COVID-19 UPDATE FROM SOLIHULL: The Milk, The Verge Art, The Street Jamming and VE Day…

The Milk, The Verge Art, The Street Jamming and VE Day…

So, it was the buying of the necessity known as milk this morning, although a search of One Stop’s shelves for not-so-necessary tinned grapefruit proved, er, fruitless. I looked about me furtively, then bought a copy of the totally unnecessary Non-League Paper, although, should the bog-roll run out, it might prove to be very necessary indeed. Only one other chap entered the store, a man perhaps around the sixty years of age mark and he was buying crisps, as far as I could make out but the thing was, he stood where customers exit the till area, not at the queuing-for-paying gap. He must have been a regular and so I was surprised at his ignorance. I stood and waited for him to shift. It was possibly my frown which initiated a sudden sideways movement from the fellow…

On the way to the shop, I had walked, quite distanced, through a gully into Micklehill Drive but on the right-hand verge there was a strange sight. The council’s grass-cutting men had been at work but a small tree branch had been lying on one verge for some weeks and it was clear that the chap with the slicing implement had simply trimmed around it, leaving grass protruding from between the slim limbs. A piece of artwork, I thought, or perhaps it wasn’t his job to lift the feeble obstruction clear, even for a moment. I despaired…

Recent days have brought early afternoon walks, monitored as ever by Captain Neville from Stretton Road, who will not be fooled by folks exercising more than once. He told me with some regret yesterday that he should be holidaying in Cyprus at the moment and thus I reckoned it sensible not to be spotted even nipping out to post a letter for a few days…

Sporty vehicles with loud, too-heavy-on-the-base-R-&-B-type music thumping along quiet roads have irritated regularly this week but what has been noticeable is the speed that drivers have used whilst negotiating not only 30mph side-roads, but also the humps which lurk in them. Makes zig-zagging from pavement to pavement a little more adventurous, to avoid shit-bagging dog walkers, wheezing pavement joggers and cyclists in Tour de France costumes who slither by like professionals…  

Another week is about to begin and I am gonna beat my drum on Thursday evening at 8pm, which will make a change from the whistles, bells, hand-clapping and camel-bongers which usually grace my road… 

And on Friday, maybe we should all sit on garden chairs on our drives, drinking tea and chobbling Rich Tea biscuits to celebrate VE Day and wave to our neighbours…

A Socially-Distanced-Only-Consuming-The-Necessities-Street-Party…

So cool…