Month: August 2025

PC 454 Portugal’s Estoril

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Estoril? Where’s that? Well, it’s west of Lisbon, just before you get to the Atlantic coast of Portugal.

According to Wikipedia, “Estoril is ‘a town in the civil parish of ‘Cascais e Estoril’, of the Portuguese Municipality of Cascais, on the Portuguese Riviera. It is a popular tourist destination with hotels, beaches and the Casino Estoril.

Estoril’s Casino

It has been home to numerous royal families and celebrities. It’s one of the most expensive places to live in Portugal and the Iberian Peninsula; it is home to a sizeable foreign community.” (Note 1)

Estoril, enclosed by the candy-striped line

Why Estoril? I’ll explain. My connections with Brazil, itself a former Portuguese colony, go back to 1851; my great grandfather Richard Sydney Corbett was born in Recife, on its northeast coast (See PC 34 Recife Brazil February 2015). More recently, I got to know Celina in the Balham Hot Yoga studio in 2011 and made my first visit to Rio de Janeiro in April 2012. When her brother Carlos decided to uproot his family and move to Portugal in 2016, he chose to live in Estoril. Their cousin Toni did the same and their mother spends six months of the year here; Celina and I have made the most of having a home-from-home here in Portugal! I have mentioned Estoril and neighbouring Cascais before in some of my postcards.

With no convenient Hot Yoga studio, we get our daily exercise by a long before-breakfast walk to Cascais and back, the five-mile circuit including some of Estoril’s most expensive real estate. For instance, up on Rua Bélgica there’s a monster of a house, its street frontage running for some 100m:

……. from the air you can see it’s rectangular in shape. Rumour has it its worth upwards of €10 million

In this particular area of Estoril, high up on a hill overlooking the sea, the streets reflect the country’s imperial past; names such as Rua Angola, Rua Timor, Rua Cabo Verde and Rua Brasil. Towards the southern end of Rua Inglaterra (Note 2), last year there was a house that needed some TLC. You can see it on this screenshot from Google Maps.

This year the house is gone and is being replaced by four structures that look more like warehouses than dwellings, with concrete rooves. You get one view from Rua Inglaterra:

And another from Rua Dom Afonso Henriques

The men working on these building projects are generally from Portugal’s African ex-colonies and most arrive around 7 o’clock at Monte Estoril station on the train from some cheaper dormitory village near Lisbon. Other arrivals disappear into the staff entrances of the many hotels here in Estoril.

Connecting Rua India and Rua Ingleterra is Rua Mouzinho de Albuquerque.

I wondered who he was …… and found out! A general, Joaquim Augusto Mouzinho de Albuquerque (1855 – 1902) was Governor of Mozambique. Portuguese society saw him as the hope and symbol of Portuguese reaction to threats against its interests in Africa from European empires. For example, in 1890, The British required Portugal to give up all the land between its African colony of Angola in the west and Mozambique in the east and gave it an ultimatum. Portugal was no match for the British Empire and acquiesced; the land became the British colonies of Malawi and Rhodesia. (See PC 353 ‘…. Of Cabbages and Kings’ September 2023)

Following a common Portuguese tradition, he married his cousin, but they didn’t have children (Note 3). He allegedly committed suicide at the entrance to the Jardim das Laranjeiras in Lisbon on 8th January 1902 aged 46.

Walking through the streets I am pleased to see wonderful examples of craftsmanship evident in the stone walls that surround some of the mansions. I first noticed it in Iposeira in Rio de Janeiro:

Then saw a couple of examples here in Estoril. Here’s the best:

Although maybe the builders are simply trying to copy nature?

Of course doing things the traditional way is generally very expensive, the cost of labour the critical factor. But it’s very sad when, in this particular area of expensive houses, there’s a great example of naffness. The owner, who could probably afford the real thing, substitutes some hedge greenery with plastic … yes, real green plastic! Apparently they are Chinese.

Historically the water off some of Estoril’s beaches had high levels of iodine where older people bathed to heal joint pains and bone diseases; the seaweed grew on the rocky sea ledges. Currently there’s an invasion of foreign kelp and the council make huge daily efforts to remove it from the sand.

I am aware I see things that don’t register with others! One of our fellow passengers on Ms Roko in Croatia last year (See PCs 390, 391 & 393) commented:

“Were we on the same boat, did we go on the same tours, did we have meals together? All I do on holiday is relax and enjoy the sun. You seem to do that and observe life going on around you, listen to life going on around you, enough to write three fascinating ‘Tales of Croatia’ PCs.”

