talking about illness.
They had on a British long jumper who has just broken the longstanding(or should that be the longjumping) British record. Jazmin Sawyers was super confident and talked about always doing your best and also that self belief is the most important thingin success.
Then we learnt that Jazmin has been targeting the record for years and been telling everyone that one day when she felt right and the conditions were right she would break the record. Everyone nodded at her and this went on so long that she began to believe that she was just trying to convince herself that she was capable of the big jump.
But Jazmine is not just a long jumper (despite the fact she had the word jumper on her jumper). She is also a heptathlete, a bobsleigher, has sung on The Voice television competition and has a law degree. They asked her where she saw herself in five or ten years time and which of her many skills would she make use of. "I can only tell you what I'm likely to be doing in the next 10 minutes," she said with a broad grin on her face. I feel a book might be added to her many achievements.
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I was searching for train tickets yesterday on the website I usually use - Trainline - when up popped a ridiculous notice telling me it is likely to be cheaper to split a journey. Here are the exact words:
"SplitSave saves you money by "splitting" your journey into multiple tickets.
Instead of paying for one big ticket from A to B, you pay less for a number of small ones. Same train, same route - just more tickets."
Extra work to buy tickets, additional paperwork, more time spent searching. Isn't this just potty? Talk about complicating things rather than making them easier with just one ticket for one journey. To me this defies logic but says plenty about the country we are living in.
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Footballer and television presented Gary Linaker has been taken to task for making comments about the Government's planned crackdown on immigration which he likened to that of Nazi Germany.
He referred to plans to stop migrant boats from crossing the Channel as "beyond awful". He went on to say: "There is no huge influx. We take far fewer refugees than other major European countries. This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s."
Irrespective of what you think bout what Lineker has said and whether you agree with his views or not, he has a right to make them. It's called freedom of speech as long as what he is saying or writing isn't libellous and slanderous against a specific purpose. Freedom of speech is the rock on which our country is founded.
Personally I don't like it when something is likened to one of the most evil regimes the world has ever known. There is usually little or no comparison. But Lineker still has the right to voice an opinion.
Just as Boris Johnson has the right to put his father forward for a knighthood and just as I have a right to say that this is one of the pottiest and most ridiculous nominations I have ever heard of. It will be interesting to read the citation put forward by Boris.
"Stanley Johnson for services to ------------" you can fill in the blanks.
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A few photos today from Tuesdays Forget Me Not Cafe.