So, let’s start with an apology. That’s becoming a bit of a habit. I forgot to wish Anthony Cohen, the father of my daughter-in-law ( is there a word for that in English? there is in Yiddish… if anybody non-Jewish is interested it’s mechutan which generically refers to you daughter- or son-in law’s family ) a happy 63rd birthday. He’s of that age when you don’t actually mind putting it on the party invitation and he did. Yes, he had a virtual party with guests from Rhode Island,Boston and Israel ( loved the singing of Happy Birthday in Ivrit which was far bette than any other Israeli entry for Eurovision in the past... Hallelujah in particular ) and very nice it all was too. Indeed, in some ways an improvement over a real party. You get to choose the food you want. You can choose your own back-drop. You don’t have to share the drink, there’s no mad dash for the smoked salmon canapes and even if you are at home you can go to bed when you want and just apologise the next day and say there was a break in the link as your wi-fi went down. I knew somebody who would go upstairs when he’d felt that dinner guests had outstayed their welcome and come down in this pajamas… or not come down at all and leave his wife to explain and say the goodbyes.
Very few people call Anthony by his real name. It’s usually “ Billy “ as he has a quite remarkable resemblance to Billy Joel. Check him out on Facebook and you will see what I mean. He goes to see Joel’s concerts, dressed in black and gets asked for autographs though quite what the fans think the man himself is doing queueing up to get in to his own concert I’ve never quite understood. There’s a great Paul Simon song ( and Paul Simon is great when he’s not carrying the baggage of Garfunkel ) called “ Wristband “ which I urge you to check out. It’s about him going outside at one of his concerts to check his phone as there’s no reception at the venue ( that sounds like a cut-price wedding…. think about it … ) and the door slams behind him. He goes round to the front and the security guy won’t let him in because he hasn’t got a wrist-band. And then the wrist band becomes a symbol for the disadvantaged in society. It’s not “ I Am a Rock “ though, my all-time Simon favourite ( which was for quite a long while the only ‘45’ single I possessed …. My friends clubbed together and bought me a record-player for my 21st birthday … remember those… ) and it became my personal anthem. Back to being an only child again, if you give it a spin and listen carefully to the lyrics. It’s an anthem for survival in these difficult times.
Though Trump tells us they will be ending in August/ September, so that’s all right then. Unbelievably there are nine, yes, nine States where the Republican Governor hasn’t implemented a lock-down. And in each and every case Trump has gone public and said that he believes they are doing a “ good “ job. Can you expand on what you think constitutes a “ good job “ Donald? Probably sitting on your own in The Oval Office and sending tweets that sound more and more every day like those that emanated from the crazed President in Dr Strangelove.
Fortunately, Wanda the Dog no longer needs to live in America in Wonderland. She boarded a plane at LAX last night and is due to set her paws on English soil for the first time in just a few hours. Nicky has got all the paper-work in order (he hopes ) but there is still a chance she may have to go into quarantine ( I can hear her say, “ will this journey never end? First I leave my nice apartment in Korea Town in LA, then I’m driven to San Francisco where I never even get to see the sights, I means I heard Chinatown there is nice , then it’s back to LA and a strange garden and another dog with a lisp, though the pool was nice to pee in , then I am back in a box again and off to yet another airport and I don’t even get the airmiles “ My younger son Paul, just messaged us all to say there’s always a bit of tension at the end just like in the movie,” Argo “ Yeah, check that one out too if you haven’t seen it. By the way the appeal Paul is doing for the Royal Free Hospital Group is going great guns and if you haven’t donated yet it’s https/www.royalfreecharity.org/
Assuming she is re-united with Nicky that’s one of my long-running story strands gone and another is about to vanish. I said yesterday we had a Sainsburys’ ( not quite sure where the apostrophe goes ) delivery slot for next weekend. I also mentioned that I had written a complaint letter by email to the CEO of Sainsburys. Well. amazingly enough one of his team, a lovely lady called Jacqueline actually replied to my email, asked for my phone number ( I get that with women all the time ) and then called within three minutes of my giving it to her. She has now classified me a highly vulnerable ( I’ve been telling people that I am for years ) and that we are now guaranteed a weekly slot. And, lo and behold Sainsburys called my wife ( in whose name is the account ) with an automated message to confirm all that. I mean, I’ve been grateful to all my shoppers but it will be good to furlough them all for a while. As the author of the book “ How to Complain “ I would have been very disappointed if I had failed to get a result
It’s been very exciting here for the last 12 hours anyway. Our Passover ordered ( scheduled for last Friday ) arrived at 11.35pm last night. Really can’t complain as the store ( take a bow Kosher Paradise ) is the only one delivering (all the others did Click and Collect or left you to fight your way through their busy stores ) and they managed to get the order pretty spot on. Although it was a struggle staying up. There’s just so much tv you can watch ( never thought I would write that sentence ). Mind you, The Queen’s broadcast was great. Brave of her to go head to head with our Rabbi’s wife who was planning to do an on-line talk about the history of matzah ( that’s the unleavened bread we crazy Jews eat at Passover )…no room to give you a precis of the talk or why we do it, but save to say, Ilana, that’s the Rabbi’s wife and American, accepted she couldn’t beat The Queen and moved her really interesting and informative talk to 8.30pm. My friend Daphne in South Africa, just loves a mention so she was listening to it after I gave her the link
Anyway, that’s me done. Sam was struggling to find something new to say today, but I don’t seem able to fit everything in. I’m keeping up my sleeve till tomorrow my cunning plan to bring The Big V to an end even before Trump does so and looks for a Nobel Prize in Medicine. We’ve been setting Sam quizzes on line. The pne yesterday was about Dr Who, the first was about Space, so watch this space and I can’t think of a better link with which to bow out today.
Stay safe and if we are spared see you all tomorrow.