Quintin Jardine's blog

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Yesterday we laid Eileen to rest, facing the afternoon sun and beside an old friend. We did it in the traditional Scottish way, her loving family lowering her coffin into the earth. She took a piece of my heart with her. I don’t have much left. All I can do now is walk my dog, write and miss her.

You know we’ve reached peak frenzy when Kay Burley’s night out feels like mass murder

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/you-know-weve-reached-peak-frenzy-when-kay-burleys-night-out-feels-like-mass-murder-xgbpmxbhh

I don’t know which I dislike more: the vicious, vacuous Camilla Long or Kay Burley. Let’s call it a draw.

T’is the season to be jolly, unless you happen to be Boris.

If you are in search of a distraction from the carnival of despair that 2020 has been, and care to glance into the future, my seasonal short story, ‘Skinner’s Elves’, is back in the kindle store, priced as low as Amazon will let me.

We have family in the USA who voted for Biden, and family who voted for Trump. I wouldn’t want to upset any of them, so all I will say is this:

My boy Sunny is not qualified to run for President on four grounds. He wasn’t born there, he doesn’t live there, he’s too young, and he’s a dog. Pity, for he has other qualities that would put him at the head of the field. He’s brave, he’s never dissembled, he’s never cheated, and he’s never told a lie.

We have a very nice, conscientious postperson. She has just dropped my mail through my letterbox. My video doorbell clocked her in at 18:27.

I am not having a go at her, not at all. Nor am I unappreciative of the national emergency. However the decline in the quality of the Royal Mail and Post Office services in rural areas has nothing do with that. It has been continuous for several years. We have been virtually abandoned without apparent concern.

What is the point of a national postal service when its only function appears to be the delivery of junk mail?

news.sky.com/story/gary-barlow-i-had-one-incredible-hour-with-my-stillborn-baby-girl-11521211

I feel for the Barlows. When I was two years old my mother had a full term still birth. I didn’t find out until I was eight when my dad let something slip.

Back then there was no such consideration for the bereaved. There was no funeral, there was only a small sad announcement in the local paper, closing ‘stillborn’. I have no idea what became of my brother’s remains: indeed I hate to think about it. But I do know that my mother never came to terms with it. She never spoke about it to me, and she carried her grief and her anger for the remaining fifty years of her life. It’s still in me and it always will be.

She and my dad deserved an hour with their child.

Those who sneer at cricket as boring need to look at last night’s Lancs vs Yorks T20. Last second finish, three results possible, crowd going crazy.

For entertainment value, it put the SPFL in perspective.

Well done, Sir Cliff. It would have been easy to fold.

This morning’s backing tracks are by Amanda Marshall. Where have you gone, woman? Get back in the studio, please, and make more stuff like ‘Dark Horse’ and ‘I’ll be Okay’

crimereview.co.uk/page.php/interview/5952

www.skysports.com/share/11263888

Sometimes the FA as an organisation just buggers belief; yes I do choose my words carefully.

This morning’s news of the Las Vegas helicopter crash was an sobering start to my day. Thirteen years ago, Eileen and I did that same excursion, on a perfect day in January.

No, the photo wasn’t taken on the rim of the Canyon. It’s a standard shot they do before you leave McCarron Airport. It was great day out and the memory has lived with us ever since. We were flown by the young man standing beside me. He was named Scott; that I remember clearly. So was the pilot of yesterday’s tragic flight, and I’m guessing it’s the same guy. Our thoughts and prayers are with him, the other three survivors and the victims.

My recollection of Papillon Tours is of a very professional outfit, who delivered all they promised and brought us back safe after a stunning flight. They do hundreds of these flights every year, without mishap. Later today, I will dig out the video and look at it, not with any sense of relief, but in memory of those who didn’t make it back yesterday.

‘Mugabe named as goodwill ambassador by WHO’

What can top that? Maybe Trump on ‘Would I Lie to You?’, but not much else

Victoria furious over David Beckham’s friendship with wild socialite Lady Mary Charteris – The Sun

MAGNIFICA CASA AMB PISCINA PRIVADA | Bosch API

Deadline day plus one, US Open tennis, Italian Grand Prix, Vuelta de Espana and yet this is the lead story on BBC Sport on line.

Priorities gone awry?

Absolutely. The jury makes its decision on evidence led, but a max of two years for snuffing out a life? The law needs updating.