Monday 15 June
RETURNING HEALTH
It must be because we set off early an d walk to Kelly's where two of the old gang sit ruminating and Bob gives us a lift back hpome. Yesterday we found three plastic boxes of miscellaneous discards in Claude's garage. Pls a bike which will do for Arch to get about on when he arrives. The boxes seem to be mainly old clothing but I also found a weird camera-an Olympus built like a batmobile ,very heavy and what's worse a film camera. Susan had promised faithfully that she's bring it back two years ago but then of corse she didn't. So we set out to get some film for it-preferably black and white. First effort is Cost co.No they don't sell or use film. Then Best Buy-oh that's obsolete the smart alec kid assures me. Ten years ago they were perfectly happy to sell me expensive cameras to take film.Now they've made them all obsolete. by cutting off supplies of film. Worse because the specialised photography shops have all closed. Jim's Campus Camera {where I got the damn thing in the first place} is shut.What happened to the nerdy lad who knew all about photography? He'll probably be no use on computers so there's no job as a hovering nerd in the Apple shop. Ditto mobile phones.
Anyway I do eventually find film [but colour not the black and white I wanted} at Rite Aid which still stocks twentieth century goods.
I did least lest get two books in CostCo What on eath are we going to do with them all.?
Tuesday Manage to escape another route march to the coffee bar. One's enough. I want a holiday not an outward bound course but how long will I be allowed to dodge the column. Good weather has returned. Pouring down on the east coat, dry as dust here in the west.
Steady stream of declarations. Sunday Clinton announces her candidature with a nicely populist touch. Monday Jeb Bush,apparently the one with a brain. Today Trump which is the equivalent of John Prescott announcing he's standing for the Tory Party. There's been 106 presidential candidates since 1980 and he's the most unpopular- followed by Pat Buchanan. But he announces that he's paying for his own campaign.There'll be lots more lunatics to come TV divided on whether there are now 12 or 15 republican candidates.
Wednesday
Early morning walk but not far. Town is fairly empty and changes character with the weather. Millions of dollars of expensive housing lie around unused changing from glamorous sun lit palaces to mysterious shacks-Today it's shacks because there's a sea fret and no clear visibility. Beach largely empty apart from as few fat ladies jogging [very slowly] no men jogging but some walking dogs-up to flur-and one small child venturing into the waves. Some houses have got the bunting up for July fourth Most haven't.Evidently the town is packed for that but our stay will come to an end by then.. No sign of Arch who hasn't yet got his visa. Susan says she'll depart next Tuesday but she doesn't fulfill her promises. Will she bring some film Bets even
Not much news from Pomerania. No obvious leader. Not enough {or any] people of stature. Party still fighting the election we've just lost and junking the tougher parts of Milibandism or in some cases all of it to pose as pro business pro EUpro aspiration [not aspirates] and not pro proletariat whose ignoble desires for growth jobs and basnefits cant be granted least it spoil them. Trouble is we're assuming that the next election will be fought on today's grounds with recovery carrying on. More probably it will be even clearer by then that the Euro can't be made to work,that EU is an expensive drag,that British business is losing out in it, that manufacturing isn't going to recover without state help and that British capitalism can't compete but only leach on the state squeeze the consumer and cheat in any way it's allowed.. What price then a Labour still set out to be nice to business ? We should think ahead but in the panic of defeat we're only thinking backward. Tory policies aren't going to work so denounce them now.
Ed Balls off to an unpaid job at Harvard Kennedy school of government. David Blunkett to be boss of David Ross's Grimsby academies.
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