Phew...

At last. The Tories are out, down and out. And though my own country is still no closer to running its own affairs than it was, I'm  happy that the United Kingdom is no longer ruled by an increasingly dire set of people; happy that my own constituency MP has been re-elected because he's a good man who represents what I believe in.  I stayed up for a bit, not really long enough to see the rushes of results but long enough to watch the madness of Nadine D and listen to the consumptive coughing of Anne W, who appears to have joined Reform and to have contracted whooping cough. I do hope her fellow-participants in Channel 4's studio managed not to be afflicted ..

The morning after the night before was full of words - dignified words from the outgoing PM and actually stirring and hopeful ones from his successor.  Because I kept listening to them and then resorted to some time in front of the telly (in the interests of making a suitable collage? Perhaps...) I didn't get much else done, though because I'd been late putting a loaf in the machine to bake it meant we had time to go over the music for Sunday again. In actual fact I now feel I know the music, even the Stamford which was more or less unfamiliar to me, these daily practices are to  a less than diligent singer like me a good exercise, getting my voice back to the way it was before I made all these recordings of hymns during lockdown. 

Although we both felt tired, we went out for a walk later - along the first part of Loch Striven, where, unlike the surrounding areas, there was no rain all the time we were there. We saw a raptor - buzzard? Sparrowhawk? - at close quarters scooshing in front of us on the road and marvelled at the great clumps of tall purple foxgloves. 

The News was later than late because of the football - we found ourselves watching the penalty shootout, and I felt sorry for the chap who didn't score. And now I'm late too. But I've written this ...

Collage contains a red rose from my garden, reminding me of the Labour campaign symbol of the past - do they still use it?