In attempting to justify logic defying and insane new restrictions on the three million of us who live in Wales, our First Minister mad Mark Drakeford told a monstrous lie. He claimed that the Omicron variant was “probably” as deadly as the Delta variant.
Just 30 yards away is the border with England and while folks in Wales are a respectable lot, the infidels over on the other side of the River Dee, in Cheshire, are a strange lot. Meet Claire Goodier aged 60 from Chester who has been found guiltry of having sex with an Alsatian Dog. So how will she fare in a women’s prison? I am sure you can guess where this is going….
Last year the holly tree that sits half way up my vegetable patch overlooking the lane down to the Welsh Hovel was awash with red berries. But this year the birds have had almost the entire lot as you can see below. I have mentioned to the two cats that this is yet another massive failure on their part and that this will be brought up in their annual review.
Throughout the scandemic Wales, under the leadership of mad Mark Drakeford, has had tougher lockdown rules that the infidels across the border in England. Yet covid numbers, here in the rain sodden post industrial principality have been resolutely and consistently higher than in England. Doctor: the medicine is not working and is having awful side effects what should we do? Up the dosage!
A reader asks what sits on top of the Christmas tree here in Wales? It is the same as it is every year, as you can see below.
Nope, It is not that obvious. The mother-in-law has not arrived yet. Only kidding. About the only thing I dread about this family Christmas is the penalty I pay for being so goddamn green.
My late uncle Chris loved the Mani having been there on his first honeymoon and later with his family. Every year, when I arrived for olive harvesting we’d have a chat about matters including the state of the global warming. As you can see on the two photos below, if you look carefully up into the high taygettos you can see that the first snows have already fallen. In a year when the hottest summer in Greece since 1987 was wheeled out by the BBC and others as evidence of man made climate change, more global warming seems to have fallen at this stage then it has for several years.
The arrival of Thomas, son of the original Miranda, with his big new restaurant in the village square last summer has had strange consequences. In an unattractive way, Thomas cajoled what passing tourist trade there was to his place which pushed not so lovely Eleni at the original Miranda’s over the edge and she threw in the towel a week or so after we left the Greek Hovel in the summer.
My Christmas presents for those outside the immediate family, friends, relatives and neighbours are a combination of Yarg cheeses, dried chillies and Greek Hovel olive oil. There may be the odd jar of home made jam chucked in to the mix. 17 Cheeses arrived on Wednesday. Four are for personal use as the whole family of the Mrs. will bless us with their presence. The rest, sometimes as halves, are to be dished out.
Once again, my passport failed at the electric gates so I was directed to gates 36 and the one next door where troublemakers are sent. I heard at once a white guy from Border Force saying very loudly “We just do not believe you.” His female Asian colleague nodded. The man trying to get into Britain was not impressed.
Gone are the days when security at Athens was so lax that, if you wanted to plant a bomb on a plane and make a clean getaway, Greece’s main airport was the place to go.
Every year with every new olive harvester there is, what appears, a ritual. I say “don’t eat any of the small olives we are harvesting for oil.” They then bite into one and say “yuk, that’s revolting.” At which point I remind them of what I said. Another ritual is that I go pick around 45 edible olives and warn them again not to bite into one until they have cured them back in Airstrip One. This time they listen.
As this wretched Government in England and the even more wretched one in Wales implement more and more draconian and ludicrous policies it emerges today that there are just 10 folks across the UK in hospital with the Omicron variant, yes that is the new strain of Covid that we are told will overwhelm the NHS. Yes, that NHS – envy of the fecking world,let’s all bang pots in the street- where only 4% of beds are currently filled with Covid patients. But, of course, what we are not told is how many of the ten were admitted with Omicron or were there for some other reason and were subsequently diagnosed with Omicron. This is madness – consider what the NSPCC says today about lockdown, something Michael Gove and most of the political and media classes are pushing for.
Another early start saw harvester B and myself working in really rather unpleasant rain. There could be no delays if he was to make his way to Mystras.
We all got up early. B & myself said fond farewellls to R&S as they started the trek back to Airstrip One. This was to be the last day of harvesting. But first…
