Gold, Residency and Icebergs

Ely Cathedral seen from the South in City

Ely visit; aspects of gold and jewellery; good natured networking; HMRC shift to quarterly returns; German speakers meet in Polish restaurant in Cambridge, England; Permanent residency battles; a bit of Brexit & Trump.

I was called yesterday by the Italian jeweler in Ely, and yes, this was a real Italian jeweller (note English spelling as I'm getting easily confused), who had his workshop on site, letting me know the glass on my watch had been repaired. So I set off  to Ely again today, after J had gone to her new art class. I took the camera with me as it was a sunny morning and noted that the southern side of Ely Cathedral was well lit as I walked from the free car park into town. It just felt so relaxing coming into the city, with its winding streets and cobbled high street. A total contrast to the battle to get into Cambridge.

In the literally named Italian Jewellery Ltd, the assistant quickly found my watch, as good as new. As there was no one else in the shop and the jeweller was presumably upstairs in his workshop, we chatted about gold and jewellery.

I was first enlightened about the difference between the increasingly fashionable white gold and  - well - gold. White gold is an alloy of gold with another rare white metal, such as nickel, manganese of palladium. White gold is often further plated with the extremely hard metal rhodium. Well, I still prefer my gold gold!

Our conversation turned to old or second hand jewellery. One of the risks with jewellery is that it can get damaged or pawned, in either case presenting the opportunity to exchange a valuable set stone with paste. Cautious jewellers therefore test stones. For diamonds there is a device that can distinguish between diamond and moissanite, a crystalline silicon carbide of similar brilliance that can be synthesised industrially. The assistant kindly demonstrated a detector on a diamond ring. I checked later and found that the moissanite has a higher electrical conductivity than diamond.

I left after admiring a rare pink coral ring and made my way around the cathedral to the south side, where the sun was still illuminating it brightly. however, trees obstructed the view of the full length of the cathedral, so I took some shots of the West Towers and the Octagon with the blue sundial beneath it.

I was running late for the HBN committee meeting at the WI in Huntingdon as I set off again cross country. The road from Sutton to Earith ran along the banks of the New Bedford River, a straight route that was obviously lower than the water level in the river on it's right. Rows of poplars interspersed the otherwise flat landscape of fields growing pale green in the winter sun.

With four of us, the committee meeting progressed well, giving Chair Luana the false impression that she was in control. She was soon disillusioned of the fact in the full networking meeting afterwards where good-natured conversations and cross table banter would erupt just as she thought she had quelled the previous outbreak. Valiantly regaining control there were, as at any HBN meeting some valuable insights to be shared. The next big hurdle coming to disrupt small businesses is the need to produce quarterly tax returns AND annual returns, and that these would have to be submitted electronically to HMRC. Trials to start this year with volunteer companies and followed by implementation in 2018.

Back home, Hildegard gave J and I a lift to the Polonia Club for the New Year dinner of our German language Stammtisch, with partners invited. I think the building doubles as a Polish church; the sound of singing wafted down from upstairs in the entrance hall, before we entered the restaurant proper.

I was amazed and miffed early in the evening, by a photo quality comparison between Peter's Samsung S7 smartphone camera and my Nikon 5200 - his worked much better. But that was a minor blip in an otherwise enjoyable evening. The food and drinks were good and reasonably priced, the conversation swirled around the table.

We were trying to avoid Brexit and Trump but it inevitably surfaced, with two of the gathering still in the throes of the contorted application for permanent residency in the UK as EU citizens. So laborious, that lawyers had to be employed at a reasonable fee of a mere GBP 450. The amount of information EACH applicant had to provide filled at least a complete lever arch file. The risk is, that if one item submitted is missing or at fault, it engenders immediate rejection, as mentioned previously. How long will it take the UK to process the 100,000 plus applications at this rate?

Trump's Kellyanne Conway mistakenly makes up a fake terrorist attack in "The Bowling Street Massacre" that didn't occur. Seattle District Judge James Robart issues a nationwide block on POTUS travel ban, although State Department says 60,000 visas have already been revoked. Trump issues Iran ban - and Iran responds with own ban. EU leaders give mixed reaction to PM May offer of link to Trump.

Food shortage alarm in UK! Really? Well bad weather has meant that unseasonable iceberg lettuce from Spain is in short supply in UK supermarkets.