What a difference a day makes!

What a difference a day makes! Yesterday was sunshine, though mid-afternoon a cold wind got up. Today is wet, wet, wet & very windy. Definitely wild.

We're once more contemplating whether we could manage a holiday. Once more I've looked at the Isle of Man but the problem is the island seems pretty booked up through to October. And we want to go when there is a chance of some warmth.


I finally hit upon the idea of contacting one of the disabled travel companies. We're looking into the possibilities of either a holiday in Venice - I've never been so that would be quite an adventure for me - or a Rhine river cruise, in September. We can't go much before as the Fox has to make yet another hospital trip to get the results of his MRI scan at the beginning of September. At least going with a disabled travel company does ensures everything, including transport to & from the airport, will be accessible. There's even usually help pushing me around if the Fox is too weary. Or the possibility of hiring electric scooters for us both if we need them to get around.


Meanwhile we watch the news on the TV, and the riots. I'm having difficulty thinking of them as riots. To me the characteristic of a riot is anger that has got out of control. But that doesn't seem to be happening here. It may have started that way in Tottenham, but now the mayhem has been taken over by something else. These seems to be more about greed, about looting, about childplay got out of hand.

I can't understand why so many young people are not at home with their families. Our neighbours wouldn't risk their children out in such potential danger. Certainly the riots in Manchester, a place I know, were taking place in the centre of Manchester, a city where few people actually live in the city centre. They must of travelled a bit even if you are talking about an area such as Moss Side. 

Often it seems the poor who are being victimised rather than the wealthy. It is they who are losing their homes above shops being burned down. It is the small corner shop that often is ransacked & burnt. It's people who are just keeping their heads above water, not the wealthy or the powerful. It can't be an anti-fat-cats protest if that's the case. Any more than it is an anti-the-system protest. I don't understand.

I can see young people getting caught up in the frenzy, finding a sort of exuberance in the burning, enjoying the flames & the looting, a sense of no holes barred. But I don't believe that they would instigate it. There's something more here.


I suppose our own concerns are with our family as the riots hit Manchester. The Fox's brother works for the police there. We worry he might be caught up in the violence. We worry, too, the violence may move into the suburbs where his brother lives too. We can't help feeling lucky that, so far, there are no signs of such violence around here. Maybe today's wet weather will put a dampener on the rioters too. Let's hope so.