For instance, the daytime view across Avenide General Carmona is of another house; no surprises there!

The nighttime view, taken at 0215, is very different; worthy of note?

And if you own a large mansion and only occupy it occasionally …..

you need some guard dogs to roam freely, although these two aren’t very alert!

Maybe I should finish these musings about Estoril with the refrain from ‘Nights in Estoril’ by Christine McVie (Jul 1943 – Nov 2022), of Fleetwood Mac. It featured in their album ‘Time’.  

“I remember the nights in Estoril

A kiss and, oh, the never ending thrill

And I remember the coming storm

Oh, and you my love, how you kept me warm.”

Richard 29th August 2025

Estoril Portugal

www.postcardscribbles.co.uk

Note 1 There is a large contingent of Brazilians here, drawn by the common language.

Note 2 Maybe a nod to our 600-year-old alliance.

Note 3 Statistically 25% of children born from a marriage of first cousins have some defect, mainly mental.

PC 453 Travelling in August

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It’s Sod’s Law (Note 1) that it’s only after you leave for the airport for your flight, the airline texts you to say there’s a delay. Fortunately for us going to Lisbon last week, it was only an hour. My mother-in-law and Toni, returning to Portugal after a retreat in France in July, were told of a nine-hour delay in their TAP flight as they were in the taxi from their Parisian hotel to Orly Airport. Nothing one can do ….. just shrug ….. and resign oneself to a little more time to browse the airside shops ….. have another coffee ….. or debate whether paying for the use of an airport lounge is worth it …. if indeed there is space!

Having checked in, we accept the offer of a printed Boarding Pass, despite having downloaded it earlier; sometimes it’s just easier than searching for it in one’s smartphone – did I add it to my Wallet, takes a screenshot or is it still in my email? I am aware there’s been an international standardisation of the size of a passport, so why isn’t the boarding pass the same size?

A tall chap in Baggage Security asked whether I had any fruit in my backpack; given that his shift had started at 0300, he was remarkably alert! He’d smiled when he’d seen Francisquinha, who always travels with her front paws, ears and head out of my yellow backpack, but needed to delve down into all the stuff you pop in at the last minute. Actually in this case the chemical sensors had noticed the four Conference pears I was taking out to Portugal, to make an Upside-down Pear Cake for the family birthday. Establishing they were genuine, we repacked and went to get something to eat on the plane for lunch.

Regular readers may remember that, in my last visit to the Hope Café, Sami had quoted something from one of Mick Herron’s Slow Horses series: “But Catherine’s journey had been more moving staircase than slippery slope; a slow downwards progression. Looking across at the people heading upwards and wondering if that was a better idea. But somehow knowing she’d have to reach the bottom before she could change direction.” At London Gatwick’s South Terminal, there seemed plenty of people on the Up escalator who looked as they weren’t sure where they wanted to be …. and vica versa! And mid-morning in August, it’s constant, this stream of potential airline passengers, going up, coming down, mingling, stopping, gapping, talking, confused and occasionally running in the direction of a departure gate as if they’ve remembered why they were there in the first place.

With more time to kill than usual, we explored some of the shops, wondering whether the prices were better than on the High Street or just hiked for those in urgent need to find something they realised they had forgotten to pack. The salesgirl in Superdry said they sold lots of the latter!

I got another espresso and we found a spare place to sit. On the bench next to us was a young man selling some App over his laptop. It’s hard not to lend half an ear ….. and when he’d finished I asked him about it. It was an app that allowed you to view the layout of a restaurant in 3D, so you could select a table – not too close to the kitchens, or loos, or main entrance perhaps. It cost you 10% of your bill – the restaurant kept 50%, the app developers 50%. Sounded interesting – if you eat out a lot in swanky expensive places!

But in some ways I was more interested in him, just buzzing with energy and life. He, a Spaniard living in Dubai, and his friend had just finished ‘A’ Levels at Wellington College (Note 2); they were flying to Sweden. Good to chat to young people with an obvious zest for life ….. when you know that, sadly, a huge proportion of young adults in the UK are on some form of benefits.

