Newsletter

September 2020

All past issues of the Newsletter are available on the website.

The Newsletter is published by The Carlton, Gedling & District U3A. (Reg. Charity No. 1157211) Views expressed are not necessarily those of the U3A or Editor

The Page 1 Newsletter http://u3asites.org.uk/carlton-gedling/home Notices

If you manage to read this before the 17th near to having to dress Sept our AGM will be on this date, and will for the colder months be done via Zoom internet conferencing. I to continue to do this. would like to urge as many of you to attend Oh well it’ll soon be the meeting as possible please as this is Chrxxxxxx!! It appears your U3A and this is your platform to shape that some shops are the future of the Carlton and Gedling U3A already making space and to raise any objections or agreements for their ‘Chrxxxxxx’ as to the way we should go forward. I items, and I find it apologies to those of you who do not have wrong at this time of internet access, but the AGM has been year, what are your rescheduled once as we could not meet as thoughts. We try not to usual at the Richard Herrod Centre and talk about the ‘Festive’ therefore as per our constitution, we are season in our house allowed to do it this way and the number of until nearer the time, and especially not until people who attend will constitute the after my daughter’s birthday on 5 November. quorum. On a lighter note I have been making the Please stay aware and well. best of the warm weather and getting out on Richard my bike, but I’m afraid the time is getting

Be prepared for after social restrictions by letting me know if you want to organise or take part in any of these groups Adapted Sports Have you heard of walking football, sometimes called Slow Football? There are other popular adapted sports for senior citizens, to keep us active and fit, including cricket and kicking golf! If you have ideas for adapted sports you’d like to participate in let me know. Most people feel safer in outdoor venues these days, but leisure centres etc. are trying hard to follow guidelines to make access as safe as possible.

Pickleball A new group for this version of tennis, adapted for ‘seniors’ on an indoor court at Carlton Forum. Before Covid measures were put in place this group was meeting on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of the month and the cost was £2.50 to cover court hire and buying equipment. Carlton Forum is currently using the courts for classes and not yet willing to have Pickleball sessions because of sharing equipment but are looking into ways of making it workable. . Interest has been shown in a Basic Computer Skills group, and we are fortunate that Pat and Richard Downing have offered to convene it. Please let me know if you’d like to be put on the email list so that we are ready when we ‘get real’ again.

Ole! Spanish conversation group. We are indeed fortunate to have a man of many languages in our U3A branch in Gary Rosam. He has kindly offered to run a small group when Covid-19 is no longer a problem. Sign up a the next general Continued over… meeting to express interest. Continued over…

The Page 2 Newsletter Continued … Have you taken up a new interest during lockdown that you’d like to promote in a new interest group? I’d be happy to help get any new groups started either by Zoom or in reality within government guidelines. Maggie Martinez [email protected]

Zoom for the nervous, hostile or terrified If you are comfortable using zoom, read another article. This one is not for you. This article is for people who have never tried zoom or who tried it once and didn’t like it. Zoom is probably the easiest way for several people to meet up on line. It is very flexible. You can share video clips, pictures, music – anything which you can bring up on your computer. You can even join by phone (see below in this short article).

Why should I bother?

There are lots of reasons to learn how to zoom, but there are probably 6 main ones: · It opens up new horizons · It stops you missing out · More and more of our interest groups are using zoom. Our ability to meet in face to face groups will probably get less as autumn and winter make meeting outside impracticable · You can boast about your new tech savvy skills to your grandchildren, great grandchildren and anyone else who’s prepared to listen · It’s dead easy You can even join by telephone (although you won’t see the picture unless it’s a smart phone)

What do I have to do?

Joining by laptop or pc

You will be receiving an invitation by email and only need to click on a link and the device will guide you through simple steps to set up a temporary link to Zoom and join you to the meeting. Once in the meeting you can switch your video and audio on and off. Zoom will show you who is speaking. At the end of the meeting Zoom will terminate the connection and disappear from your device. (If you want to set up your own meetings, you will need to install the software.)

Joining by smart phone or tablet

You need to download the zoom app to your smartphone, then away you go!

Joining by phone

You can even join by phone, if you really want to. Most of the invitations from our U3A will in future provide you with a land line number to call. Remember, unless you have some sort of landline package, this could be a relatively expensive option.

What do I do next?

Next time you get an invitation to join a zoom meeting, just say ‘yes’ and click on the link.

