A (Re)View From The Greenhouse; That Was The Year That Were

Winter arrives in the northern hinterlands, with something of a vengeance, but enough of my snow shovelling tales. The greenhouse has (so far) managed to withstand the foot or so of accumulated snow loading. Grounds and maintenance were concerned that some of the weaker roof struts, already earmarked for replacement may have failed, but it appears not and though more “snow bombs” were promised, as a consequence of “Global Warming”, a thaw seems to have set in. It’s going to get pretty wet. Channel hopping, just the other day, I happened on one of those David Attenborough “the world’s about to end” documentaries. He was talking about an Island (I assume in the Pacific) where turtles have gone to lay several million eggs (not each) for at least a thousands years (not the same turtles, at a guess). In all that time, and it may be tens of thousands of years for all any of us know, the topography of said island has never changed. Now we’re expected to believe that it COULD disappear within twenty years, because of “Klimate Khange”. What a load of old fanny.

January 2024 saw me opening the sloe gin, which I’d made using hedgerow collected fruits, which generally grow along some of the less travelled lanes around here. It was a very nice drop and I’d looked forward with relish to the thought of making more to enjoy this year. No such luck, I’m afraid, even the bush in a neighbours garden hedge, usually a good source of fruit, was virtually barren. It’s been wet, so maybe that’s the problem, or the birds beat me too it (there are lots of birds about, even now). Any road up, the gin isn’t going to go off, so we’ll see what occurs this back end. The Liberal Democrats asked Ofcom to investigate GB News over alleged bias in its coverage of the “Post Office Scandal”. The LibDem leader is Sir Ed Davey, one time Post Office Minister.

My loyal reader may well remember this picture form February last year. No review would be complete without a mention of the sterling work of the B&M department. I’ve got a feeling that Keir Starmer fellow may well have also seen the picture and filed it away for his future use. He’s a man intent on “fixing the foundations” of our beleaguered nation as he sets out to “reset” how everything works, mostly by the medium of taxing us until we squeak and calling everyone that has the temerity to mock him for being the dullard that he clearly is, far-right. He’s drawing battle lines that won’t be able to be un-drawn. He’s either forging ahead, regardless, because those are his orders, or he hasn’t the faintest idea of what he’s doing.

The frosts had all but gone by the start of April and plenty of potatoes were “chitted” and ready for planting. Little did I know that, by the end of the year there’d be a cabinet full of potatoes doing its very best to finish the job of ruining the country that the Tories had so manfully started. While I whiled away my mornings pottering around the greenhouse and in the shed, a court ruling upholding the right of the head of The Michaela School to ban Muslim prayers (during the school day). She said,following the said ruling, that a “small group” had put Muslim pupils under pressure to fast, pray, drop out of the school choir (music is Haram, after all) and wear the hijab. Teachers were abused over this issue, but the school, sticking to its guns, is oversubscribed from “ethnic minority” communities, including Muslim. Clearly, not all Muslims are Islamist, although all Islamist’s are Muslim. Discipline and order were once standard in all our schools. Oh that it were this way now.

Another previously posted picture (it’s a review, innit?). I’d grown these sunflowers from seed as a favour to my youngest daughter. Little did I know, when I planted them, that I was to become a first time grandfather by the autumn of 2024. A whole new perspective takes over (as many of you will probably know) and things like personal mortality come sharply into focus for us older grandparents. Who doesn’t want to live to see his granddaughter coming out to bat in her first one dayer at Headingley? We can all dream, but as May came to a close we learned that dreams were about to become nightmares for many of us, as Rishi Sunak finally realised the size of the hole he was in and decided (or was ordered)  to pass on the mantle of government to the other half of our Uni-Party. We knew what we were voting for, of that there’s no doubt, but we had no idea of just what we were going to end up having to live with.

Burt was a real find, he took up his post in June and didn’t even take a single day off until October. A level of commitment and diligence rarely encountered these days. If only we had a few Burts in politics. Stoical, taciturn and steadfast people, instead of the SPADS and ex-charity workers we currently seem to be saddled with. Labour won an expected victory in the General Election, along with a large majority of seats, although in terms of the “popular vote” it didn’t fare so well. An almost 60% turnout saw Labour poll under 10 million votes, making the claims of Keir Starmer, that he had a “clear mandate”, a little more than hyperbolic. Across the pond a lucky dip of the head saw Donald Trump get winged in the ear by a would-be assassin, virtually guaranteeing him a second term as US President, something he should of already have been enjoying. Biden, by this time, was unable to string two coherent words together and he left the race on July the 21st. The Democrats, in their hubris, installed Kamala Harris as their “chosen one.” Trumps victory, still marginally in the balance, became a certainty at that point.

August, as my loyal reader knows, is show time. I did well in several categories, but am always minded to remind myself this is only a village show, for village people. Outside the parochial, the Westminster sideshow continued to shine a light on the Labour Party, with almost daily revelations ABOUT senior figures, including the recently elected PM, accepting “gifts of money, clothing, events tickets and cash donations” from their wealthy allies and sponsors. Thankfully, all of this was completely above board and not corrupt in the slightest, unlike the “Johnson wallpaper scandal” which almost brought down a government, so rotten was the whole business. Lord Alli and Sir Keir Starmer are nothing more than good friends, who both understand the importance of being sartorially elegant when trying to “rebuild foundations” and having a quiet place for ones children to revise (preferably a luxury London penthouse) for their GCE’s. Some people are still trying to figure out how Angela Rayner, after receiving a clothing allowance of over £3,500 from the same Lord Alli, still manages to dress as if all her clothes came off the “Everything Must Go” rail at Primark.

As the year drew to a close I ventured to Puglia, see https://going-postal.com/2024/09/edizeone-apulia-prima-parte/  https://going-postal.com/2024/10/all-in-it-together/ where I enjoyed the food, wine, beer, scenery and people far more than I did the coach travel. A highlight was the disbelief of a female Osteria owner who couldn’t believe I could successfully grow San Marzano tomatoes so far north. We all live and learn. In November, and  worryingly for many of us, Foreign Secretary (and intellectual colossus) David Lammy became the public face of “resetting our relationship with Europe(sic)” when he attended a meeting of EU Foreign Ministers. I know I sound like a broken record, but I said, on the day Cameron resigned, that it wasn’t over by a long shot. I’m yet to be proved wrong.

Christmas is in the offing and politics is the perfect gift for those who already have everything, it just keeps on giving. Thirty new Labour peers, including some who (somewhat hypocritically) want to see The House Of Lords abolished and others who have been rewarded either for acts of treachery or being nothing more than spectacular failures. Labours anti-corruption minister is questioned about her (possible) involvement in Bangladeshi political corruption and Peter Mandleson, puppet master “extraordinaire” is appointed as our Ambassador to the US. As they say on the telly box, you couldn’t make it up. Reform reaches a membership of over 100,000, we are still to find out, categorically, whether it’s an ego trip or a serious political party. Many hopes rest on it becoming the latter. At least Rupert Lowe isn’t afraid to ask the awkward, searching questions that need to be asked. On New Years Eve we went to a neighbours house, where we drank copious amounts of wine, ate obscene amounts of “party” food and played dominoes until the beginning of the second hour of 2025. We know how to live the high life.

Happy New Year to you all. Hold onto your hats, it’s going to be a doozy!
 

© Colin Cross 2024