Happy St George’s Day!
Today’s picture is from 2015, when I went to photograph the St George’s Day parade in West Bromwich. I did that for a few years, and I was always cold and had poor light for the pictures. One year Martin Parr took photos too, but I didn’t see him. I did see him during the Arts Festival when it was his birthday. In case you haven’t heard of Martin, he is a famous photographer.
I’m interested in taking photos of disappearing buildings like pubs and small shops. I might venture out today and photograph a few small shops. I can see the local Spar closing down in a few years, and the fish and chip shop keeps changing hands and probably won’t last long. I’m partly to blame; I have everything delivered and cook my meals.
I’m a fan of online shopping. I recently bought a battery-powered mini chainsaw from Amazon that will make light work of cutting my hedge back this week. I have my grocery and beer delivered by Asda too. I also rely on online banking and I trade stocks online as well. My car tax is up in a week, and stock dividends will pay for that!
I’m using Grammarly Premium to help proofread as I write. It keeps suggesting Oxford commas, despite the fact I turned that off in settings. My English teacher in school told me not to use Oxford commas! I still do use them occasionally when it is appropriate. Teachers aren’t always right, even in grammar schools!
We see things all the time but do not notice them. I’ve been trying to become more observant. We automatically ignore advertisements on our streets, but they are a sign of the times. I want to photograph them more, and street and shop signs. I haven’t heard of any events marking St George’s Day this year. Things disappear into history and we should try to preserve some fragments of our local history for future generations. The psycho-babble term “mindfulness” is about awareness and observation. The term “woke” came out of the Black Lives movement and has a different meaning in widespread usage because it was unclear. They should have used awareness or race awareness, but “woke” was just bad English.
Inflation keeps eating into our discretionary incomes. Fortunately, l like cheap stuff! I have to do something imaginative with chicken drumsticks for today’s Sunday dinner. I have fresh drumsticks and frozen fries I can cook in my air fryer with fresh runner beans. That will taste better than KFC and be far cheaper. I can afford to wash it down with a beer or glass of wine.
St George’s Day is about Englishness. We have traditions; we have a culture of democracy and legality. We have a culture that we like to think is one of fair and civilised. The deputy Prime Minister has been sacked for bullying, which is unacceptable in English culture. Bullying is indicative of the upper classes, however.
A Zillion Ideas 
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