Paul Martinez

The Page 3 Newsletter In 2014 ‘Three Men in a Boat’, written in 1889 by Jerome K Jerome, was voted the Guardians 25th best novel in the Guardian 100, referring to it as Book Club a comic gem. It was billed as a comic romp along the river Thames and we were charged with the assertion that comedy in literature is not always taken seriously enough. It has been read as a classic at schools and viewed on the big screen as well as TV serialisation.

The group of us who met on Zoom after reading it, however, were of mixed opinions. Some enjoyed the descriptions of the area, in fact I had followed the route during my college years. It seemed to work as a travelogue for a few of the group. Others found them long, tedious and imposed as a distraction from the three arrogant young men and their dog.

Initially, the novel, as was common at the time, was serialised in a magazine and the tone and length of the chapters fits well with this. Jerome did not intend it to be funny and was perplexed at its success. But it has achieved international acclaim and been translated into many languages. As a couple of us failed to connect with the book enough to finish it and another of our group chose to listen as she rode her bike, we were confused by this, especially as it seemed to poke fun at some of the standards of the day. But . maybe that was its very appeal, mocking his first audience. We also cannot leave a review of this novel without commenting on the prejudices prevalent throughout; class, sex and racism were all widely present in a raw and ugly state, bathed in flippant japery. Maybe that is why we felt that this ‘classic’ had not stood the test of time; its lasting strength to be deconstructed as a study of the prejudices of the times.

Other books read by the group that we would like to recommend are:

· The Green Road by Anne Enright; her 6th novel and concerns the lives of the Madigan family from 1980 to present day.

· The Familiars debut novel by Stacy Hills; set during the persecution of the Pendle witches in rural Lancashire in 17th Century, entwining real, documented characters into a flight of fancy.

· The Tree of Man by Patrick White; a look a group of inarticulate indigenous characters in who are brought to life through the eyes of the author.

· The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne (author of the Boy in the Striped Pyjamas); a novel about the search for a sense of self in the Republic of Ireland

This month we are reading Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood. Copies are available at Carlton Library held for the Carlton and Gedling U3A Book Club. No need to search, just ask at the desk!

Coleen Bee

The Page 4 Newsletter In the mid 1970s I worked at the Shire Hall, payments being increased. This didn’t go down (now the Galleries of Justice) then the well. Several hours later the public door opened Magistrates courts for the county of and closed quickly, but not quickly enough for me Nottinghamshire along with the Crown courts. My not to recognise the young man from earlier. office of work was the fines and fees office Then the smell hit us, he’d only thrown a stink where, as the name indicates we issued the bomb into the office! I typed out a warrant for notices of fine and collected the monies paid. him as well! The building had hardly been modernised at all, there was an old heating system and to One day two young men came into to pay a supplement this from October to March we had speeding fine of £30. I was suspicious of their an open fire in the office, great for toasting giggling as I wrote out a receipt (no computers in teacakes in our lunch break but not for keeping those days) then I asked for the money. How do us warm! Female magistrates were not allowed we give it to you they asked, I indicated the gap to wear trousers so neither were the female office under the screen, “But it won’t fit?” they giggled I staff! was confused, and asked why not. They held up two cash bags, complete with bank seals, one Many of the fines issued were for road traffic contained £20 in 1pence and the other £10 in ½ offences, speeding, driving without due care, pence! “I’m not accepting that” I told them, “it defective tyres etc. Most of these were paid by isn’t legal currency, 20p is the most I need accept cheques or postal orders sent to us in the post in bronze coins” It’s got the queens head on it” but many of the petty criminals who were fined they retorted, “I don’t care if its got the kings head were on the dole and came into the office to on it, you can take it straight back to the bank make weekly payments. If they got behind with and change it for notes” I told them. They started their payments warrants were issued for them to to get abusive, an old man had come into the return to court for non-payment and that would office and joined in, “you can’t talk to her like that, often result with a suspended sentence being she’s got an f****g skirt on!” An argument ensued issued to be implemented if they fell into arrears between the three of them, the lads told the old again. We tried to be helpful, “If you don’t bring man to go and play on the motorway and he told your payment up to date” I told one man, “then them to bring the motorway into the office and he you’ll end up in prison for non-payment”. “It won’t would do!! Things were getting out of hand and I bother me duck, I’ve been to prison more times rang the police station next door and they sent than you’ve had ‘ot dinners” was the reply. After someone round. My friendly PC quickly he left the office I went and typed out the warrant dispatched the lads off to the bank and waited for his arrest. We didn’t see him again until he whilst the old guy paid his fine and was escorted got caught for committing yet another crime! out, still grumbling away. The PC came back in to Another young man got behind with his payments ask what he’d been fined for in the first place. I and asked if his payments could be reduced, I looked at his records – Drunk and Disorderly! asked if his outgoings had increased but to the contrary, they had gone down so I advised him a Pat Downing return to court would probably result in his

