The Aardvark Blog

Road Repairs, Scarecrow Sunday, Infantilism, Bank Holiday Vide Grenier,
8/08/2024

It seems banal to start with the topic of road repairs, but having mostly ignored the North of the county for some years (apart from filling in potholes with a material whose structural resilience was only marginally greater than snow), Herefordshire Council has decided to dig up half the villages and not properly signpost diversions. Needless to say businesses were not contacted, and despite having left a couple of messages with the council person in charge, no one has called me back.

The good news is that the works that are between Kingsland and Mortimer's Cross seem now to be finished and there are lights which mean that the road is passable. From tomorrow there will be roadworks in the area between Mortimer's Cross and Aymestrey for one week, and then between Aymestry and Wigmore for the week after. If you are coming up to us from the South you can either come to us via Shobdon, Combe and Lingen (which adds 5 to 10 minutes), or you can come up via the A49 and turn left after Ludlow Farm Shop ( A4113, direction Knighton). Either way we can promise you a warm welcome when you arrive.

Talking to the organisers of last Sunday's Brampton Bryan Scarecrow Sunday, they say that it was the most successful ever, with fantastic visitor numbers. Nearly 800 people also visited the church to see Cynthia and her team's fantastic thematic flower displays. After over 20 years it is great that enthusiasm for this genuinely local event continues unabated. Thank you to the young Aardvark team who coped with the surge of orders that arrived in the café. My apologies if you came and had to wait, but unfortunately we can only process so many orders at a time in our little cafe!

Watching the reports of the summer riots here, and of the political developments in America, I am reminded that we live in an 'Age of Infantilism', or to misquote Thomas Paine - 'An Age of Unreason'. It would seem that across the Western world, people are tired of difficult problems and are responding by either demanding simplistic solutions, or just striking out in a feral fashion. Listening to the explanations and apologies from some of the rioters who have now been convicted, I was struck by how confused they seemed by their own actions. These are the responses of a child who feels genuine remorse after breaking the neighbour's window. And as for politicians who use post-hoc rationalisations to curry favour with those who they believe are in sympathy with the rioters, I have no words.

I was wondering if literature can help us with this knotty problem, but I am not sure that anything much helps. These are not Hugo's desperate poor, and Tommy Robinson is no Valjean. Perhaps we should turn to the classics and Cicero's 'Catilinarian Orations'.
But again, Cataline for all his faults and his faux plebeianism (my memory is that he was actually a member of the ruling classes), was articulating genuine grievances at the lack of democratic levers within the Roman Republic. Where do we go next? Not to Philip Roth as there is far too much intentionality in the 'Plot Against America'; this also rules out Sol Yurick's 'The Warriors'.

No, I am afraid for this we need to go to Anthony Burgess's 'Clockwork Orange', with a side order of the Clash's 'White Riot' ('White riot, I wanna riot/White riot, a riot of my own/White riot, I wanna riot/White riot, a riot of my own').

But to return to less choppy waters, we already have numerous bookings for the August Bank Holiday Vide Grenier and I am delighted to welcome some newbies as well as many of our regulars. There are still spaces, so call and book if you would like to join our brave band of Aardvark booters - just call us 01547 530744 to add your name to the list!