To Tetbury then, if only because I have never been. It did feel at times as if we’d gone through a portal to another world that is organised by “The Feoffees of Tetbury”, whose fishy crest is everywhere. It felt very Harry Potter but the Feoffees are a feudal lot who do good works and have been around since the 1600s. But then everything around this bit of Gloucestershire seems to date from then.
It is an almost criminally pretty place and the royals feel “real” here. Normally I think of them as “out there somewhere” but here it felt that Prince Charles and Camilla could pop up at any point. There is even a Highgrove shop where I bought a ridiculously expensive bottle of apple juice.
It is not a place for a republican to linger. The idea was to go for a hike along the old railway line but we ended up on something called the “Monarch’s Way”. This is part of the escape route taken by Charles II after his defeat by Cromwell in 1651 (see what I mean by the 1600s?).
At several points when the route became confusing we had to ask: “What would Charles II do?” And then we followed him.
Invasion that never was
We’d walked for a while when, next to the path, we saw a sign that cried “INVASION!” Just beyond we could see six anti-tank bollards. They now nestle among trees on the edge of a farmer’s field but during the Second World War this was part of the Stop Line Green, a series of defences that ran from the River Severn to Burnham-on-Sea which were designed to surround the port of Bristol.
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They were built in 1940 when the prospect of a German invasion seemed likely. It is easier for me now, in the time of coronavirus, to imagine the overpowering uncertainty and fear of that time. The success of the RAF meant that the Stop Line Green never came into use but it does remind you, even on a pleasant summer’s day walk, of what might have been.
Soap shortage
The main thing I hate about the “new normal” is the phrase the “new normal”, but there is no doubt that the pandemic is losing its power over us. The daily coronavirus figures no longer strike fear and it is hardly worth keeping track of the variants any more (I thought the B1621 was a road).
But the definitive proof that we are on the road back is the fact that The Archers, which has been on a four-day week throughout, is soon going to five days a week.
It’s only when the risk-averse programme returns to six days a week that we will really know it’s over.
Green light for idling
There was a sign at a crossroads this weekend that said “No idling”. “Please don’t be idle: switch off your engine!” Reader, I refused. These days I always get beeped for not screeching away at top speed at the very instant the light almost turns green. Drivers in Britain have become much more impatient over the past few years. I hate the honking.
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Problem solved
My word of the week comes via the Garden Museum in London, which is showcasing the work of the Brooklyn-based artist Sourabh Gupta, who has created a beautiful paper camellia
for its Constance Spry exhibit. He talks about growing up in Jammu and Kashmir, a child full of ideas who had to make do with few resources.
“The concept is called jugaad,” he said. “A literal translation is difficult but the Oxford Dictionary defines it as a flexible approach to problem solving that uses limited resources in an innovative way.” It is pleasingly succinct.