Despite the fact I’ve written over four hundred and fifty postcards, I still occasionally struggle with being grammatically correct, often ignoring a Microsoft prompt if I feel it sounds better! A great believer in grammar reflecting society’s trends! I have got better with spelling but not immune to an incorrect word getting through my editor’s reread ….. and reread! I love the comments my scribbles engender, even if they’re critical of my writing; never too late to learn so, please, keep them coming, even if they’re a little pedantic.

One of the joys of an August holiday is you get more time to read, if that’s your bailiwick; it’s certainly mine. I enjoy the novels of American Michael Connelly, such as his Lincoln Lawyer series or the thrillers featuring detective Harry Bosch. At the weekend I finished his latest, ‘Nightshade’. Being a bit of a pedant (!) I wrote to his website:

“There are some interesting differences in English and American English. For instance, we ‘go for a ride’ whereas you would say we are going for a ‘horseback ride’! And I don’t think we use the term ‘sailboat’, preferring dinghy, yacht and motorboat. As far as yachts are concerned, in ‘Nightshade’ there was reference to a ketch. Not sure whether the main character was deliberately unaware of nautical nomenclature (?) but by definition a ketch is a two-masted yacht, the smaller mast, called a Mizzen, stepped forward of the rudder. The other two-masted yacht is a yawl, where the smaller mast is stepped aft of the rudder, with its boom often overhanging the stern of the yacht. A single masted yacht can be referred to as a sloop. I read that Michael doesn’t read emails …… so do with this information what you want!”

His PA Jane replied saying she would pass on my email to Michael. I obviously hope the great man will reply personally!

Richard 22nd August 2025

Estoril Portugal

www.postcardscribbles.co.uk

Note 1 Another term for Murphy’s Law, which states that if something can go wrong, it will.

Note 2 ‘A’ Levels and Alaska are this week’s common words

PC 452 Had to have a coffee!

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On a run, with our two weeks holiday in Hove (Note 1) coming to an end, I popped into The Hope Café on Tuesday afternoon in the off chance I would find Sami and maybe, Lisa, as I felt we hadn’t caught up completely last week (see PC 451 A Quick Hope Café Visit August 2025). It’s been a very busy fortnight; a quick trip to my daughter and family, a visit to the minus 86°C cold chamber in CryoBright (see PC 429 Behind The Glass March 2025), creating something in my art room, moving my ‘pond project’ forward, dyeing a hat and some cool hot yoga classes, as the studio’s heater had decided to have a holiday too! Fortunately, by last Friday, halfway through class, the engineer got it going; phew!

I sat at one of the familiar tables and await Sami’s arrival.

“Hi! Richard. How are you?”

“Had a busy couple of weeks and back to Portugal tomorrow, the 13th. It’s my mother-in-law’s birthday on Sunday so important we are there; I am making a cake and we’re taking the candles! You’re buzzing to tell me something …..”

“You watched that television series recently, ‘Slow Horses’? I know you did because we’ve talked about it. Well, I’ve started reading Mick Herron’s thrillers that inspired the series – and they’re brilliant too. And you know when you read a paragraph, a phrase, and you think that’s so good or so apt or so clever, you make a note somewhere?”

“I do all the time ……..”

“Well, how about this? Just brilliant! “There was a phrase: the slippery slope. …… But Catherine’s journey had been more moving staircase than slippery slope; a slow downwards progression; a bore rather than a shock. Looking across at the people heading upwards and wondering if that was a better idea. But somehow knowing she’d have to reach the bottom before she could change direction.” I really relate to that!”

“Isn’t that lovely! Unable to stop going to the end ……; clever! Sami, my main focus this week has been on jeans. I read ‘blue jeans’ and I immediately think of the greatest singer of all time, Neil Diamond and his ‘Forever in Blue Jeans’; that’s my personal opinion and others may have other ‘greatest singer of all time’? But the material, Denim (Note 2), features in other lyrics, ‘Lady in Blue Jeans’ (The Red & White Band) and ‘Venus in Blue Jeans’ by Jimmy Clanton from 1962. I am sure there are countless others.

I imagine everyone has a few pairs of jeans, some pristine, some battered and threadbare, some expensive for special occasions (Note 3) and a pair that was quite cheap. Before I started my postcards, in 2010 I joined my daughter and son-in-law on a narrow boat for a night and that we had unexpected heavy rain. I got soaked and hadn’t packed a spare pair of trousers. Sam’s mother and stepfather were coming for supper and asked whether we needed anything; a spare pair of trousers?

