Will Brexit mean firm handshakes?

Although I, sensibly, voted to remain within the European Union, I have hopes that at least one good thing will come as a result of leaving; this being the utterly unnecessary and meaningless Continental routine of hugging and planting kisses on the proffered cheeks of acquaintances both old and new.

In Christianity, a chap called Judas is reported as having kissed the Messiah as a means of identifying him to the waiting Roman soldiers who were going to take him away and kill him. Unfortunately, the habit has probably become so deeply ingrained that it will not just go away without a law.

For my part, a good, firm handshake is the proper way of greeting and saying farewell. Let the policy makers of all parties bear this in mind if they want my vote.

On the subject of voting, Mrs B and I shall be away on polling day. We applied some time ago for postal votes but have so far heard nothing.

Wwe’ve not really been expecting rapid action, even though such things don’t require a special meeting of the full council. Perhaps if our applications had been accompanied by requests for planning permission on greenfield sites they would have been nodded through immediately.

Did you know that Ashford has a tailor? In a town so bereft of really useful businesses, Ozy, in Castle Street is a quiet, unassuming man. He is also the bee’s knees with a sewing machine.

Over the past few years, my weight has gone up and down a little (actually, quite a lot). Trousers bought when the weight was up and the waistline increased, I took along to Ozy who made them fit perfectly as the pounds dropped off. A few days ago, I took something in for him to deal with. I had to wait a short time while he worked miracles with a gent’s jacket. Later he was adjusting a dress for a beautiful woman. I knew that the wait was worthwhile – you don’t rush a true craftsman.

A few days ago, I received an email from Twitter. I signed up to it in 2015, just to see what It was like. I decided it was rubbish. The email revealed that in ’15, a councillor had put up that he loved my column because it demonstrated all that the council was doing right!