I should say that we have just checked into a hotel near to Nottingham Racecourse which is actually rather pleasant. It may come as a shock to readers living in the hard working South, it certainly was to me, but here I am staring out at green fields. Having said all of that to get here we had to drive through the centre of Nottingham, past scores of deserted victorian factories.
It is a hot day and so naturally those pubs with gardens appeared to be heaving with morbidly obese men and women spending their dole money on alcohol and nicotine.
Ahead of me lies 36 hours of merriment with my wife's family as we celebrate 50 years of marriage for my father and mother in law. My wife's family are not only nearly all from the grom North but also appear, like my own family, to be almost universally left wing. And so the Mrs is keen that I do not raise issues such as the greedy bastards who are the junior doctors (my mother in law like many of them were doctors), the war crimes of Tony Blair, global warming scams, the need for welfare reform, Brexit, the list just goes on and on
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Stick to the weather would be sage advice accept that has obvious dangers too. Silence, or perhaps a few observations about how nice it is that so many folks here in the North seem to be able to afford shoes thjese days, are perhaps the best options going. Wish me luck.