Sandie and Richard duly arrived with some pudding for supper and an orange Sainsbury’s plastic bag: “I found some jeans in the supermarket, Richard!” And they fitted really well. “How much do I owe you?” “Well, they were on a promotion, 25% off, and so they were £4.50!” The world is completely crazy, when you can buy a pair of jeans for the price of an expensive coffee. I felt sorry for the workers in the sweatshop factory where they were made; and they lasted as long as more expensive pairs.”

“Why are you telling me this Richard?” (Ed. We all know people who bang on about uninteresting stuff!)

“You saw the fuss in America about a jeans advertisement, featuring some model called Sydney Sweeney?”

“Actually this particular nugget of gossip passed me by. Pray tell …..”

“I was made aware of the story by the Times’ American columnist Gerald Baker who wrote: ‘A couple of weeks ago, American Eagle launched the campaign in which Sweeney offers a new way of selling one of America’s oldest clothing products: denim. Lying supine on a chaise longue, wearing only jeans and a jacket in the fabric that built a nation, she murmurs, in a voice that no artificial intelligence application programmed to produce a parody of sexy sultriness could possibly contrive: “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair colour, personality and even eye colour. My jeans are blue.” In short: a statement of a simple scientific truth followed by a homophonic pun. Not the greatest work of copywriting in the history of the advertising business, but not bad, as these things go.’”

“So why the drama …….?”

“Because the woke brigade, thankfully apparently a dying breed, considered it a ‘speech crime’. For some an endorsement of “eugenics”, for others the belief the phrase “good genes” had been “historically used to celebrate whiteness, thinness and attractiveness”.  I never knew, Sami; always taking things generally at face value and not creating some theory out of nothing! Baker went on to write: “The Sweeney advertisement, by contrast, is a sign of the times. Not some glorification of whiteness or the “genes” that produce it but a recognition by a company that it is safe to celebrate an appealing human being, whatever colour, gender, sexuality he or she is. American Eagle’s stock price went up 30% in the last two weeks!”

“Well I am pleased that ‘woke’ is becoming unfashionable; less ‘brigade’, more ‘platoon’!”

“Ah! Very good Sami.”

Lisa butts in: “Richard, I’m writing an article about the provision of health care at the lowest levels in the UK, at the General Practitioners’ level, in medical and wellness centres. Can I get your views when you’re back from Portugal?”

“Of course! But on a trivial level, I am always amused when a doctor ushers you into their consulting room with a “How are you?”, as you probably wouldn’t be there if you were ‘OK’!”

Richard 15th August 2025

Estoril, Portugal

www.postcardscribbles.co.uk

Note 1 This is a rather odd feeling, having a holiday at home, but that’s how it’s felt like.

Note 2 A contraction of its French origin – ‘sergé de Nîmes.

Note 3 Interesting that one can wear a pair of jeans for a ‘special occasion’ in 2025. Sixty years ago you wouldn’t have been allowed in certain restaurants wearing jeans!

PC 451 A Quick Hope Café Visit

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PC 451 A Quick Hope Café Visit

Back from two weeks in Portugal and then out again; it’s as if the two weeks here is like being on holiday, then Portugal becomes ‘home’. An odd sensation – but a nice one just the same. Managed to spend an hour on Monday afternoon in the Hope Café; the day when an unseasonal storm, Storm Floris, battered the northern half of Great Britain, with winds of 70 mph plus. Summer storms can pay havoc when the trees are in full leaf, as they offer more resistance to the wind and are prone to come crashing down!

Mo waves as she spies me at the counter; she looks a little sad, so I join her with my double espresso.

“You’re a bit down, Mo. Everything alright?

“It’s my mother, Richard. You remember she lives in a retirement home in Worthing? She’s 93 and she’s caught shingles. She didn’t have the vaccine some years ago and she suffering; so debilitating, a very painful rash.”

“It’s the same virus that causes Chickenpox, isn’t it? In Portugal they call it Herpes Zoster and it can reactivate in the body. Mario, a taxi driver we often use in Estoril, had it …… and then my sister-in-law, soon to be 44, also caught it. Fortunately, the antiviral treatment clears it up relatively quickly. Your poor mother.”

“Anyway, nothing we can do! You look well; how was Portugal?”

“Great! For me it’s a time to read a lot more, as well as walking and writing. Sounds idyllic huh!”

“Indeed, it does. Did you watch the football, the Women’s Euros 2025 at all?”

