Friday hawker

R had an errand to run in Stratford today, so I tagged along and got some river time in while he was busy. I managed a few fairly good flight shots of both Brown and Migrant Hawkers, but this is my favourite because the dragon is turning his body while keeping his head still - a manoeuvre that impresses me every time I witness it. Please do view this full-screen if you can, and I think you'll see what I mean.

The most annoying thing about my time at Lucy's Mill this afternoon was the amount of time I spent having to ignore random strangers, who kept stopping behind me either singly or in twos or fours, and avidly watching my every move. The footpath between the new Shakespeare Marina and the town runs past this reed bed, and while it was previously used only by people like me and by dog walkers and a few serious hikers, it's now heavily travelled by narrow-boaters, mainly tourists I suppose, who therefore presumably are on the lookout for interesting sights and experiences. I do not consider myself to be an interesting sight or experience, and the craving for attention that has me writing about myself every day on the internet doesn't extend to being stared at, accosted, or loudly discussed, when I'm out with a camera, communing with nature. Even though I'd probably only been at the river for forty minutes or so, I was relieved when from the corner of my eye I recognised the next set of approaching legs as belonging to R, arriving to escort me up into town for coffee and cake.

Back at home we went through the emotional trauma of checking our energy usage, to find out if we could get a better tariff than the one being offered by our existing supplier when our current fixed-price deal ends next month. A fairly lengthy process of investigation ended with a very short answer: no, we could not. Our supplier estimates that our monthly bill is going to go up by around 75% - and that's before the October price cap increase that was announced today comes into effect. We're concerned, of course, but at the same time there are things we know we can do to reduce our energy usage, and to cut household costs elsewhere. I've been reading analyses by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Resolution Foundation that make me genuinely distressed and fearful for people on low incomes, and I'm utterly enraged that on the day many people must be looking at the new price caps and wondering how they're going to survive the winter, not one single Government Minister was prepared to go out on the morning news round to discuss the situation. This country truly has arrived at a sorry pass, when people like Martin Lewis do more to try to help and reassure desperate consumers, than the people who are supposed to be running the place.