My first blogging task today was to answer comments and the second was to add a note to yesterday’s blog as I was tired when I wrote is and didn’t explain something properly.

Unlike life you can actually go back a day and improve it. If only you could do that in reality. It’s something I have often thought about, and have blogged about a few times. My main conclusions are that I wouldn’t want to be a teenager again (too painful) and I wouldn’t want to do anything that would risk me not meeting Julia.  On a more practical note, I wouldn’t want to live in a time before antibiotics and anaesthetics either.

I’m having a blood test tomorrow, then a Covid booster (booked on the computer this morning) and am then taking Julia to the dentist They rang her today and told her they had a cancellation. This means her treatment will progress faster, but also means she will have to visit the dentist. It’s one of those things – everyone wants to avoid painful teeth but nobody wants to visit the dentist. I’m not exactly antsy with anticipation.

Bee Mural – Stoke

We had an interesting find in a collection of postal covers today – two of them were signed. The owner wandered through from the front of the shop and asked “Do you know who Millvina Dean was?”

The name sounded familiar, and I drilled deep into my accumulated memories of 30 years as an antique dealer before finding the answer. Millvina Dean was the youngest passenger to be rescued from the Titanic, at the age of two months. I’m not sure if the others were impressed by my depth of knowledge, but as a man who has trouble remembering what I did yesterday, I was impressed I could remember something like that. They aren’t hugely valuable because she lived to be over 90 and signed a lot of stuff as interest in the Titanic grew.

No, I can’t understand it either. It was a ship, it sank. It doesn’t require the same level of effort as climbing a mountain or discovering the source of the Nile. It’s strange what we hold on to from history.

If you want to read something interesting about Titanic survivors, try this link. I find it very interesting, and there’s a good chance you might too. I won’t tell you anything about it, as it might spoil the surprise.

Pictures are off the canal side murals we saw at Stoke last week.

Bee and other things – Stoke