“I have a funny relationship with sport. I avidly watch the Six Nations Rugby fixtures, never normally watch football. Perversely I do follow the fortunes of our local Brighton & Hove Albion football team but more from my interest in its management and player development than the actual game! However, I am aware of the exponential rise in women’s football, of our national team The Lionesses, and how they were defending their Euros title. So, yes, I watched the final.”

“But you were in Portugal on 27th July and you wouldn’t have been able to follow the commentary as your knowledge of the language is crap! And anyway, Portugal would have been supporting Spain, so the pundits would have been biased. I watched it here but what did you do?”

 “I needed to find out how to watch an UK television channel abroad. I subscribe to Nord VPN (Virtual Private Network), so fooled the system by connecting to one of their hubs in Scotland. Then onto the BBC1 channel. The connection occasionally dropped out and I prayed that wasn’t when a goal was being scored! So, then it’s 1-1 after extra time and it’s the penalty shootout. The first English ball went into the back of the net but was disallowed as the striker slipped; must be a new rule! You understand I watched the game as its important for all sorts of reasons but have no knowledge of the players’ names or even some of the rules. Then someone called Chloe Kelly comes to the penalty spot, knowing that if she’s successful, it’s game over and England have won. Just as she steps back to take the kick, a banner headline comes across my iPad: “England have won Euros 2025”. I guess the broadcast I was watching had a time delay of a second or three!! Technology huh!”

“Ah! But well done them. I remember, Richard, you’ve sailed a lot, so you must have been interested in the coverage of Cowes Week, The Admiral’s Cup competition and the Fastnet Race?”

“Absolutely! Raced in Cowes Week many years ago but never competed in The Fastnet Race; my father did, in 1935 in a yacht called Amy.”

‘Amy’ Fastnet 1935

“Wow! And this year was its 100th run. Forgive my ignorance but what exactly is The Fastnet?”

“They leave Cowes, head down the English Channel, round the Bishop’s Rock lighthouse and head to the Fastnet Rock on the southern tip of Eire. Originally they headed back to Plymouth but for the last two races they’ve finished in Cherbourg in France. It’s about 690 miles long and used to take the winners over 5 days.”

“And this year?”

“The trimaran SVR Lazartigue was first over the finish line in 1day and 17 hours. It’s more like flying than sailing; averaging 15 knots with some runs at over 30 knots! The technology is amazing!

SVR Lazartigue rounding the Fastnet Rock and its lighthouse

Ordinary monohulled yachts took longer! ‘Black Jack’ took line honours in 2 days and 12 hours.”

“No regrets about not taking part?”

“No! But I did race from Tenerife to Bermuda one year and that was another story! (See PC 161 The Atlantic Sept 2019) Mo; must go and catch up with Sami, so see you when you’re back from France huh!”

I get another coffee and join Sami. Sami doesn’t waste time.

“I think you were having a go at those who decide the easy way to control their weight is by having these injections ……”

“Yes  …….”

“Well, in my scrap book I found this delightful cartoon – and cartoons that hit the spot are so clever.”

“Actually, the debate continues. NICE (Note 1) says that those coming off weight-loss drugs will, without the right support, simply put the weight back on.”

“OK! Incidentally your rabbit amuses me! I see that she got her passport stamped again when you came back from Portugal!”

“Yes. Although the Border Force lady asked her to look at her so she could compare her passport photograph! She can be very coy so she had to compose herself before she did”

“As I said, she amuses me!”

Richard 8th August 2025

Hove

www.postcardscribbles.co.uk

PS Happy Birthday to my first cousin Caroline in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island and to my brother-in-law Carlos in Estoril, Portugal.

Note 1 The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

PC 450 How many milestones are there?

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I uploaded my first electronic postcard to my Facebook page in May 2013; the second and third followed, but it was not until PC 17 that I started publishing them at fortnightly intervals on WordPress. If you are still happy to glance at, speed read, or absorb more slowly with a cup of tea, coffee or something stronger, my now-weekly musings, thank you and congratulations for your perseverance. For those of you who hadn’t realised it, the fortnightly postcard, now labelled a blog perhaps, became a weekly offering in 2020, to counteract the loneliness some experienced during the two COVID-enforced lockdowns. And like a lot of habits people started during Covid, they’ve continued, these scribbles of mine, posted on a Friday, regularly as clockwork.  

