Hay Fever

I won't mention the football...

Here's a handy tip for hay fever sufferers - don't hang your washed bedding outside to dry in hay fever season, it just gets covered in pollen.

The match started out so promising with that early goal though...

Never mind, there will be a 2nd referendum in another 4 years at the next World Cup...

Cornish Tea Plantations

Overheard while watching a local news item about the Somerset NudeFest:

Hay: "Isn't it funny how you never see fit young people being nudists - they're always saggy, baggy pensioners."

Chairman: "Perhaps it's about time we joined then."

So, if we win against Croatia today, we face France - our oldest enemy. I thought the EU was designed to avoid this kind of thing...

Yesterday we called in at a tea shop and I spotted this on the teapot:

Around the rim was the legend; "TEA GROWN IN ENGLAND." Naturally my interest was piqued and I looked it up - and yes - tea is actually grown on the Tregothnan Estate in Cornwall and, believe it or not, Scotland. I guess it's eminently feasible given tea is a member of the camellia family and camellias grow well here. Makes you wonder why we spent all that money going to China for the stuff and then transplanting it to India. Poldark could have made a killing by growing tea, rather than scratching a loving looking for tin.

The Grim Reaper

Managed to find myself a scythe over the weekend for £15 on Facebook Market. It has a curved, metal snath (or handle) and is somewhat rusty, but I'm sure that a little TLC will bring it up looking fine. Will have to get some phosphoric acid (Jenolite or similar) to neutralise the rust before applying some paint.

Collected it from Weston-Super-Mare yesterday from a bloke who said it had belonged to his grandfather and he'd brought it down to the South West when he moved here from Congleton in Cheshire. At least it's in the hands of a decent northern lad now.

I released all the seized bolts with some easing oil and brute force; luckily nothing snapped, although I had to grind the clamp off. It takes an edge very well, although it needed adjustment for the correct height. While the blade is very short, it seems capable of doing the job, but I decided to put my long blade on it anyway so as to get a much longer sweep and hence a greater cutting length, which is needed with tougher, hay-like grass.

Now just for an exhaust clamp or two to lock the blade into position, a coat of paint - probably Hammerite for the snath and a coat of bituminous paint along the blade rib - and I'm ready to go. I'd like a wooden snath, but needs must. I can always keep an eye out on eBay.

Once the cutting season is over, it will be a very nice decoration on one of the oak beams in the house till next year.

Swift Free Trade

Overheard in a pub in Painswick:

Chairman: "This weather is attracting a lot of swifts."

Hay: "Yes, but I don't think the swifts get the UK weather forecast in Africa."

Dis you watch the British Grand Prix? I'm certain those pit stops are psychic. The tyre changes are so swift you can't see them.

We were watching Countryfile last night and there was a face-off between someone from the Adam Smith Institute and someone from a farming lobby group, each arguing their case for and against free trade. The problem is that free trade is always presented as a binary issue - it's not.

Classical economics teaches us that free exchange works to produce the best results for all, whether the exchange takes place within one nation or across national boundaries. But this concept works only when the exchange is an equal one that occurs within a common framework of laws, customs, rules, and regulations. Economic competition conducted under the law of the jungle leads to chaos and failure; the price system becomes a guide to nothing that is sensible or tolerable.

Some things need to be protected for the long term, such as food security, strategic infrastructure and defence procurement (not pencils though). Some need short-term protection; nascent industries and those that are failing solely due to lack of investment in productivity-increasing technology. Some protectionism is required for no other purpose than to lower unemployment, as no electorate is going to vote for a government that sacrifices employment on the altar of the free market, no matter how much it increases the country’s GDP, as that additional GDP will only go to further exacerbate wealth inequality while jobs go to the wall.