Please send contributions for next month’s issue by

Sunday 4th October to [email protected] Articles for the website should be sent to Graeme Bunting

The Page 5 Newsletter Group Reports Poetry Appreciation Group

At August's Poetry Appreciation zoomed meeting members read haikus they had either found or composed themselves.. As we usually read the works of established authors it was a change to try to produce something ourselves. A haiku should consist of three lines of 5 then 7 then 5 syllables and should make Some reference to the seasons or nature. These are some of those we produced. Haiku production can become addictive. Have a go yourself.

1. A quartet of haikus to be read together. Cuckoo sings haiku Rising lark sings in the air Sing your song of spring.

Spring brings life from the soil. Summer warms the swelling bud. I didn’t go to private school Harvest fills the barns. I didn’t go to private school Seasons fly on wings. A pupil with a parent Nature rules our life and loves Buying privilege Earth rolls on her course. Provider and propeller Winter chills the ground For the ‘Polished ‘ Death has reached the frozen root. Into prominence. Life waits for the spring to come. Oxbridge universities Parliamentary position 2. I said her eyebrows A place on Were drawn too high on her head Britain’s rich list. She looked surprised. A Professor at the OU 3. Long walks in sun through Asked me Trees, new places, picnic for lunch, With a condescending air Worries far away. ‘ Haven’t you read The lliad ‘. A Student , Teacher disconnect 4. Corona virus, Brings boredom, masks, restrictions. Which left me in despair. Despoiling summer. No... I’m not a seven percenter I didn’t go to private school 5. (This one is from a toothbrush!) Buying privilege Come paste, together We will beautify the world Ann Glynn With gleaming gnashers.

6. (Another toothy one, translated from Japanese) Clouds float in a sea Of blue. Gentle brush electric Caresses my teeth.

Rene Battershall.

The Page 6 Newsletter Family History Group

Thanks Brenda Our convenor, Brenda Bowers, has had to stand down from running the Family History Group for personal reasons. As an original member of the group when Brenda started it back in 2012 / 2013, I want to thank her for her efforts over all these years. She did our monthly group alongside involvement in national family history organisations at local and national level. Busy. Through all that experience she has a depth of knowledge to help our members with their research. And on top of that she did personal tutoring at home. So, thanks Brenda. When we return to whatever is the “new normal”, the Family History group will have to be “under new management”. Some of us more experienced members of the group intend to continue and possibly develop what Brenda started. Existing and new members will be welcome. Who knows when or where we will be able to meet again but it doesn't matter because our ancestors are not going anywhere soon. The research still has to be done. Something to look forward to.

Eric Rennie

5 (or 6) Miles and a Cup of Tea

A huge thank you to Terry for all the hard work he has put in to ensure the success of this group in the past.

I know it is difficult times but I would like to see if it is viable to start the group up again on the 4th Tuesday of the month.

We cannot car share at the moment so we will meet and start the walk from Ranmore Road car park in groups of 6 at staggered times from 10am, keeping to the government guidelines.

IF YOU WISH TO GO ON THIS WALK PLEASE EMAIL ME before Mon 21st September at [email protected] and I will allocate you to a group. I will email everyone back on 21st Sept to let you know your leader and time of meeting .

The following rules apply to each walker.

1. Please do not go to a walk if you are feeling unwell or have any coronavirus symptoms 2. Bring your own food and drink if required. 3. Be prepared – in addition to your normal walking kit, always carry: a. A first aid kit (your own is safer than using the walk leaders) b.. Face covering in case of incidents (compulsory) c. Hand sanitiser that is a minimum of 60% alcohol (compulsory) 4. During the walk follow the latest government guidelines on social contact and physical distancing. 5. Avoid touching gates, stiles and seats where possible. Gloves can help with this and regularly use hand sanitiser during the walk. 6. If you become unwell with coronavirus within 7 days after the walk, please inform the 5 mile and a cup of tea convenor for contact tracing reasons.

The first walk will be on Tuesday 22nd September, starting at 10am from Ranmore Road Car park. On this 6 mile walk we will go up the fields to Lambley then along Lambley dumbles and back up to Gedling country park. Hopefully we will be able to see Lincoln cathedral from the new viewing platform.