The beach at Bahia

That first postcard was about Bahia; the State of Bahia is north of Rio de Janeiro and its capital is Salvador. We spent a week on its coast, a tropical paradise of enduring calmness. The first ‘milestone’, PC 50, posted on 21st September 2015, was entitled ‘One Person’s Party can be Another Person’s Nightmare’; the polar opposite of Bahia, it concerned a party next door to Celina’s parents’ house in Iposeria, São Conrado, a suburb of Rio de Janeiro. The music’s noise level made the windows in her house rattle and, after silently enduring it for a while, for speech was impossible, we decamped to the Sheraton Hotel.

Francisquinha (PCs 172 and 217) looked over my shoulder; ‘Tell them about my passport! Tell them about my passport!’ she demanded; she repeats herself when she’s animated.

The 100th PC was posted in July 2017 and PC 150 in April 2019. The latter concerned two local enterprises, Dean’s ‘Fruit & Veg stall’ at the top of pedestrianised George Street and D Jones’ ‘Watchmaker & Jewellers’ around the corner in Blatchington Road, here in Hove. PC 300 was posted on 16th of September 2022, just after the State Funeral of the late Queen, Elisabeth II and PC 350 (1st September 2023) covered the coronation of the new King, Charles. After PC 400 (16th August 2024) I added PC 400a, a catalogue of those first 400.

PC 401 ‘The Hope Café via WhatsApp’ was posted on WordPress, on Facebook and on LinkedIn on 23rd August 2024. Conversations with Sami and Mo covered the Paris Olympics, DSD (Note 1), my middle grandson moving to Secondary School and my step-granddaughter moving to Dubai to teach. PC 403 ‘Idle Thoughts about This and That’ (September 2024) mentioned that I had had to apply for a new passport, so thought I could apply for one for Francisquinha. Both arrived back in the same envelope, although hers is slightly bigger than mine!

‘Is that my passport?’ She asked. ‘Wow! ….. I must be important.’ Then she showed me a photo of her in a suite in the Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore in 2019.

Celina and I are lucky enough to be able to travel, so it seemed right that Ms Francisquinha had her own passport, photograph and all. What’s been interesting is the reaction of the various passport control officials, when she presents it for a stamp. Obviously, these Government Civil Servants, wherever we’ve arrived, have an important role to play, making sure everyone has the correct documentation; a sense of humour is not part of the job description. In Portugal she is generally viewed very suspiciously, despite her putting on her most charming face. ‘Blood, sweat and tears’ are needed for a stamp to be added. Whereas in Brazil, they’ve laughed and drawn colleagues’ attention to her passport.

Generally, when we arrive back in London Gatwick, Celina and I head for the E-Gates, avoiding the inevitable queue. However, on one occasion there was no queue whatsoever …… so I headed for one of the kiosks. Presenting my own passport, I showed Francisquinha’s to the female officer and asked whether she could stamp it. This was clearly considered so serious a matter that two armed policemen came over to see if there was a problem. The stamp came with a disclaimer: ‘On Request’! I often wonder what was going through her mind, this Border Force official, having to justify by writing ‘on request’ why she had stamped the passport of a fluffy grey rabbit.

We had a laugh, Francisquinha and I.

So, what are the stand-out memories you have of the last twelve months, from 3rd September 2024 to 1st August 2025?

It really doesn’t matter whether you voted for the 47th President of the United States or not, the world is trying to deal with, adapt to, and accept that the current incumbent of the Oval Office is like no other. One thing I thank him for is forcing the European members of NATO to recognise their defence is their responsibility and that they should pay more for it.

Giles Coran in his column in The Times, wondered why he had bothered during his life to eat sensibly, take exercise and watch his weight to stay healthy, as the news story of the last twelve months is undoubtably the exponential use of weight-loss injections like Wegovy, Ozempic and Mounjaro. I can understand the attraction, but the jury is still out as to their effects on your body when you’re taking it, and the lasting effects on your vital organs. Personally, unless you’re morbidly obese, I do not think this is the way forward.

In the UK the Post Office and Blood Infection scandals dribble on; the longer they continue, the more Joe & Joanna Public will be disenchanted with politicians whatever their colour. I watched the funeral of the late Pope Francis and subsequent election of the new Pope, all the time thinking of the great book Conclave by Robert Harris.

And in 50 weeks’ time, when I post my 500th PC, I suspect the stand-out news story will be the speed of our climate change.

Richard 1st August 2025

Hove

www.postcardscribbles.co.uk

Note 1 DSD is an abbreviation for ‘Difference of Sexual Development’.