They say you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone and that happened to me with a cheesy toastie on Tuesday.
Made with a bit of Cathedral City and the last tomato in Scotland, this was a lunch to savour and I enjoyed it while gazing out of the window and listening to the news.
President Putin was blethering about the war in Ukraine being all our fault and that he is suspending the New Start nuclear arms control treaty between Russia and America.
It fleetingly felt like the end of the world until I remembered I still have yet to watch the third series of Happy Valley and nothing’s going to get in the way of that.
Armageddon is just going to have to wait, tomatoes or no tomatoes.
Fruit and veg sales limited
Cucumbers and peppers are also in short supply and among the items rationed by Tesco, Aldi and Morrisons.
Asda went further and limited sales of lettuce, salad bags, broccoli, cauliflowers and raspberry punnets to three per customer.
The UK Government is putting the empty shelves situation down to bad weather in Europe and Africa plus high energy costs while any resemblance to a Brexit-fuelled shambles is purely coincidental.
Not only are broccoli and cauliflower off the menu but Scottish pupils are getting another two days off school next week due to teacher strikes – they must think all their birthdays have come at once.
It wasn’t like this in my day, it was all fresh fruit and veg – and an actual education.
Venue speaks volumes about the message
It’s interesting to note the venue a politician picks for an important speech as they are often trying to send a message with their choice.
Sir Keir Starmer opted for the Co-op headquarters in Manchester to unveil Labour’s five missions for the country and talked about a “decade of renewal” in a not-so-subtle hint that he’s looking towards at least two terms in government.
Meanwhile, President Putin delivered his state of the nation address at what appeared to be a botox training academy in Moscow.
Throughout the near two-hour speech, TV cameras continually panned over the audience who showed not a flicker of expression.
Not a raised eyebrow, trace of a smile or frown as the Russian leader discussed neo-Nazis, God and gay rights.
Some had sensibly worn sunglasses, so at least they got to blink.
By contrast, emotion was etched on every face, including President Zelensky’s, as he presented awards to soldiers and families at a memorial service in Kyiv to mark a year since Russia’s invasion.
SNP leadership contender Kate Forbes did raise a few eyebrows with her comments about equal marriage and as a result, lost support from several SNP politicians.
In an attempt to get her campaign back on track, she took to social media to say she felt “greatly burdened” that some of her remarks had “caused hurt, which was never my intention”.
Leadership race
Fellow contender Humza Yousaf came under fierce fire from Labour and the Tories, with Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross claiming he had been “useless” as health secretary and had “made the crisis in Scotland’s health service much worse”.
Launching her campaign, Ash Regan called for an end to “mudslinging” in the leadership contest and reminded colleagues: “We all need to take a breath, we’re all going to be working together at the end of this.”
The new leader is due to be announced on March 27 so that’s quite a deep breath they will have to take if they don’t want to come across like a sack of angry ferrets.
As political commentators had their work cut out, legendary sports commentator John Motson died aged 77 having covered 10 World Cups, 10 European Championships and 29 FA Cup Finals.
After retiring in 2018 having spent 50 years at the BBC he said: “I do remember once going to Salzburg in Austria. Liverpool were playing a European game there, and they put me in a box behind glass. I hate being behind glass; I always want to feel part of the action.”
Surely a sound approach to football as well as this whole messy life in general. Thanks Motty.
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