Harvey can't understand why we've rushed indoors. I'm sure there must be something about the rain not falling on the innocent.
I've written to the local paper! I often threaten to but rarely does the enthusiasm endure. But this time I've actually done it.
There was a report in Friday's paper about a big effort by police to get drug dealers off the streets. Since March dozens of suspects have been arrested. It mentioned that three of them have now been imprisoned; the report also saw fit to say that the three were all Big issue sellers.
Too many people already have the wrong impression of Big Issue sellers: they see them as no-good beggars. In fact, the majority are trying hard to find a way off the streets. Selling the Big Issue magazine - which they have buy before they can sell it - is, for many, the first step to getting into employment and the community. It's work, not begging and part of the ethos of the Big Issue is to raise self-esteem in people who have a very low opinion of themselves by giving them something worthwhile to do, that earns them some money. Most of them are not drug dealers. To mention this in the report simply reinforces the stereotype that exists.
Off my soapbox.
Yesterday, after the gardening, we took a drive out to the marina. There must be a lot of rich people around. It's not just the price of the boat initially - £500,000 for the ones I really like - it's the cost of mooring it and technical terms that husband explained to me, but I wasn't really listening, preferring instead to imagine myself lounging on the deck of a boat, somewhere round the Caribbean, or shall we go to the Indian Ocean this month?
Rich people but we're not among them. Lots of flashy and not-so-flashy boats in the Marina. The national industrial museum is built on the edge of the marina and several of the exhibits are floating in it. As well as a lightship and something else - I think it was something to do with canning - there's a tug called Thomas. Thomas is a Normandy D-Day veteran and was the first diesel tug owned by the Admiralty.
It was interesting to see the old and the new juxtaposed.
