Sunflowers and the Ukrainian flag

by the Catholic Church. They don’t fly the Palestinian flag, but it’s prominently displayed on Ecotricity’s HQ in Stroud.

After work I phoned my friend K. Her poor dog had to be put down on Saturday night. She is devastated, as is the rest of the family. He was thirteen and suddenly something had gone terribly wrong in his stomach. Even the maximum dose of painkillers was not enough to offer any relief.

K suggested that we go out to attend a talk. I hadn’t had supper, just an ice cream, but I went to Brimscombe Mill with her to see Rob Hopkins, the founder of Transition Towns Uk, speak about the power of imagination in envisioning the future in a positive way. So very inspiring ! Do look him up. His latest book is called Falling in love with the future, and K bought it, while I got an earlier book, From what is to What if…

(I was thinking, yesterday morning, how much quieter the rush hour is in Stroud without the school run congestion. What if primary school children didn’t have to be driven to school in separate cars, one per family? What would Stroud’s morning traffic look like then? )

After the talk I was starving, so K took me back to hers and we had dinner, and I met her husband, son and mother. I had already met her daughter M. We chatted for ages, then K drove me home.

I’ve had a long running saga, which is not finished yet, of ordering air pumps (USB rechargeable) for blowing up an air bed for camping. A replacement model for # 1 pump, which had been faulty, arrived today. It is not fully charged yet, but it works. Pump 2 has been sent back, as it was not useful because it needed to be plugged in to work. Pump 3 was supposed to arrive today (I didn’t realise a replacement for pump 1 was on its way) but it didn’t. Apparently if it doesn’t arrive by Saturday I’ll get a refund anyway. Such a to-do! Definitely a first-world problem.