The Japanese are slaying the giants of the oceans and it is appalling: Zella Compton

Surely the world has moved on from harpooning these giants of the oceans? The country has pulled out of an international agreement – and are no longer hiding their ambitions to rebuild a commercial market.

I very much hope that the good people of Japan will not to care to dine on whale in any form and will reject 400 years of culinary tradition in the same way we reject concepts which science and empathy show us to be antiquated.

Seriously, just the thought of all that blubber makes me queasy, in any other form than its original shape, swimming in the depths of the ocean.

I’ve given up swinging for the comfort of cushions

I have been thinking about buying a swinging hammock for years.

My family went through various ones when I was a child but their fragile structures never lasted too long.

Finally my uncle welded a frame, like scaffolding, which cut out any risk of damage from boisterous teenagers piling on top of it.

No such luck for me as when searching online all I can find are flimsy versions or wooden ones without cushions – and who would want of those?

We went down the stationary wooden bench route a few years ago, plus a sort of trellis arbour thing, which all look sweet but are, I kid you not, uncomfortableness personified.

That’s a British trait, being in pain reminds you that you should be weeding.

But I want to relax in the garden.

I don’t want deckchairs that I have to get out of the shed and need a 600 page manual on how to erect them.

Who hasn’t secretly watched with glee as someone else tries to unfold one and put it up, or conversely, tries to take it down without getting caught in its depths?

There are also plastic reclining chairs but they appear to come with cushions that are so fat, I’d be looking over the neighbour’s fence.

There’s a towel on the grass of course, but that’s also fraught as my Ladbrador-ish fiend likes to pee, poo and chew on the lawn.

It’s hard to find a spot that isn’t damp, smelly or literally sticky with bits of sharpened twig.

We do, in all fairness, have a very small garden.

But I would very much like to be comfortable in it for at least one summer.

I finally decided to go for fake wicker sofas, with washable cushion covers (how practical).

I’ve seen them appearing on balconies and in stores and have turned my nose up at them for one simple reason – they look far too comfortable to be sensible.

But now I have got over that ridiculous moment in my life they are superb.

And the best bit?

They don’t swing so don’t have a frame that will buckle under my boisterous teenagers.

Leave your troubles far away and watch something else

I’ve quite enjoyed the recent run of musical-type films, Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman.

Thus, I was super excited to go and see Yesterday. Although not a biopic by nature, I hoped it would remind me of songs I have previously loved but which have fallen out of my current listening.

Yep, the Beatles were coming to town.

I was also excited as I love the premise of this film – that the world (after a tiny blip) forgets the Beatles and a whole load of other stuff existed.

Unfortunately the sad reality of this film is that all its promise was in the trailer, and that’s it.

Seriously you can watch that and you’ve seen it all.