April has been quite full of action of various sorts. I had a meeting of the Law Society's Charity - I have been a trustee for years. Money has got a bit tight recently, but we still have some to dish out, supporting various specific charitable bodies in the legal field, such as Book Aid International, which supplies legal text books to third world countries, and Fair Trials Abroad, which sends lawyers to represent Brits on capital charges in foreign countries. With the serious, and wrong-minded, curtailment of legal aid, there are more and more litigants in person, some of whom really do need professional help to achieve justice, The Personal Support Unit, run by volunteers in the main hall of the Law Courts in the Strand and at the larger courts round the country, who provide some of this, but in the end, there are expenses, and sometimes a barrister really does have to be used, and they have to have some sort of financial support.
Later in the month we went to Aldeburgh with friends Derek and Jackie. Very pleasant time. Visited Kessingland, just inland from Lowestoft, where some of my father's relatives used to live. Great Aunt Agatha (Truly!) and Great Aunt Martha were too elderly ladies who lived in a cottage with an end wall coated in tar to keep out the wind-blown rain from making the wall too wet, it was that exposed. Agatha was just like Giles' Grandma, and taught me,at age 9 or thereabouts, how to mull Guinness by making the poker red hot in the fire and then plunging it into the glass full. Martha only had one eye, but was a very gentle lady. The water supply was one tap, and the loo was a privy at the bottom of the back garden. Remember 'The Specialist'? A splendid book about a privy builder in the back end of the wild west. He would have built something like the great aunts had.
Back home in time for the Investment Club dinner, and then to Derbyshire/Staffordshire to see friend David who I first met in Cayman many years age and who has been kind enough to keep in contact. He celebrated his birthday by buying us lunch. Thank you David - my turn next time!
Back home for the village Dramatic Society play - Life and Beth by Alan Ayckbourn. It was the first play he wrote after his stroke in 2006, and was very good indeed. It's been a theatrical month as we went to Eastbourne last week to see The Pitmen Painters. Very funny indeed. Just as good as a London theatre, but half the price which is only a saving of you do not first have tea and buns in the Grand Hotel in Eastbourne, but you have to eat somewhere....
All for this month. Having bought a Sat Nav, I leave you with this thought:
I have a little SatNav
I have a little SatNav.
It sits there in my car.
A SatNav is a driver's friend,
It tells you where you are.
I have a little SatNav.
I've had it all my life.
It’s better than the normal ones.
My SatNav is my wife.
It gives me full instructions,
Especially how to drive
"It's thirty miles an hour," it says,
"You're doing thirty-five."
It tells me when to stop and start
And when to use the brake,
And tells me that it's never, ever
Safe to overtake.
It tells me when a light is red
And when it goes to green.
It seems to know instinctively,
Just when to intervene.
It lists the vehicles just in front
And all those to the rear
And taking this into account,
It specifies my gear.
I'm sure no other driver
Has so helpful a device,
For when we leave and lock the car,
It still gives its advice
It fills me up with counselling
Each journey's pretty fraught,
So why don't I exchange it
And get a quieter sort?
Ah well, you see, it cleans the house,
Makes sure I'm properly fed.
It washes all my shirts and things
And keeps me warm in bed!
Despite all these advantages
And my tendency to scoff,
I really wish that just for once,
I could ******* turn it off.
