Bella Ciao

Bella Ciao is a folk song originating in World War II resistance movements in Italy. It continues to be a part of anti-fascist protests throughout the world. I came across it in the wonderful TV series Money Heist, which glorifies anti-establishment themes and in which Bella Ciao occurs as a leitmotif to characterise the robbers' anti-authoritarian instincts. Freedom for the people! Of course, they also set out to steal billions of euros' worth of currency and gold bars. The song provides moments of joyous celebration when things go well - which they don't always. Absolutely no spoilers, though, because you'll want to watch this.

You can sing along:

One morning I awakened,
oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao!
One morning I awakened
And I found the invader.

Oh partisan carry me away,
oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao
oh partisan carry me away
Because I feel death approaching.

And if I die as a partisan,
oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao
and if I die as a partisan
then you must bury me.

Bury me up in the mountain,
oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao
bury me up in the mountain
under the shade of a beautiful flower.

And all those who shall pass,
oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao
and all those who shall pass
will tell me "what a beautiful flower."

This is the flower of the partisan,
oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao
this is the flower of the partisan
who died for freedom

Looping and Ringing

It has 607 square miles and over nine million inhabitants. There are 9,197 miles of roads and 2,671 miles of rail.  There are 3000 parks and green spaces which cover 18% of its area - but its glory is two long distance paths called The Capital Ring and The London Loop.  The Ring is 78 miles and is the inner circle while the Loop is the outer circle and is 150 miles.  

Being retired has enabled me to fulfil a long held ambition to get to know the city that I’ve lived in for two thirds of my life. Every weekend, and even more in lockdown, we explored one of the sections which can be anything from four to ten miles.  The paths link as many parks and green spaces as possible and when that’s not possible they follow the more interesting parts of the built environment. Some of which follow. 

The picture at the top though is London’s heart - the Thames which, when you get to know it, is the most fascinating river in England. 

Fairly close to home is St Mary’s in Bexley where Ted Heath often played the organ.  It’s spire is shingled with two storeys and is the only example in England. 

Here for example is the grave of the founder of the Salvation Army buried in Abney Park in a cemetery reserved for Nonconformists and therefore quite simple in contrast to the florid Victorian C of E examples.  

Here’s Horsenden Hill - silver birches against a cerulean sky. 

Wet December

I always thought the notion of such ideas as a Dry January were absurd. Marketing ploys or, occasionally as with Movember, charitable endeavours. There is nothing in this world that would persuade me to grow a moustache

or commit to a whole month without alcohol - or cheese, mushrooms, pizza, whatever.

I drink little alcohol but, in the approach to Christmas, it feels like I should prepare for the festive season. It would be churlish to decline offers of champagne, a good wine and a glass of brandy, so my body needs to be ready. Hence Wet December. I'll be looking for a bottle of Armagnac tomorrow, together with some decent Rioja. No alcoholic beer though - too fattening.

UPDATE: Couldn't find any Armagnac so went for Drambuie instead. More Christmassy anyway. I used to like Tia Maria so might get some of that too. Can you get decaff Tia Maria? News to follow in due course.

Ready for Christmas

Just need to get some festive underpants. And a Santa beanie.

20 is too big a number

I watch football matches in which I have "skin in the game", as they say. "They" being I don't know who but let's move on. My interest might be in supporting one of the teams, wanting one of the teams to lose because it would benefit a team I support, maybe just expecting lots of goals. No dreary goalless draws please, let's have action!

The England womens' football team has been providing plenty of action recently. On Tuesday they beat Latvia 20-0 in a World Cup Qualifying match. Twenty! They have so far won all six of their games in group D, scoring 53 goals and conceding none. I wasn't watching because it coincided with another match in which I had that skin stuff. But would I have continued to watch such a one-sided match, once the score reached say 10-0? I'm not sure; I have no previous experience to go on.

In the mens' World Cup qualifying competition we are used to "minnows" like San Marino, Gibraltar and Liechtenstein conceding 6 or 7 and some people complain that "this is embarrassing; there should be a pre-qualifying competition to weed out the weakest nations" and others respond by asserting that these teams will learn, and eventually get better, by playing the top teams.

Overall I think the situation in that case is just about OK and I can see both sides of the argument. But twenty? What can Latvia learn by losing 20-0 to England? They already know they aren't very good, presumably, having conceded 46 goals in their five matches, but this must be horrendously demoralising. And there is a sense in which serious mis-matches undermine the integrity of sport. Had I been watching, I would almost certainly have switched off at half time with the score 8-0. No fun.

By the way, football commentators often use the "this could be a cricket score" phrase when faced with a team scoring five or six in the first half of a game, but this displays a certain ignorance of the game of cricket, where scores of two, three and four hundred are typical. Just saying.

Refugee Christmas

Just back from a lovely family stay in Whitstable. Highlight was yesterday's erection and decorating of the Christmas tree. I know, it's still November, but in these times of virus depression, it cheered us all up.

Last year I decided to nominate Crisis UK as my Christmas charity. I was moved by my daughter in law Gabby's interest in the plight of homeless people and have continued to donate in the last 12 months. This year I'm going for the Refugee Council. As regular readers will know, I have been exercised by the inhumane attitudes to and treatments of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK. I recognise that judgments have to be made about the legitimacy of asylum claims but expect my fellow citizens and my government to treat these people with respect while they undergo processing. Human beings, not animals. In the Council's words "we exist to support those who come to the UK in need of safety and we speak out for compassion, fairness and kindness."

The Refugee Council happens to be one of three charities chosen jointly by the Times and Sunday Times for their Christmas appeal this year. Their journalists can illuminate the issue far better than I can:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/times-christmas-appeal-2021-our-lives-our-dreams-our-country-collapsed-the-refugee-council-helped-to-give-us-hope-again-jd66l2dp2

You might like to read the Refugee Council's tribute to the 27 men, women and children who tragically lost their lives last week whilst trying to reach safety in Britain.

https://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/latest/news/refugee-council-pays-tribute-to-27-people-who-died-last-night/