Jeremy Corbyn needs to get his priorities straight – Lesley Keating

It’s good to know that with all the continual furore over Brexit, the constant wrangling and the uncertainty of Britain’s future relationship with Europe, that our esteemed political leaders are saving their energies for the really important things
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has campaigned for the price drop of Freddos from 26p to 10p.Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has campaigned for the price drop of Freddos from 26p to 10p.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has campaigned for the price drop of Freddos from 26p to 10p.

Jeremy Corbyn has certainly got his priorities in order.

For over a year, he’s been hard at work, backing a truly worthy cause – that of slashing the price of the Freddo chocolate bar from 26p to 10p.

And, what’s more, he’s actually succeeded. The chocolate bar was finally sold at the reduced price in Tesco until last weekend.

Nothing like concentrating on the important things.

 

Hotel farce over exercise mat left me flummoxed

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We were in London for a break. Before we left, I rang the hotel and asked if they could lend me a yoga mat rather than me lug mine up on the train. 

The Spanish receptionist seemed very happy to comply and assured me it was ‘in the diary’.

When we arrived, I mentioned the yoga mat and the conversation went much like this: ‘Ah let me look…’

Long Pause. Heads shaking.

‘You need a mat?”

‘A yoga mat. Apparently, it’s in the diary,’

‘No, you already have a booking!’

‘Yes, but I was just saying we’d also arranged to have a yoga mat in the room which I need to collect from you,’

‘Just a moment,’

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Puzzled faces. Another colleague is summoned. Lots of rapid-fire Spanish.

Then Colleague No 2 steps in: ‘Yes, what seems to be the problem madam?’

‘There’s no problem,’ I say firmly.  ‘I’m just waiting to collect the yoga mat I’d arranged to borrow for my stay which is in the diary…apparently,’

‘A... mat?’

This was getting a tad tedious now

‘Yes. A yoga mat.  You know, to do yoga on?’ I spoke slowly, doing a few basic arm-moves to illustrate my point.

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‘Ah, you want the gym!  We have a gym which is open from 6.00 am…’

‘No, I’m just asking where the yoga mat is that I’ve arranged to borrow. We’re in room 599 if that helps.’ By now I’m trying to peer upside down over the diary they’re puzzling over.

‘You want someone to show you to room 599?’

There followed lots of Spanish between Colleagues 1 and 2. As my Spanish is confined to hello, goodbye and ordering beer, this was clearly going nowhere fast.

Eventually, Colleague 1 has a brainwave.

‘You write it down!’ she says triumphantly as I scribble on the pad.

She then says, ‘Someone will bring’.

Minutes after unpacking, there was a knock at the door.

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‘That’s my yoga mat!’ I said as Mike opened the door. There stood a serious-faced man with a silver tray. 

They’d brought me a yogurt.

 

Everyone has a book in them and I’m trying to find mine

Writing can be a lonely path, so I was intrigued to meet a lot of interesting people last week after signing up to a novel-writing course.

It was amazing to meet so many talented people, all with an interest in common, yet all so very different too.

Among my group was a Norwegian girl who writes sci-fi and fantasy, a financial journalist, a vicar’s wife writing historical bodice-rippers and a graphic designer who’d just started. There was even the daughter of an Indian prince researching a complex autobiographical saga.

But the cherry on the top for me was being taught by Stephen King’s UK book editor.

It doesn’t get much better than that.