Talking Point with Vicky Turrell: 'Do all older people wear the same clothes I wondered?'
It came straight back the following day in the post. How could that be, we wondered? It had taken me a long time to secure a postal vote in our new house. I thought it would be a simple matter of changing address. But no, we had to prove who we were all over again, then when that was done, we had to apply (again) for a postal vote, they are not transferrable from one address to another even though we are the same people.
We put our votes in envelopes. You must be sure that the Shropshire Council address is showing in the envelope window. Your own address is unseen. Except one of us (and I am not saying which one) put the form back in the wrong way and our address was showing, so the following day it was posted back through our house letter box.
The swallows are back. I see them flying over the house catching insects on the wing. But sadly, they are so rare that when we see one through the window we shout out, “There’s a swallow,” and we rush outside to watch as it wings its way into the distance. How I wish it would nest here but we have no outhouses and they like those to build, sticking mud to a beam. So, I must be contented with the excitement of them swishing overhead.
Insects are quite rare too, not like when I was young when we sprayed them to death with DDT. Now it is a worry and the birds will sadly not be able to find many insects to eat. Harper Adams the agricultural college in Shropshire has built and insect tower to check on them. The aim is to catch the creatures and identify them. The information is to be fed back to farmers and we will be able to study the effects of climate change on insects. I hope that we can also find out why there are not so many these days. Is it the fault of my generation who thought that if we got rid of the insects our crops would be better?
The fine weather this year seems to be helping the insects in our new garden and they are interested in my peony which is flowering profusely now and they love hovering above our warm decking.
“Don’t buy new shoes in this warm weather.” I was sitting on a seat in the park alongside another person.
“We are wearing the same shoes look.” Do all older people wear the same clothes I wondered.
“The last ones I bought let water in, I made a mistake, so I took them straight back.”
