Could Portsmouth shops benefit from legalising cannabis?

That's a learning point already. Parents '“ look after your stash. Cannabis is no different from any other drug, it needs to be kept under tight control.

I hadn't imagined it like that though, with cannabis sweets and the like.

I was thinking Canada would go a bit like Amsterdam, with a thriving café culture with very cosmopolitan qualities.

Or, alternatively, loads of Canadians lying around in rec rooms underneath air hockey tables saying '˜eh?' at the end of every philosophical thought and downing 18 litres of maple syrup when the munchies strike.

But gummy bears? My limited understanding of the industry has fallen behind '“ I thought the only bears in Canada were brown, black or grisly.

I wonder though if legalising cannabis in a very controlled way, as in not available online, might be the saviour of our high street?

The café culture works in Amsterdam, and the weather there isn't much better than ours. If we adopted legalised weed, perhaps the local bakery, butcher, and grocer shops would be revitalised as people plan and execute epic snacks. 

And of course the Ye Olde Sweetie shops would make a killing '“ as long as they steered clear of the gummy bear situation as outlined above.

Maybe there would be a resurgence in local DIY shops, making paraphernalia to smoke in creative ways, and antique hookah shops.

Ah, it's easy to make light of the situation, but is it worth a serious discussion? Surely there's something in there about tax dollars? And employment on grow farms and security, and control of supply making it cleaner for all?

After all, we can buy alcohol and cigarettes all over the place. I don't know what the answer is, but I'd like to read the debate, and it'd surely make a great change from listening and reading to the perils and complete waste of money and time and energy that is Brexit.

Commemorations inspired huge amount of creativity

Four years of First World War commemorations are drawing to an end. 

When I think back to when they started, it is an astonishing amount of time, my life has changed in so many ways.

To be at war for any length of time, to be fighting or to be waiting at home for news of loved ones, must be devastating, let alone for four long years. It's grim thinking about that, isn't it? Every event in the calendar has kept the spirit of remembrance and commemoration alive.

And in that time our communities have become far more creative with poppy art '“ perhaps inspired by the amazing art installation of Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red at the Tower of London.

Once I stopped being grumpy the fireworks were awesome

Gunwharf's firework display last week was cracking. Seemingly it's been going for around 17 years '“ annually not continually, obviously.

  But this is the first time  I can remember going to watch in the flesh, so to speak.

How have I missed out so spectacularly? I've seen bits of it in the past, craning my neck in an upstairs window, but I suppose the chill factor, the grumpiness factor and the having to park in Gosport factor have always put me off. 

This year I made the effort to wrap up and although I wished I'd taken a flask of something lovely, I adored all of it. You know what though? My poor dog is not as enamoured and it's surely time for firework season to be over.