Dropping tariffs in the face of dumping strategies is not a sensible approach – for reasons unknown, the UK government voted in the EU against the imposition of tariffs on cheap, Chinese steel, much to the chagrin of the Port Talbot steel workers; however, the EU went ahead with the tariffs and, as a result, Tata has invested in productivity improvements at the Port Talbot steel plant and saved Port Talbot from becoming a ghost town.

Similarly, inward investment is a double-edged sword – the drop in the value of sterling has meant that whole swathes of UK industry are now in the hands of foreign companies. One in four large UK businesses are now foreign owned, predominantly American, German, French and Dutch. Electricity supply and our railways are almost entirely foreign owned, and what is contributing to the lack of competitiveness of the UK steel industry? The price of electricity!

Foreign-owned infrastructure that remains in the UK is not so much of an issue - it can't be moved abroad. However, it can mean high consumer prices if monopolistic pressures come into play.

Another thing to bear in mind on tariffs is that they'er not always designed to lock out competition - if you adjust them to level any price advantage, then the only thing left to compete on is quality.

44 members of the African Union’s 55 members are hoping to inaugurate a massive, African Free Trade Area by the end of this year. Regional free trade areas are the way the world is going, and you can’t tell me than an African free trade area isn’t going to be protectionist.

I've just this minute heard Tim Martin - he of Wetherspoons - on Radio 4, advocating dropping tariffs on everything, worldwide. It's a ridiculous proposition for the reasons outlined above.

Toothbrush Team Spirit

Could Gareth Southgate be in line for a knighthood if England win the World Cup? It happened with Clive Woodward for the Rugby World Cup. Fingers crossed.

How about this for a idea - you play for the country in which the club team you play for is. You may be Egyptian, but if you play for Liverpool, then you can only play for England. I wonder what new dynamics that would bring into the game?

Any blokes out there actually use an electric toothbrush? I bought one several months ago thinking I'd give it a try. Lasted about half a week and then never used it again - it just takes so bloody long, what with a tiny head that doesn't even cover one tooth adequately. With an ordinary, manumatic brush you clean a vast swathe of teeth with just one swipe - several swipes and you're done. I'll bet it's mainly women who use these inefficient devices.

She Has a Cunning Plan

So, the Cabinet has finally agreed a plan to put to the EU. If previous plans (if they can be called that) are anything to go by - and given this plan is obviously a compromise between differing factions in the Cabinet, and thus a dog's dinner - it will be refused by the EU as unworkable and crossing several of their red lines. I believe she knows this will happen, but it's part of her strategy.

My guess is that, if the EU rejects Mrs May's plan, she will be left with no other option than a hard Brexit, which would be anathema to business and, I suspect, to her. In order to extricate herself from a course of action that would leave the Conservatives with no funding from business and the consequences of a failed economy before the next General Election, she needs an escape route that lays the blame elsewhere, and the only way in which this can be accomplished is through a 2nd referendum.

14 straight polls in a row have indicated that support for Brexit, especially a hard Brexit, is draining away among the populace - that cannot have escaped Mrs May's attention. If the will of the people is paramount, as Brexiteers never tire of telling us, then the people need to be consulted to ascertain if their will has changed in the 2 years since the initial vote - a week, after all, is a long time in politics. There's no escaping that argument, logically, intellectually or morally, as a democracy that cannot change its mind is no longer a democracy.

On three occasions – Denmark on the Maastricht Treaty, Ireland on the Nice Treaty and Ireland again on the Lisbon Treaty – voters have initially rejected an EU treaty only to vote in favour of it in a second referendum. History is with the remain arguments.

I could be wrong, but I don't believe Mrs May is as stupid as many believe her to be. This situation has been engineered.

Social Media Addiction @ Wimbers

I hear several areas have been cordoned off in the hunt for the source of the Novichok poison; Charley Rowley's flat, a Baptist church and a local outlet of Boots. I didn't know you could get Novichok at Boots these days. It's amazing how quickly they can get stuff into the shops these days.

