This blog post comes to you from sunny Essex, where the locals have seriously let me down in the last few days. Apparently the 43.9% of people who turned out to vote on Thursday (the largest turnout in decades in the county) were all the people who have confused the local with the national and who think voting Reform is a good idea.
I should have known it wasn’t going so well when there was a queue at the polling station for only the second time in the 13 years I have lived in the village. The last time was Brexit, and look how well that turned out. I wonder whether they were the same people who turned out to vote again? And – just a thought – if they’d bothered to vote and take any interest in all the other elections, they’d have more of a clue about what might actually be about to happen in the county? I think I can guarantee that the hotels won’t be closed on demand and that the potholes won’t be fixed any quicker than they are being already.
The elections did give me the chance to go and do something new with Thing 1, who has never voted before – she was interested in the results on Friday, and followed them through the day. I think she’s now considering leaving the country.
I voted tactically in the county council elections, for a man who has done more to divide the local area, waste taxpayers’ money and generally make a show of the local council. I feel slightly grubby for doing so, but needs must when the devil drives as someone much wiser than me once said. He is, at least, better than the alternative but it was a real rock and a hard place choice.
Plotting to move back to Wales and the sanity of proportional representation is underway.
A night at the Empire
On Wednesday night Amanda and I went to Hackney Empire – another gorgeous restoration by Tim Ronalds Architects, who are our architects too. We had tickets to see the historian David Olusoga and his show ‘A Gun Through Time’ – a strange premise but a fascinating talk. He spoke about the Brown Bess, the Short Magazine Lee Enfield, the Thompson machine gun and the Maxim machine gun. He discussed the developments that made them possible, the impact that things like the ‘Tommy Gun’ had on criminal activity in the US during prohibition and the rehabilitation of the weapon for use in the Second World War, and the long, long history of the Maxim which is still in use in Ukraine today shooting down drones, and being used in the trenches.
We had dinner at Bone Daddies in Old Street beforehand – tonkotsu and sour cherry soda – and were impressed by the jar of hair ties on each table which seems like an excellent idea.
Other things making me happy this week
- Lunch and a good catch up with Shivs at the Garnon Bushes on Saturday afternoon – so lovely to sit sand chat in the sunshine
- My new team member starting on Tuesday, the garden being planted and my fabulous producers sorting all the materials in the learning centre on Friday while I wrestled with a training module for our volunteers on our safeguarding policy
- The return of the sunshine today, especially as the tumble drier remains out of action
- Salad. I like salad in the summer.
- My left hand being stable enough to pick up my crochet hook and yarn again
- The lovely people who reached out to me across WhatsApp, various relatives, FB and the actual telephone after last week’s post. I am fine, thank you, and I love you all for caring.
That’s it from me for the week then – next week I’ll be back in Wales for a birthday and another catch-up with a friend, and I’m very much looking forward to both.
Kirsty x
What I’ve been reading:
The Big Empty – Robert Crais
Diary of a Rock’n’Roll Star – Ian Hunter
Murder at the Black Cat Cafe – Seishi Yokomizo
Mornings With My Cat Mii – Mayumi Inaba
What Kirsty did next 