The visit of my mother-in-law precluded a visit to The Hope Café last month, so it was with some relief that, on our return from Croatia and Montenegro (see PCs 390 and 391), I was able to drop in; delightfully nothing much had changed! I am not sure if I had mentioned in a previous PC that Susie, after her return from Tasmania and her experience of working for Margie in her Hobart business, has signed up for a one-year course in Logistics. Brighton is not the place for this sort of thing, so she’s enrolled at the University of Southampton for a course that has both a residential and an on-line component. Her commitment will mean we’ll see more of her aunt Libby behind the counter.
I hadn’t had a good conversation with Sami for a while, so was delighted to find him at one of the tables, hunched over a book and cup of coffee. No need for an introduction:
“What are you reading Sami?”
“Well, don’t be surprised but it’s not a John Grisham or Jojo Moyes but a fascinating book by Simon Winchester called simply ‘Atlantic’.”
“Could still be a page-turning thriller?”
“No! no! It’s about the Atlantic Ocean. I’m only about 40% through but a couple of facts have really excited me, things I didn’t know ….”
“And now you know them you can’t stop thinking about them?”
“Exactly!”
“So, enlighten me please.”
“Well, we have to go back a long, long way in history, to the time when Minoans believed that beyond the Pillars of Hercules (Ed The Straits of Gibraltar), that is beyond the known world, the waters were simply too frightful and fantastic to even think of braving. We’re talking about 7BC. Then the Phoenicians built ships that could cope with the seas and ventured out, turned north and founded what became Cadiz.”
“OK! Sami. All jolly good, but what’s this nugget of information you find so interesting?”
“The Phoenicians found what the Minoans had found 700 years before, the magic of the murex mollusc.”
“The what?”
“It’s a gastropod that secretes a rich indelible purple-crimson dye ….. and it’s that colour which the Minoans, the Phoenicians and most notably of all the Romans used to denote imperial authority. (Note 1) Sailing south from the Straits of Gibraltar, the Phoenicians found these snails gathered in their thousands in the bay just offshore from what is now Essaouira in Morocco.”
“I have been there but didn’t know anything about these sea snails.” (Note 2)
“There you go! For almost a thousand years the dye was traded from the city of Tyre and valued at some twenty times the price of gold.”
“Must read more about this; fascinating, and I can understand why this has stayed with you. What was the other fact which sparked your interest?”
“The Vikings were the first to discover North America.”
“What about Christopher Columbus? Every child learns he discovered it in 1492.”
“A C15th map turned up in America in 1957 showing an island marked as Vinlandia to the west of Greenland. Latin script told it had been visited by Bjarni and Leif Eriksson in the C11th! I read further details and then went on to Google Maps and found this place, L’Anse aux Meadows, where excavations uncovered the Norse settlement.”
“Wow! And you’re only 40% through the book! I am sure there will be lots of other interesting things to find out about. Back to today, the Post Office enquiry was getting a lot of press before the General Election was announced, what with the senior managers, CEO and chairwoman giving evidence. I know you want to put it behind you but ……”
“I do and I don’t. I’ve moved on but sincerely hope that those responsible for the whole fiasco face some criminal charges. Trouble is so many individuals hoped the whole thing would just go away, couldn’t take personal blame, couldn’t say: “It was my fault”. But I am delighted that Alan Bates, who founded the pressure-group Justice for Sub-postmasters’ Alliance and brought the whole scandal to the public’s attention, has been knighted in this month’s King’s Birthday Honours List.”
“That’s great! A good award. But the whole sorry saga sounds a little like the Infected Blood Inquiry, whose report last month was the culmination of 4 year’s work.”
“Remind me?”
“As I understand it, from 1970 to 1991 the NHS, not having enough UK blood supplies, imported blood products, particularly from the USA, for use in transfusions, knowing that some were infected with viruses like HIV and Hepatitis C. More than 30,000 people were infected, with thousands dying as a result. A good example is from Treloar’s College, a school for disabled children in Hampshire. Between 1974 and 1987 children were offered treatment for haemophilia; at least 72 died after being given blood contaminated with HIV and viral hepatitis. After decades of failure by the government of the day, the NHS and doctors to even address the issue, let alone talk about compensation, the “Infected Blood Inquiry” May 2024 Report recommendations have been accepted and compensation levels and timescales have been agreed. As one of those affected said: “We have a voice and at long last we have been listened to. We have railed against authority, shaken a fist at the storm ….. and nothing happened. At last!” Absolutely disgraceful, shameful!”
“You mentioned the General Election. I am cross as I won’t be able to vote …. and I want to.”
“Why can’t you vote?”
“Lisa and I are off to the Algarve in southern Portugal the day before the postal voting papers are distributed …. and not back until the day after the election!”
“Ah! Apply for a Proxy Vote now and someone who’s registered to vote in your Electoral Ward can vote for you both. Anyway, most people vote to get rid of whoever’s in power, not voting for another party they think will do better. Hey! I need to get going …. maybe see you in Portugal …..?”
Richard 21st June 2024
Estoril, Portugal
PS Just to keep you my readers up to date, the designations for sexual orientation are growing – it’s now LGBTQQIAPK+ (Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, pansexual, two-spirit, asexual and ally)
Note 1 Chemically it’s known as 6.6’-dibromoindigo
Note 2 In PC 391 I mentioned our Split, Croatia tour guide Pero Ugarkovic is an expert on sea snails. He probably could have waxed lyrically about these little creatures.
postcards 