Summer's end
Sep. 1st, 2019 05:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dolorosa_12This weekend's been a bit of a mixed bag in terms of activities, and it hasn't been particularly relaxing. But given the state of the world, I'm not sure I'm capable of relaxing at the moment, anyway.
I went back to Market Square at Saturday lunchtime for the large Stop the Coup/Defend Democracy rally, which was mostly all right, but frustrating on account of several of the speakers, who seemed set on turning it into a pro-Corbyn rally. I recognise that it was organised by the Labour Party, so there was going to be a slant towards Labour MPs, union leaders and so on as speakers, all of whom clearly want a Corbyn government very much — but that was not why the rally had been called. It had been called to protest Boris Johnson's prorogation of parliament, and, secondarily, to protest a no-deal Brexit. A Corbyn government may be the best — or indeed the only — way to stop those things, but I was not at the rally due to a burning desire for Corbyn to be prime minister, and I resented the attempts of several speakers to pretend this was so. In other words, stop frothing in rage about Lib Dems and Blairites: there are fascists at the gates. Stop that immediate threat first. (And, from a purely practical perspective, basically the only way they are going to get their Corbyn government is by keeping the Lib Dems, 'Blairites', and at minimum one Conservative MP on side, so relitigating the coalition years and the past three general elections is profoundly unhelpful.)
After the rally, Matthias and I met up with our friends L, C, and their four-month-old baby daughter (who we were meeting for the first time) for lunch. L and C were pretty sleep deprived, which was very understandable, but it was nice to sit out in the sun and catch up. They live in Devon now, and we normally only see them about once or twice a year, so I appreciated that they'd made the effort to travel through Cambridge en route to a holiday in Norfolk.
Today I've been alternating between scrolling in despair and fury through Twitter, and reading The Paper Bark Tree Mystery, the third in Ovidia Yu's series of cozy mysteries set in 1930s Singapore.
I can't say it's been a particularly restful weekend, but these are not restful times.
I went back to Market Square at Saturday lunchtime for the large Stop the Coup/Defend Democracy rally, which was mostly all right, but frustrating on account of several of the speakers, who seemed set on turning it into a pro-Corbyn rally. I recognise that it was organised by the Labour Party, so there was going to be a slant towards Labour MPs, union leaders and so on as speakers, all of whom clearly want a Corbyn government very much — but that was not why the rally had been called. It had been called to protest Boris Johnson's prorogation of parliament, and, secondarily, to protest a no-deal Brexit. A Corbyn government may be the best — or indeed the only — way to stop those things, but I was not at the rally due to a burning desire for Corbyn to be prime minister, and I resented the attempts of several speakers to pretend this was so. In other words, stop frothing in rage about Lib Dems and Blairites: there are fascists at the gates. Stop that immediate threat first. (And, from a purely practical perspective, basically the only way they are going to get their Corbyn government is by keeping the Lib Dems, 'Blairites', and at minimum one Conservative MP on side, so relitigating the coalition years and the past three general elections is profoundly unhelpful.)
After the rally, Matthias and I met up with our friends L, C, and their four-month-old baby daughter (who we were meeting for the first time) for lunch. L and C were pretty sleep deprived, which was very understandable, but it was nice to sit out in the sun and catch up. They live in Devon now, and we normally only see them about once or twice a year, so I appreciated that they'd made the effort to travel through Cambridge en route to a holiday in Norfolk.
Today I've been alternating between scrolling in despair and fury through Twitter, and reading The Paper Bark Tree Mystery, the third in Ovidia Yu's series of cozy mysteries set in 1930s Singapore.
I can't say it's been a particularly restful weekend, but these are not restful times.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-01 06:54 pm (UTC)Good luck enjoying some relaxing moments between the craziness, anyway.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-02 07:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-09-02 11:13 am (UTC)Cozy murder mysteries are very soothing. When troubled, I put on an old episode of Poirot and it is like sinking into a warm bath.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-03 07:14 am (UTC)Cozy mysteries are great. I've really enjoyed the Ovidia Yu trilogy, even though I can spot who the killer is from about the second chapter.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-03 09:50 am (UTC)Oh yes, they sound fun! I heard about the series about a month ago and it seemed like an fun read. I will try to pack it into my tight reading schedule, eventually ^^;;
no subject
Date: 2019-09-03 11:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-09-05 06:50 am (UTC)