During lockdown in Italy, archaeologists have been quietly chipping away in old Pompeii. They have discovered an almost intact, well preserved thermopolium, or ancient snack bar which in its day would have served the local population with drinks and hot foods. Apparently there were plenty of these snack bars dotted around the Roman world with eighty of them in Pompeii alone. Sounds a bit like Bournemouth, every time a shop closes another snack or coffee bar opens. The next one could be called Thermopolia. Anyway although several had already been uncovered this is the only one found in its entirety. There are still life scenes painted on the walls, urns, food residues, animal bones and even victims of the eruption. I visited there once it was very hot and dusty and also very sad to think of how quickly disaster had struck.
Meanwhile, in Ireland and while we are talking about old urns, a 20″ Chinese, urn shaped vase was put up for auction. It had been purchased in 1938 by an ancestor of the mystery seller. It was valued at around £450 as there was no proof of provenance but had a stamp on the base suggesting it had belonged to an emperor during the Qing Dynasty. Bidding was brisk and it finally sold for 1.1 million pounds plus fees. I’m going to check out that little Chinese cup I’m keeping my make-up brushes in.
One million people have already been given the Covid jab in the UK but there is obviously still a long way to go. On Monday the Oxford vaccine will become available and as long as there are enough people qualified to administer it the government say that the number of people receiving it will be 2 million per week by February. I wonder how many there are in front of me?
Did you know that Britain’s richest man who also happened to be a Brexit supporter has decided that his company will move to France to build its new Grenadier car. Sir Jim Ratcliffe had previously promised to build them in a new factory in Wales but changed his mind having found a ready to move into plant in Eastern France. The new 4×4 vehicle which is based on the Land Rover design is not even going to be electric. Take away the man’s title I say, he’s letting Britain down.
Spain and Britain have come to an agreement over Gibraltar which means that there will be free travel between The Rock and Spain. It will remain a UK territory but its borders will be managed by EU officials. This means that workers will be free to continue working there.
And another popular change following Brexit is that the 5% tampon tax on female sanitary products was abolished on 1st January. The EU had considered the items as “non-essential” and therefore subject to VAT. I wonder how they worked that one out? I could come up with a few suggestions but not here. Nighty night everyone, hope your year started well. 😴💤💤😴