Jam Yesterday, Jam Tomorrow, But Never Jam Today

 The title for this blog post, that is, if you weren't aware, is from the Lewis Carroll book, 'Through The Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There.' It seemed somewhat appropriate for the current 'Partygate' situation. But more likely in Boris Johnson's case, 'Cake yesterday, cake tomorrow, but never cake today.' Just thinking about the absurdity of so-called 'Partygate' makes me think of Alice in Wonderland,  and the craziness of the world created by Lewis Carroll. Perhaps a never-ending tea party, with the Mad Hatter (definitely Boris Johnson.) in charge, with the March Hare and Dormouse in attendance. They kept moving around the table, and the Mad Hatter screaming at Alice 'No room! No room!' when there obviously was plenty of room.  The idea of making a promise, in this case, jam, or any sort of promise made by a politician, which is just hot air and they know full well that it can't be kept, in the case of Mr Johnson, how he will deal with Brexit and the aftermath. Remember the infamous bus with the slogan emblazoned on its side 'We send £350 million to the EU every week' which he must have known wasn't accurate. Then there's 'Levelling Up.' The less said about that the better. But who remembers the dying days of the John Major administration in the late 1990s? The so-called 'Back to basics' campaign, went belly-up when several of his ministers were found to be not quite as morally clean as they should have been. I think Mr Major would have liked to put the genie back in the bottle over that one. 

I actually attended a tenants meeting on Thursday! I have been to once since I moved to Dexter House. Barbara, our S.H.O. (Sheltered Housing Officer) took minutes and chaired the meeting. There is a leak in the roof along the corridor leading to the door out into Strudwick Drive. It has to be fixed before the workmen can start work on painting the walls, as it would be pointless to paint and then have water leaking down the paintwork. There's something wrong with the drains here and they have to investigate down one of the pipes which run through the building. I had a shower the other evening and the water took an age to drain away, so I suspect that is connected to a blockage somewhere. The paintwork is soon to be redone, including the stairs which lead up to our flats. Nothing else of any great interest or excitement.

Saturday. 2.20 p.m. It's overcast and windy today. There was a brief sunny period, but it didn't last long. Alfie was doing his prodding thing when I was laying on my bed, so I felt a necessity to take him out and around Oldbrook Green.

Sunday. 8.05 a.m. I didn't wake up until well past 7.30 this morning. It's bright and sunny, but some frost formed ice on the car. I'm going to have to defrost it before I leave to go to church.

Storm Malik caused havoc across the north of England. We seem to have avoided the strength of this storm which is now passing through the country, but there's another storm brewing. I would say both metaphorically and in reality.

2.45 p.m. I have been to church. We have the choice of whether to wear a face mask or muzzle, as I prefer to call them.  The restrictions are slowly being lifted. The hall was full. It seems that more and more people are beginning to return, although there is still the option to watch online via Facebook.

I took Alfie out once I'd had lunch. I notice that there are bulbs beginning to come up as I walk back into Dexter House, in the community garden. Is this a sign of spring? It's getting light a good deal earlier each morning. 

Monday. 8.45 a.m. It's bitterly cold this morning, with a high wind blowing. It might be sunny, but that's deceptive. It still seems though that this area of the country has avoided the worst of Storm Malik. 

Bored Silly

The days seem to blur one into the other. It's difficult to know which day is which. The weekends are more or less the same as the rest of the week. As a result, life at the moment is just plain BORING! I have managed to make a recording of the Lewis Carroll nonsense poem 'The Walrus and The Carpenter,' which features in his book 'Through The Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There,' which is a sequel to his earlier fantasy novel, 'Alice In Wonderland.' I have managed to upload it to Soundcloud as a test to see if it world work, and it does! It's not an entirely perfect recording (there is a slight glitch, made by myself, part-way through the 'take.' ) But I am pleased that I have something new to work on, sitting in this flat.

(Saturday) Really surprised by fairly thick fog this morning when I took Alfie out for his walk. You could barely see across Oldbrook Green.

I have watched the final episode of season four of 'The Crown' on Netflix. Beautifully done, photography, music, general productions design and the acting is strong. I think a few BAFTAs and other awards should go to many of the cast, but I don't think it's as strong as the last couple of seasons. Still worth watching and in particular the background stories (ie, Margaret Thatcher's rise and fall etc.)  I'm wondering how they are going to film season five in line with government pandemic regulations. It's going to be very difficult to make television or film productions when you have to have social distancing. But no doubt they will manage somehow or other.

(Sunday) A good deal milder today.

I've been thinking about how the  Downing Street news conferences are presented since the pandemic started. They are saying that the age group from around 18-35ish are the the group most likely not to follow any of the regulations, from self isolating to social distancing. They are the group who don't always watch traditional broadcast television (ITV, BBC1, BBC2, Channel 4, Channel 5 etc.) If they watch anything at all it's most likely to be on catch-up services or On Demand, such as Netflix. They probably don't watch news or get involved in politics. They are therefore the most difficult to reach with anything regarding the pandemic. They would be bored silly watching any of the news conferences from Downing Street when there is something to be discussed or any announcements to be made. Well, they are so boring, I don't think many youngsters would watch. Grey suited talking heads, standing in front of brown wooden panelled walls. The whole thing needs a make-over. Chris Whitty is about as exciting as watching the proverbial paint drying. Admittedly Boris Johnson has a certain sort of charisma, but generally the rest of them are yawn-inducing. Someone needs to give the whole thing a design rethink and have someone a bit more lively leading, someone the younger generation can identify with. Dress them in jeans and a T shirt, someone who has medical training or at least a background in medicine, who can put the information over in a more dynamic way. Think Brian Cox or Harry Hill who was trained as a doctor but then decided that comedy was to be his career. On the female front, how about Jo Brand, who was a psychiatric nurse before she changed careers, or some of the presenters of the BBC programme 'Bang Goes The Theory.' Liz Bonnin springs to mind or Dallas Campbell. These are only suggestions, but there must be a good deal more. I'm not just thinking the dreary press conferences (enough to put you off bothering to watch.) Too full of facts and figures. Whoever was to take over could also lead the advertising and make those awfully po-faced ads become a bit more lively. Get a half decent advertising agency involved. You don't have to go far to find one, with decent imagination and flair. Britain does, after all, lead the world in this area. With a good director and creative director I'm sure they could reach the generation who are not taking notice of the government's advice. Just kick out old gloomy Witty. The government must be spending vast amounts on advertising and they want this pandemic to come to and end as quickly as possible so it's surely worth a shot. May even get the virus under control so we can get back to normal, when ever that's likely to happen, but hopefully a lot quicker.