Two years

24 February 2024, Lillington church

Saturday marked the two year anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine, and a service was held in a local church. The tone was broadly Christian, and a few people contributed their thoughts, poems, songs and dance. UJ was one of the people who spoke for a few minutes about her experience, and read a poem. I'm glad that I went but it wasn't all that pleasant, partly because the row in front of me contained about six children who didn't stop fidgeting and talking the whole time. Also, there was a bit too much about God, who clearly doesn't have much interest in Ukraine, nor other parts of the world for that matter. Or perhaps, like Brexit, without God's involvement it would be worse.

The local woman who has been organising in Warwick District on behalf of the Ukrainian population from the start - helping them learn English, find schools for their children, apply for housing and lots more - is still working hard in that capacity. Most refugees have now left their hosts to live independently; UJ is the exception in that respect, but I'm happy to have her and I think she's also content to stay. The local organiser had a hand in arranging the service, and invited ITV to come and film. After the main service the cameraman arranged a repeat of a couple of the performances: a man accompanying his daughters on his guitar, a child reciting a poem and another child singing and dancing. He also interviewed UJ and another woman, and some of all this was broadcast on ITV news in the evening.

From this event, and from a subsequent Buddhist meeting, it is clear that UJ is sparing me much of the trauma that she is experiencing - being separated from her family and friends, some of whom have been conscripted into the Ukrainian army, and no doubt others who are wounded or have even been killed. She is, understandably, angry and filled with hate. I am glad that despite this she seems to manage to enjoy life in the UK. For example, last Sunday when her train was cancelled so she couldn't join other Ukrainians for a hike, she went to the British Museum. This weekend I am away, but my neighbour has invited her to join her for a few things.

There seems no end in sight to this or to other conflicts and wars, and the human suffering inflicted is more than I can contemplate. So I don't contemplate it, not until it is brought to my attention in this personal way. I can do no more than try to embody love and compassion, because immersing myself in the reality of war and politics will help nobody and will destroy me.

Going out

Kew Gardens, October 2022

Mum celebrated her 91st birthday without incident. There was no cake! and no presents! but we were there and she enjoyed it, except for the bit when dad outlined his demands of the hoist manufacturer. To be fair, I didn't enjoy that bit either so mum and I retired to the kitchen while Lola II and Sister D had a good time with him and the hoist.

I've been going out locally a bit more than usual, with two local comedy nights and Mozart's Requiem (plus three settings of the Miserere) in the Parish Church. I even went with other people on two of the three outings (badminton/Buddhist friends). Unusually, I didn't enjoy the comedy all that much. Reginald D. Hunter didn't seem to have his heart in it and Bridget Christie did a lot of material about older women (work, representation on screen, menopause), but I didn't altogether agree with her point of view.

My Monday Buddhism class has had a short break for our teacher's holiday to Cornwall, which allowed me to go to Monday badminton as well as Thursday, and I've had two matches as well, and fallen over twice (clumsily tripping over my own feet). I conclude that I'm quite good at landing because I've escaped with mild bruising, but it's only a matter of time before my post-menopausal bones crumble away and I end up with something worse. It's worth it though.

In the headlines for my teeth there was a visit to the orthodontist where I was scheduled for 'slenderising', which means shaving bits off the tooth enamel to make everything more perfect. After quite a long conversation with the orthodontist we agreed that since my aims for the treatment do not include the perfect smile, tooth enamel is far too valuable to shave bits off just so that I don't have gaps at the gum line. At the dentist this week my hygienist was very pleased with progress and thinks that the aligners have made a big difference.

And I went to a meeting held by the committee of the Warwick Folk Festival. The Team Leader for Communications (where I was a volunteer) is hoping to step away from the role, and they are trying to interest a few of us volunteers in taking it on. Two of us were there and neither of us wants the role, although we don't mind doing a bit more next year. We'll see where that goes. The venue was terrible for the meeting (background noise, poor projection of Zoom and inadequate microphone and speakers) but lunch was excellent, so hooray for priorities.

As I write it is Remembrance Sunday. I'm having a difficult time with the news, and I really need to start avoiding it more completely. UJ is still in Kyiv - I read today that the conflict there has pretty much reached a stalemate, but Zelensky won't negotiate and will certainly run out of resources before Putin does. Politicians in the UK continue to be contemptible, the situation in Gaza is more than I can bear, many African states are enduring civil war, and the thought of Trump winning the election based on current polling feels very much like the beginning of the end of the world.