06/05/2023
So woke up yesterday to have a look at the local election results and early indications were that the Tories were given a bloody nose and this was proved as results came in.
As for Hethersett, well we elected two Conservatives and a Labourite to South Norfolk Council. The top three were David Bills, Kathryn Cross and John Morland.
Lots of voters told us at the polls that they didn't know anything about the candidates due to a lack of information and I certainly think there was truth in that.
Meanwhile on a national level the hammered Tory party were busy trotting out their five priorities. The Prime Minister did it, the party chairman did it and then some other MP did it. This was obviously their strategy, hurriedly thought out in a room somewhere.
"Make sure you emphasise our five main aims."
The problem is that those aims are all things they have been trying already to do something about and have failed miserably and, as I always say, that's not a politically biased comment as I'm fully supportive of the two Conservatives elected to represent Hethersett at local level.
I'm not going to mention the five priorities as I'm already sick to bits of hearing about them and the insistence to mention them at every possible opportunity.
I hope that voters in our village enjoyed their experience. When I'm poll clerking I always try to add a little humour into the voting process and that was actually helped by the need for ID as so many people told us that they didn't really look like their passport or driving licence photo. Only a couple of people were angry at having to show ID and only one forgot to bring it and had to return later. Essentially it was all good humoured and a very long but enjoyable day.
As for the Coronation today. Well I will probably miss it as I'm going to the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket. No doubt I'll catch up with it on news bulletins as it may just be featured at some point.
I can't say I'm getting very excited about the event but that's just me. I know it means an awful lot to some people and at times I wish I had their enthusiasm for certain things.
When they have nothing new to say on a subject, the Media get down to irrelevant nonsense just to keep things going.
Yesterday they interviewed a young soldier and put the emphasis on his shoes. Yes that's right his shoes. They were immaculate and shone like the sun on a Spanish summer's day. But he wasn't happy with them, saying they were slightly scuffed. He was going off to spend another two hours polishing them. The phrase "get a life," springs to mind. I don't think I've spent two hours polishing shoes in my entire life.
And just think about how much taxpayers' money is going into this young man buffing his boots.
People keep coming up to me to say they read my blog. I love it when this happens. So hello to Judith who said hello at the church flower festival yesterday afternoon.
And so to the next leg of the travelogue. Here we were in a strange lodgings in Cordoba.
I thought I heard noises in the night and I was correct.
"Must be your turn to make the tea," said the other threequarters as we woke to a bright sunny morning in Cordoba.
The first thing I noticed about the place when we arrived was the temperature. It was 30 degrees - a good seven or eight degrees higher than when we left Almeiria. There the nights got quite chilly but in Cordoba it was still mid 20s when we went out to eat.
So what did we eat I hear you ask? You blogettes are very demanding with all your questions.
Well we walked down the road where there was an open air bar. It was selling beer, wine and what appeared to be sandwiches. This will do we thought and we ordered a glass of wine, a glass of beer and two of the dishes. We totally ignored the name of the place which would have given us a hint on what to expect.
The whole thing surrounded sea snails. The pesky little blighters came with every dish. The name of the bar translated to sea snails.
I had a carbonara dish which was sea snails in a cream sauce. The other threequarters had a bacon style dish which was sea snails in a bacon sauce and there were so many of them, all inside their shells it was a bit like the British seafood winkles where you had to take them out with a pin or needle. Who remembers them? I can't remember the last time I saw them. We just had what looked like a tooth pick to extricate our sea snails.
They tasted of nothing. But on closer inspection I could definitely detect two small eyes and two small horns. I was eating an entire animal and not just one. I was eating tens of them and they tasted of nothing. So what was their point in life or should that be what was their point in death?
But I seem to be going round in circles again. So let's go back to the beginning.
I thought I heard noises in the night. At first I assumed it was the owners who perhaps lived here and hired out a room in their apartment.
"Your turn to make the tea," said the other threequarters. So off I trotted in the direction of the kitchen. The kitchen was full of people I hadn't seen before and it suddenly dawned on me that the reason the individual rooms had names was because each was a bedroom being let out.
The owners hadn't informed us of this and I assumed the names on the rooms were from when their grandchildren came to stay. Obviously I was wrong.
We had talked to them via Google translator but had only gone through basics like how to use the keys etc.
The kitchen was awash with cakes and bread etc. when we turned up.
"Breakfast, " said the lady.
"That's a lot of food" I thought.
By the time we got up on the Sunday morning at 8 am it had all gone apart from one very hard roll.
"Let's go out for breakfast," said the other threequarters helpfully, as if we had a choice in the matter.
"Yes lets." I replied equally helpfully.
So we found a cafe not too far away and managed to get a coffee and a generous slice of baguette smothered with butter and jam and all for the equivalent of around £3.50. Spain always used to be cheap and then it started catching up with the UK. I guess prices over here have stayed steady whilst ours are rocketing again.
Tomorrow I'll talk a bit more about Cordoba and include some photos.
