One person one vote....

I am fairly ambivalent to the result of the European referendum. I don't know if that is because of my age, or because I no longer live in the South East. Merseyside voted to stay, and as a Labour hotbed, that is no surprise. They follow the party line up here, but that dictated by Joe Anderson and Frank Field rather than Jeremy Corbyn. Usually a vote for the Conservatives is a wasted vote, but last Thursday the one person, one vote system saw a much higher voter turnout, and a significantly close vote. I have not heard much disappointment voiced on the Wirral.

I think it was apparent even during the renegotiation that David Cameron did not have the appetite to manage a Brexit, and that was confirmed by his early resignation notification. Bonking Boris stood to win whichever way things panned out, and the clever people he surrounds himself with are likely to earn their money in the coming months.

Farange is a fringe play in all this, but it is disappointing that racial vandalism has reared it's head in some of the immigrant dominated areas of the Country. The authorities should move swiftly to stamp that out.

Our poisoned dwarf North of the border is rattling her cage, but she must remember that a once in a lifetime independence referendum does not become a best of three, overnight. She should be reminded that if Alex Salmond had been successful, Scotland would have  been running cap in hand to Westminster as the slump in oil prices would have almost made the Country bankrupt.
I would love to be a fly on their wall when she meets Angela Merkel to request EU membership. "Run along now Nicola, there's a good girl, what did you say you had to offer?"

The biggest winners here will be the financial institutions who are already manipulating the markets to their best advantage, and the large legal firms who are wringing their hands in expectation of the large fees to be charged going forward.

It's been four days now since the vote....the UK political process, and Labour in particular, have taken a real battering, and the EU have had a wake up call. People were fed up with the lack of dynamism at home and the increase in restrictions imposed from abroad. Those who voted to join a Common Market in 1975 did not want it to develop into a political superpower and have had a chance to make their views known. Now it's time for our elected representatives to earn their corn and plot a way towards a new Great Britain which shows leadership, originality and solidarity while still supporting Europe through tried and tested alliances.

All bumpy roads get resurfaced eventually.

Figs, Sri Lanka and beer

I have discussed my Lord's attendance record here before, and the trend continues. I also wrote about the demise of Crockers Folly as long ago as 2009. That situation I am pleased to say has been reversed, but more on that later.

Going to Lord's on a Saturday has long been the tradition, but now I and SWMBO are available for recreational pastimes all week, we thought we would go on a Thursday for a change. We have suffered some dull Saturday's so some first day excitement would be good.

We were not disappointed either as Sri Lanka showed more steel than the first two tests and only a late century from Johnny Bairstow wrestled some parity back for England.

We punctuated out day with a mid match expedition to a local pub and were delighted we could revisit above mentioned Crickets. Eight years ago I wrote about it but it may have closed longer. It has been expertly restored to it's original but is now more a restaurant with a bar than the other way round. They welcomed the cricket crew willingly and had London Pride on draught. Bliss.

Life often has the habit of balancing highs and lows to keep everything in perspective. This weekend was no exception as our weekend started with a visit to my mate Figs. Figs and I have shared many days at Lords  as chronicled in the first link above, but I am now concerned we will never be able to so again.

A few weeks ago he was taken to hospital with a heart problem. His ticker has been less than 100% for some years but this incident saw him moved to Harefield hospital for a valve replacement and defibrillating pacemaker. Much like the young England cricketer James Taylor, has had fitted this week.

Unfortunately they did not think Figs was up to the op so they sent him home for strength conditioning and weight loss regimes. Sadly last week he suffered a stroke and has been in Atkinson Morley Neurological unit for several days. He has now been moved to Kingston for rehab. He has lost the use of his left arm and some movement in his leg. His speech is degraded and memory confused. It is all very distressing not least forMarion, his SWMBO.

They will scan him again in two weeks so lets hope there is improvement.