We were watching a Panorama programme the other evening about social media addiction. Facebook apparently 'puts its customers first' when it comes to tackling social media addiction. A customer is someone who pays to buy or use a product or service. I pay nothing to use Facebook - I'm a user. Advertisers pay to advertise on Facebook - they're customers. Worth thinking about.

Hay's taking me to a gig in Iron Acton this evening - Mash in the Meadows. Can't say I'm looking forward to it; 2 bands and a Queen tribute act. It's advertised as Rock, Hip Hop, Blues, Country, SKA and Jazz. Rock, blues and jazz I'm fine with, but hip-hop, country and ska I can give a big miss. I'm not generally in favour of tribute bands, although there are a few notable exceptions - but Queen? Can't honestly say they were ever my cup not of tea. Talented certainly, just not my kind of music.

Just looked up the acts on YouTube - the Queen tribute act is hideous, the singer is not that good and their set is very camp. Hope they're on last and we can leave early.

Watched a bit of Wimbledon yesterday - it's just not the same as when Connors, Nastase, McEnroe, Borg, etc. were playing. These days they're such sports and so very earnest. One might be forgiven for thinking they take the game seriously...

The Offside Rule

Does this result from a YouGov Daily Poll come as a surprise?

Or are a lot of the men telling porkies? Hay is one of the 36% of women who say they understand the off-side rule - and she indeed does.

I do remember the Netherlands laying an offside trap for opponents in several World Cups to great effect, but apparently it has become riskier in recent years due to a change in the rules..

Another unsurprising YouGov Daily Poll result:

Practice Village Shoot-Out

So, a country riddled with gun crime loses in a shoot-out..... Who would have thought it? We're going to be insufferable now - till the next match.

Was reading a news item about the rate at which village schools are closing down or amalgamating to avoid closure. Of course, the problem is that as village kids are educated, they will naturally want to go on to university and leave the village to get a well paid job in a city. Perhaps we should avoid having any schools in villages so the villages thrive....

Confidence is increasing - yesterday was the first day of practice for several days, as I wanted to give my knee time to heal.

800 Japanese Terminator Shopping Vision

It's Chipping Sodbury's 800th anniversary this year. Having watched the historian, Michael Woods, on a programme on TV the other night where he was tracing the history of Kibworth throughout the ages, I had the bright idea of contacting him to see whether he could get involved with the 800 celebrations from an historical perspective. Unfortunately his people said he was involved in a project in China and had a book to get out. You have to get to these academics several years in advance - I'll see if I can get him in time for the 900th anniversary.

Isn't it strange how men and women shop so differently? When I go shopping I usually have an object in mind and the outline of that object is imprinted on my conscious brain - there's an object shaped template in my mind's eye. I can quickly scan a shelf and only something that approximates to the mind's eye object shape will register - everything else is ignored and discarded. It's a bit like the Terminator's vision.

Women, on the other hand, have a more flexible object in their mind's eye, one that approximates to everything in the shop, or even in the entire known universe. That's why it takes them longer to execute the operation we men can accomplish within a few seconds of entering an emporium.

There are a few exceptions to the rule - anything that looks vaguely like a tool, breasts or a motorised vehicle gets immediate recognition and triggers a pleasure receptor in the male brain. These object templates seem to be hard-coded into us.

Have you noticed that the Japanese football team doesn't appear to sport a single tattoo, daft haircut or a man-bun? OK, there's the odd bad hair dye job. Tattoos are associated with the criminal underworld in Japan, so that's hardly surprising. Nor do they fall over at the slightest touch - they get up and continue without any histrionics or amateur dramatics. When they commit a foul, I'm surprised they don't actually bow to the player they fouled.

Another thing the Japanese players seem to do is an innovative thing called tackling - and winning the tackles. It's a joy to watch them, and I don't even like football all that much. Pity they lost.

Was watching Poldark on iPlayer last night - do you think tricorn hats will ever make a comeback?