Letter from home

It's a dreary day here and we're expecting sleet, but the SAD light was too glaring to have on when I first woke up. It's 9 a.m. and it's not yet light enough to paint, so here I am blogging, and then I'm going to write to my MP.*

Since I got home from Colorado I've struggled to find a novel I want to read so turned to my bookshelves, and am now on my third re-read of books I last read 20 years ago. It's amazing how much I have forgotten. I remember the setting and the general thrust and tone of the books but not the plot, so it's been a worthwhile venture.

I have read and enjoyed again: 

How I live Now by Meg Rosoff

A Gathering Light by Jennifer Donnelly

And I am currently halfway through 

The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve.

Do you read books again?

I often reread my favourite novels, of course - read this post to see what they are - but the books above are not favourites - just ones I kept because I enjoyed them and might want to read them again. I certainly don't keep every book I buy.  I give many away, usually to charity shops.

I've been practising for a carol performance at a charity event last Saturday afternoon. It was dark and rainy at 3.50 p.m. when I set off to drive to Chesterfield for the performance, and two miles into the journey I was thinking how foul the weather was, and was it really going to happen? Were we really going to be standing under a gazebo in the freezing cold? So I stopped the car to check my phone and there was a message from Mel - they couldn't erect the gazebo and there as nowhere else that was safe enough and dry enough for us to play. We were cancelled. 

You know what, though? I have enjoyed practising the carols, and I enjoyed practising with the other players. It was good fun. Mel is talking about having a flash mob but I'm not sure I want to be part of a flash mob in a shopping centre in Covid times.

*And now I'm going to write to my MP. They are debating the Nationalities and Borders Bill tomorrow in Parliament, and people who care about the welfare of refugees are writing to their MP today to demand we open safe routes for refugees so there is no need for them to cross the Channel in small boats.

Here is a link to the Safe Passage website which has a suggested text for the email. Safe Passage is a charity that works for the safety of unaccompanied child refugees. Please read what the email says, and then consider sending it. Here are two excerpts:

In the last year, the Government closed safe routes, ending the Dubs relocation scheme for unaccompanied refugee children in Europe and refusing to replace the EU’s Dublin III Regulation which allowed for family reunion. The closure of these safe routes has forced even more children and families to risk their lives to reach sanctuary. 

.............

Right now, there are 11,000 unaccompanied and separated child refugees in Europe. Having fled war and persecution, children are stuck on the streets of Calais or in refugee camps on Greek islands – nobody can call that safe for a child. 

Please raise your voice.