Saintslass

Vera Lynn. It is amazing that We'll Meet Again endured so well that it became an anthem for the lockdown just a few weeks ago in the way it became an anthem for WW2 all those decades ago. I am glad she lived long enough to resonate with today's generation in the way she did with my parents' generation. She seemed to have had a good and meaningful life. May she rest in peace and her loved ones find comfort.

I've just finished reading two books about actual spies by the same author: Ben Macintyre. One was about Kim Philby (obvs!) and I enjoyed it but the other I found utterly gripping. It's called The Spy and the Traitor and is about Oleg Gordievsky, a colonel in the KGB who ended up spying for MI6 until he was betrayed, and he was spirited out of the USSR in the kind of operation which had Hollywood written all over it. How they succeeded I don't know but they did, and Gordievsky is still alive, living somewhere in the UK under an assumed name (and with a 24 hour armed guard since the Skripal poisonings).

I was a marshal at the St Helens park run for the first few years of its existence but gave up as it became too much with all the other things I was doing. When I stopped being marshal just over 200 were running every week. I was told this morning, when I was turning into a drowned (and freezing) rat as marshal at the St Helens 10K, that there are now 400 running every Saturday morning. That's a great growth rate for a town like St Helens, not known for its energetic activities! There is also a junior parkrun here now too, on a Sunday morning.

Second episode of The Paras - Men of War was on tonight. Followed the final test, called P Company. Brutal.

I've just watched the first instalment of The Paras on ITV (9pm start). Two more to go. Compelling viewing for a civvy like me! It was brutal, funny, poignant at different times but I now have a handle on why they do bonkers things in training. I'm looking forward to part 2 when apparently the training involves stuff that is even more bonkers.

I would suggest that most people who follow a religion believe in one god but I wouldn't say that most religions believe in one god. Given that all religions do vary in their theology, some people will fight over their differences which are very important to them as a faith can be deeply held.

The three biggest religions don't have such 'good books' as they all believe that God is a god of justice as well as a god of love to one degree or another. I don't know much about Hinduism (other than it seems to include every god there is!) but I do know about the three 'religions of the book'. I do know that a lot of Christians get confused about 'works' vs 'grace'.

Latest offering by Boston Dynamics. Freaky!

Chris Parker, the despicable 'homeless' man who fraudulently claimed to have been helping people injured by the Manchester bomber but who in fact stole a young girl's phone (meaning her family could not contact her to see if she was ok) and stole a woman's bag and then went on a spend at McDonalds. Vile man. Hope he has a torrid time in prison.

People on here like to have a go at me for one reason or another, but my tendency towards scepticism when it comes to the motives of the human race are often validated, such as when this obnoxious individual not only steals a debit card from a seriously injured woman who is lying near her dying granddaughter but then proceeds to spend her money, sharing the card with another who also felt able to spend the injured woman's money. To top it off, the obnoxious individual then portrays himself as a hero and loads of money is raised for him by suckers. Thankfully he didn't see a penny of the money. Hopefully he will spend some time behind bars, not least for committing a criminal act against a severely injured woman who lay beside her dying granddaughter. What a hideous individual.

I've just finished reading Days Without End by Sebastian Barry. It was the Costa book of the year last year. I'm not sure what I thought of it really other than it's a bit of a traumatic read. I suppose it has a happy ending but I'm not totally sure! The writing style is different; it's first person colloquial Irish migrant to the US around the time of the civil war. I did find myself feeling very much inside the protagonist's head which was not always a place I wanted to be! It was one of those books that didn't really have a start, middle and end but could have just run on and on. As I say, I'm not sure what I thought of it.

I have just finished reading The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. It is one of the most moving books I have ever read and I would really recommend it - for adults and children.

The Montreal video was amazing! Whoever was filming it from the building opposite must have been astounded, especially when the gritter joined in.

The 'family of privilege' does a lot of work for the UK. The Queen is to entertain Trump next summer. For that alone she should be given extra dosh. You should move to Scotland. They've refused to pay their share towards the royal upkeep.

You do unless you want it to burn down or suffer flood damage. Which other royal residence suffered fire damage a few years back? The cost to the taxpayer of rebuilding was far bigger than it would have been had maintenance been undertaken appropriately. All old buildings cost money to keep safe and keep upright. The palace, like Windsor Castle and countless cathedrals and heaven knows what other heritage buildings we have in this country which encourage so many people to visit it, all cost large sums of money to maintain. This is just another of those costs which wouldn't have been so high had it not been neglected for so long, the responsibility of governments of all shades over the last 20 years.