Hope to see you in September Sue Fairweather

The Page 7 Newsletter Discussion Group “Unprecedented”

Well we are just about back to normal, albeit on Zoom, with 6/7 people meeting for our August Discussion again. The constraints of zoom do mean that we cannot get particularly heated, cannot interrupt each other or have our normal coffee and biscuits banter. However, because we have chosen to discuss “current affairs” rather than our normal pre-selected topics, we do manage to get a few things off our chests.

Such as ;- What words and phrases are being overused at the moment and are often just not true in these “unprecedented “ times. Unprecedented is the first one! “we are managing the problem”, “checks and balances”, “world beating” (huh?), “granular detail”.

Other topics covered this month included Black Lives Matter (or as we prefer All Lives Matter) and the BBC decision to not sing Rule Brittania and Land of Glory – that one gained me an unexpected response as several people felt the whole Last Night of the Proms is now outdated. Personally I love it.

We had bit of a rant about Quangos – there are 412 of them apparently. What are they all doing and who has control? After all Public Health England ran a practice pandemic scenario and still had insufficient PPE ready by a long chalk and even now no trace and track app that works.

We are still very concerned about climate change – not much evidence of eco housing in all the new developments going up everywhere, planned obsolescence still seems to be rife in new appliances, carbon capture experiments are still minute and do not seem to have scaled up since first mooted as a possibility, and so it goes on……

The High Street (or lack thereof currently) continues to be a favourite topic and several members felt that a tax on online shopping needs to be levied to give the small shops a bit of a chance. I love online shopping and don’t miss going to the shops at all – how do you feel about it?

Our group resembles the GOM and GG these days somewhat. If you are comfortable on zoom and would like to join us at the next meeting (28th Sept 10.30) let me know and I will include you in the invitation.

Lynne Jaremczenko 07771801957

During lockdown many of our U3A members have been out Strollers walking as a safe way to exercise. Now restrictions are relaxing it is possible to walk with a group and enjoy socialising. The Strollers group would enjoy 2 or 3 mile local walks, and until we feel confident car sharing or using public transport, could just be around Gedling Country Park. All we need is one or preferably two people to convene this group. I’d be happy to help setting up an email group on Beacon and help in any other way with administration to get a group going. Please get in touch if you’re interested in getting the Strollers group walking again.

Maggie Martinez [email protected]

The Page 8 Newsletter Knit & Stitch Hello Ladies, Well another month has gone by in this strange world!! For those lucky enough to have been on holiday, we hope you have had a nice time, although Personally we felt rather apprehensive all the while we were away, but it was a change of scenery !!!

We had our Zoom meeting on Sept 6th, and will resume again in October. Six of us chatted about the virus, what we had been up to, and how we all had little motivation to do anything as time goes on, Carol sent a message saying she was on holiday in Wales and it was sunny. We also discussed a possible coffee get together in October, if the weather holds and we can meet outdoors and be socially distanced, but we will send emails, if we think we can arrange, so watch this space.

Hospital Knitting. I have sent lots of knitted hats, ventilator hats, mittens, bootees cardigans, blankets, cannula sleeves and bonding squares to the QMC for neo-natal unit. All of which I am sure will be greatly appreciated. Thank you to you all, and if you want to keep knitting, we will gladly collate them and send them on bulk later in the year. Keep those needles clacking!!!!!

Ok ladies that is all for this news letter, stay safe all of you, and NO going to the local raves!!!! Haha if only. Jackie and Jeanette

In the first article in last month’s Newsletter I showed the insight needed to solve cryptic crossword clues. The problem is when faced with the grid of a new crossword, there are no letters to help. Starting with the simpler clues, you have to unpick you way into the puzzle, then as letters appear, they help to solve the more complicated answers. Here are more examples, all of which are taken from actual crosswords: 1) A nude more outrageous in behaviour (9), Answer “Demeanour”, (anagram of “a nude more”.) 2) Chance to find South African money order: (6): Random. South African currency “Rand” + mo. 3) Old man’s game for getting over the border (8): Passport – Pa’s sport. 4) It’s brought back and allowed to become a killer. (8) Sti – let- to, stiletto. 5) Move around in Prison (4): Stir. 6) Went for the French over a small measure. (4) – Left – le-ft. 7) Making for home before the assembly (14): Prefabrication. 8) Give warning to stop generating red heat when port diplomacy is needed. (4.3.4.3.) Answer “Read the riot act” – read the (anagram of red heat) rio (Rio de Janeiro) and tact. 9) Thank sara for providing warm cover. (9). “Astrakhan” Anagram of Thank sara. 10) Person with no mother can be a barbarian.(3): Hun – Hu-ma-n. Some answers are again straightforward, others need extra knowledge of all sorts of subjects. You may not know the answer, but a little research can solve a conundrum, and adds to your personal knowledge, which may help in future crosswords. There are small electronic devices which give access to both the Oxford English Dictionary and the Encyclopaedia Britannica, together with anagram and other useful facilities. Some may say this is cheating; it just makes things easier, you still need to analyse the clues, before the different programmes can be utilised. I can tell you, once you have completed a cryptic crossword, it gives you a lot of satisfaction. I hope this articles help to demystify the world of cryptic crosswords. Mike Johnson.

