Churches blog updated

Last week we visited Blythburgh and Ufford Churches. I have updated the East Anglian Churches blog to include these. I may add further photos later.

See http://eachurches.blogspot.co.uk/ .

Yet another stroke artifact?

Something else I have noticed is I find it harder to spot spelling mistakes. In the past spelling mistakes were obvious: words just shouted out as wrong, but these days I find I struggle more to even realise the spelling is wrong. Sometimes it is my keyboard but more often it is my inability to spot the error. This is I'm sure an after-effect of my cerebellum brain bleed and not old age.

Also, I tend to forget some things. I may have posted something along these lines before! If so, you may have read this already in the last few months - please accept my apologies. Thankfully, my intellect is still sharp.

Aldeburgh trip

Cottage next to Ufford Church

Today we went to Aldeburgh on the East Coast of East Anglia. We stopped at Snape Maltings for lunch and stopped at Ufford Church on the way there and Blythburgh Church on the way home. Both are famous. At Aldeburgh we saw the famous shell sculpture on the beach. Some hate it, but it is quite dramatic. I like it. It stands about 4m high. At 154 miles, round trip, this was my longest drive since my stroke. At the end I was tired, but it was a lovely day in the September sunshine.  The drive to Devon (where I come from) should be doable with a break on the way there and back.

Sculpture on beach at Aldeburgh, Suffolk, UK

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldeburgh .

Longest reigning monarch

Later today the UK queen will beat Queen Victoria as the longest reigning monarch in British history. I have mixed views on monarchy: it seems to work here (at least with the current queen who is well respected) and I cannot readily think who would be president if we were a republic. Yet somehow the idea of rank and privilege grates on me: why should someone be queen just because her "line" is royal?  No,  I think our queen has served us well, but I have mixed views on the monarchy as a concept.

UPDATE 1856z:  It is official.  The present queen is the longest reigning British monarch of all time.

Syria needs fixing!

I am no politician, but Syria is being torn apart by civil war. An end to the conflict has to be ironed out or the deaths and displacement of millions will go on. The refugee crisis now unfolding is a symptom of the deep unrest in that troubled nation.

It is high time the major powers (USA and Russia in particular) worked together with all sides to forge a fair and lasting peace. No vested interests please, just the well being of all the people in Syria.

It still puzzles me why not a single Gulf state has taken any Syrian refugees.

Butterfly

This morning we did a walk at nearby Anglesey Abbey (NT).  I think this butterfly was dying as it allowed me to get very close indeed without moving. It was on a bush in the herbaceous border.

Weather

According to the Met Office records we had 10% more rain last month than average for August. We seem to have had a very dull summer here with few settled periods:  we seem to have had a few good days followed by rain and yet more rain. We seem to have had no big blocking high pressure systems that give good weather for several weeks.  Maybe we will see this in the autumn?