Getting back to normal, with a strange twist

I imagine she’ll be spitting feathers - Ms

Patel, that is. So, too will the xenophobes who have been venting their spleen on the asylum seekers crammed into Napier Barracks so unjustly.

I think it’s wonderful that a group of them, having only recently arrived in Britain, took their case to court and won with several judgements being made in their favour.

Surely it was obvious to anyone with the smallest modicum of humanity that confining innocent people in the way these were, could never be justified.

Meanwhile, as things creep toward a semblance of the way things used to be, Mrs B, a friend and I enjoyed a splendid meal at the Trattoria Romana in Bank Street. There was, however, the slightly disturbing situation which made it seem that diners were eating in aquaria, with large plastic screens keeping everyone’s germs isolated from neighbouring tables.

I was pleased to see, too, that the Gurkha

Bhansa Ghar on the corner of Apsley Street has been refurbished and is attracting large numbers of Nepalese patrons.

On the subject of refurbishment and reopening, the council has spent £6.5 million on the Stour Centre, which councillor

Matthew Forest, thinks might make Ashford a

‘destination’ for days out. It might help that idea along if the swimming pool could be fixed soon. The government has also chipped in an extra million to make the place more environmentally friendly.

My eyesight is increasingly playing tricks with me. I was reading, with the aid of magnifying glass the interesting story about the development of Stanhope. Among the pictures was one without a caption; Try as I might, I could not entirely make out what it showed. Eventually, I decided it must be some kind of modern sculpture. Just to be sure, I asked Mrs. B to have a look.

‘Fool’ she said, ‘it’s a digger!’

It seemed that diners were eating in aquaria, with large plastic screens keeping germs isolated from neighbouring tables