The Page 9 Newsletter In the Banjica district of the Serbian capital there is a thoroughfare called Улица Флоре Сендс (Flora Sandes Street). Flora was born near York in 1876, the daughter of Irish parents. She was adventurous and lived a very eventful life.

Growing up she enjoyed riding and shooting. As a young adult she loved driving fast cars as well as developing copious indulgences in alcohol and tobacco. She got a job as a secretary and trained part time with the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry. In 1910 she left the Yeomanry and joined the more proactive Women’s Sick and Wounded Convoy founded by the medical aid worker and suffragist Mabel St Claire Stobart, which served in the Balkan wars that preceded the First World War.

In 1914 Flora tried to join the British Red Cross as a nurse but was rejected on the grounds that her medical expertise was insufficient, and perhaps more tellingly, of her association with an organisation founded by a prominent suffragist. It seems hard to believe that the Red Cross would reject anyone with any relevant training but at the time the Red Cross leadership, like most of the UK ruling class, assumed the war would be over by Xmas so thought they could be picky. Undaunted by this rejection Flora joined the St Johns Ambulance contingent of 36 women assembled by an American nurse and travelled to with them in August 1914. She joined the Serbian Red Cross and drove ambulances for them.

In the early months of the war the had some success against the Austrian forces attacking Serbia, but in 1915 the situation changed dramatically. Bulgarian and German reinforcements forced the Serbian army back across Serbia and Albania, eventually retreating to Corfu. It was during this retreat that Flora joined the Serbian army. She was the only British woman enlisted soldier in the First World War, although not the only woman in the Serbian army (Sofia Jovanovic, Milunka Savic, and Slavka Tomic all served with distinction). As the Serbians turned the tide she was in the front line, rising to the rank of Sergeant, until she was badly injured by a grenade in late 1916. After recovering she returned to England for a speaking tour about the Serbian campaign.

At the end of the war she was promoted to Captain and commanded a company of frontier troops, among whom were Tsarist officers fleeing the Russian revolution. She married one of them, Yuri Yudenitch in 1927 and after living in France for a while, they settled in later that year. In 1941 the German army invaded what had become Yugoslavia, so Flora and Yuri put on their uniforms and reported for duty. The speed of the invasion meant they did not take on any military duties. As enemy combatants they were jailed but Flora’s feistiness and resolve in dealing with the Gestapo resulted in them being paroled.

Yuri died later in 1941, but Flora survived the war and moved back to England. For some time she lived with her brother, a policeman in what was then called Southern Rhodesia but was eventually asked to leave the country as she preferred to frequent bars in the black areas rather than the whites-only country clubs. She attended Serbian army veterans’ reunions in London and died aged 80 in Suffolk.

I had never heard of this remarkable lady until earlier this year I came across an excellent book about her, ‘A Fine Brother: The Life of Captain Flora Sandes’ by Louise Miller. As well as naming a street after her, the Serbians issued a stamp in her honour. The folk singer Reg Meuross commemorates her in his song ‘The Ballad of Flora Sandes’.

