Last Sunday was a day of two halves. By eight o’clock in the morning the lawns were heaving with people, hundreds of them, throwing themselves into the lake, scrambling out and tearing off the wetsuits, peddling furiously off to Ticknall and Melbourne, and finally running past the front of the hall out into the woodlands of the National Forest. This, our second triathlon, was judged a big success.
By midday it was all over, and by early afternoon you would not have guessed that anything unusual had taken place. For our part we found ourselves entertained two sets of American friends In the morning a family from Vermont, on the Canadian border, were happy to give us the lowdown on their current president. Donald Trump is a crook , whose wealth comes from money-laundering, and he is firing the Washington staff to bring in his own cronies. He has undone the good work of Barak Obama, the country is in a mess, and his foreign achievements amount to nothing.
In the afternoon we introduced an American military pilot from Florida to Pimms and strawberries, In glorious sunshine he told us how Trump has set about sacking the corrupt and self-serving Washington administration. He is a businessman, always thinking thirty moves ahead. His domestic actions have brought growth and reduced unemployment. His robust foreign policy is bringing results on the world stage.
So there you have it. If, like me, you were unsure how to judge events on the other side of the pond, these Sunday discussions will being much needed clarity.
John Blunt