John Buglear

The Page 10 Newsletter Three Cheers for Convenors

I think it is time for us to say a great big thank you to our Conveners, partcularly those who have kept us going on Zoom during Lockdown. For myself I would say thank you so much, on behalf of many of us, to Paul Martinez who has done so much to help us through this time, familiarising us on the mysterious workings of this technology they call Zoom. Also for setting up and hosting the new 'History of Film' group. He must have put many hours of time into researching all the films we are watching. He has also found an interesting, innovative, enterprising and entertaining way for us to continue our Wine Group on the Zoom. Very well done. It passes a very enjoyable couple of hours. I also believe Paul hosts several other Groups on Zoom and I am sure the members of those groups would like to thank him too. Then we also owe a big thank you to Colin Jones, who together with Paul hosts our Opera Group. Colin must also put a great deal of time and effort into researching the Operas we are watching, giving us great insight into what we are going to watch so we may understand it much easier, particularly when the sub titles are in a language we don't understand. So thank you Colin for pointing us to Operas some of us have not seen before and as for myself, who is a novice with Opera, for a great insight into both the music and the productions. Then I am sure many of you would like to thank Maggie Martinez who Zooms the Grouchy Girls group. I am thinking of joining this Group as I understand it is great fun. I think and hope many of you would like to say thank you to your Convenor Zoom hosts (you now who they are) for all the interest they have shown to their groups during Lockdown to help us all avoid a certain amount of monotony. So Three Cheers to you all. We all hope to get back to normal at some time, in the not too distant future, but in the meantime thanks to all you Zooming Conveners. Keep well and happy. Best Wishes Aileen x Grumpy Old Men

The Grumpys are now regularly meeting twice a month thanks to ZOOM and are finally getting quite good at not all talking at the same time. Fed with suggestions for comment by our convenor Ian, and with contributions from the floor we can usually find enough to laugh at, despair at or be incredulous about during a two hour session, (mostly laugh). Subjects encountered in the past month include concern for pensioners who will find it hard to afford a television licence and how non - payment activists could clog up the courts if prosecuted. “Silver Surfers”, on the other hand, that use the internet regularly are apparently less lonely and have higher levels of overall life satisfaction. We had a long and rambling discussion comparing our schooldays, particularly in relation to sadistic teachers and their choices of weapon for punishment. We also discussed the 11 plus exam and the provision in some areas of Technical Grammar schools as well as Grammar and Secondary Modern. Seems your education was a post code lottery then as now. Several topics are regular items and misuse of taxpayer’s money never fails to appear, In this month we wondered about UK foreign aid being sent to wealthy nations, and the government spending large amounts on consultancy. I wonder what we’ll be talking about next time? Whatever it is I’m sure we can end up laughing!

Tara 2

The Page 11 Newsletter Food Bank Facts Most of us are lucky enough never to have needed help from a food bank. Food banks are designed to provide short term, emergency support during a crisis. So, how does anyone obtain access to free food and toiletries? 1. You cannot access a food bank without a referral from a professional e.g. a GP, social worker, employment officer 2. A voucher is given to be exchanged for 3 days supplies of non- perishable food. 3. A family can use a food bank 3 times in 6 months. On average, in normal times, a family only uses the food bank twice. 4. If a family uses a food bank 3 times it will be flagged up for professional or charity support to get back on their feet. I’ve written this as, during a Grouchy Girl session, we found we didn’t fully know the facts. Due to the pandemic, jobs have been lost resulting in many more families struggling during the time it takes to sort out any benefits. Maggie Martinez

Grouchy Girls Zooming and Garden Get Together We discussed three topics during our sessions, and as ever, I for one learnt something new.

Will cash be phased out in the near future? Some shop staff are already annoyed if you can’t pay with a contactless card and we understand that Covid transmission is often through touch. Some GGs worried about old people not wanting to use cards. Proof that no GGs see themselves as old! We could see that car park charges where there is poor wi-fi could be a problem. So bank transfers for the window cleaner and gardener? There wouldn’t be so much tax dodging. Would we lose banks on the high street if no cash?

What would you ask a friend who said they wouldn’t have a Covid vaccination? Research indicates that less than 50% of the UK population would have the vaccine when it is available, but I’d asked the wrong question as many GGs would not want the vaccination themselves. There was fear that, for economic reasons, the vaccine could be rushed out and we wouldn’t know how safe it is. Viruses mutate so would the vaccine be effective? Also, the vaccine is only being tested on young people who usually are not as likely to be seriously ill as us oldies would be. A few GGs highly recommended listening to Prof. Jonathan Ball on Radio Nottingham at 7.50 a.m. for information on Covid19.

How would you stay positive if there was another lockdown during winter? Our philosophy is that if we make good preparation, it won’t happen! Some GGs recommend the Sounds App for all the radio stations where you can search for programmes from the past, the play you only heard half way through, audio-books, drama and much more. Lesley has written a list of all the things she meant to do during the lockdown we’ve had. The good weather meant we coped with walks and gardening first time round. Stock piling books and puzzles was popular, and we then organised a book and puzzle - at a distance, open air swop. Yes, the hand gel was out, but we were so happy to see real GGs, as Zoom is good but real is better.

See you at our next GG zoom on 15th September at 10.30a.m. Maggie Martinez

The Page 12 Newsletter