It's A Lovely Day Today!

Saturday. 9.50 a.m. I've been constructing a bookshelf, which I bought on Amazon. I ordered it earlier in the week and was expecting it to arrive next week, probably Wednesday or Thursday. I got back from the doctor's appointment yesterday and there was this large parcel left outside my front door, so I left it unopened until around 7.30 this morning and have been working on putting it together. It is now finished and it's in the kitchen, but it will eventually be put in my walk-in cupboard, which will then contain all the cooking ingredients which are still awaiting a home since before the kitchen was ungraded.

12.35 p.m.  Amoxicillin is making me feel very sleepy. I was told to stop taking the Piriton, which I have done, and the remainder of the packet is now stored in my medication drawer. Well, I presume it's the new medication making me sleepy.

So, we have a new Prime Minister in Liz Truss. Well, I use the term 'Prime Minister' lightly. She's only been in office barely a month, and it seems the wheels are falling off the wagon. She's made more U-turns than a learner driver in a cul-de-sac. Seems likely she's going to have the shortest Premiership in history. It can't be long before there's a vote of no confidence, and we have a General Election. If you thought Boris Johnson was a disaster as PM, then Trussy takes the biscuit. She has the authority of an inept primary school teacher who can't get her class to behave. If she is forced out, which seems likely, does it mean we'll have to go through the ridiculous circus which is the Tory party system of voting for it's leader, which took around two months last time. Who would replace her? There can't be many candidates left.

A great deal seems to have happened in only a few days, but, as someone said so succinctly, 'A week is a long time in politics.' How true. Apparently attributed to Harold Wilson, former Labour Prime Minister.

Kwasi Kwarteng must have had the shortest time in office as Chancellor of The Exchequer and is now replaced by Jeremy Hunt. The contents of the disastrous 'mini budget' have been more or less totally replaced by new tax rates and goodness knows what else. They should install and revolving door to Number 11 Downing Street. How many Chancellors have we had in the last year? 

It seems the Conservative Party has been responsible for several disasters. So many splits within it's membership regarding the EU ('Euro Sceptics, I think the term is.) which led to the craziness of Brexit,  and now splits regarding the former Chancellor's 'Mini Budget' is likely to bring the whole house of cards tumbling down. Meanwhile, we have had two years of lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic and now a war in Ukraine. Has nobody thought that closing down the economy for two years and paying people to sit at home doing nothing, would lead to soaring inflation, which is exactly what we have at the moment? Then, attempting to get people to go back to work, usually those in offices, when they've been told to 'stay at home and protect the N.H.S., and using scare tactics to prevent people from meeting up, and not understanding that you can't expect things to return to any sort of normal when people have been filled with this sort of stuff.

Monday. 8.05 a.m. My cough is certainly showing signs of disappearing. The medication must be working. 

4.45 p.m. I've done a considerable amount more writing. What I have created has already been word processed and there is far more. Things in that department are going surprisingly well.

Is It Over And Out?

Monday. 6.00 a.m. So, Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health, has resigned over breaking social distancing regulations that he helped set up. All due because he was caught kissing his aide which was caught on CCTV camera. It wasn't necessarily the kiss that has caused the uproar, but the fact that they were in a clinch and obviously breaking the social distancing regulations. All this makes a mockery of the rules on this and is like rubbing our faces in the dirt, those of us who have gone along with what we've been told, kept strictly to the rules. It's a certain hypocrisy  amount of which is so unbelievable, a case of 'do as I say, but not as I do.' So, it would seem it's definitely 'over and out' for Hancock. The question everyone is asking, was he pushed, or did he jump? 

Well, that's over. Can we now get on with our lives? No, you can't. You've got to be good and do as you're told. Or you'll be arrested and have to pay a fine.

I was surprised that it was raining when we went out at 5.50 a.m. Alfie didn't stay outside too long when he realized it was raining. 

I'm currently watching the recent BBC1 adaptation of 'Les Miserables', the version which was shown over Christmas and New Year 2019. It's adapted by Andrew Davies who has made a successful career out of adaptations for television of classic novels, including the 1995 'Pride and Prejudice', which had Colin Firth as Mr. Darcey in it and has become the definitive version of that novel. Having seen the musical version on stage twice, once in the West End at the Place Theatre and then two years ago when the touring version visited Milton Keynes as well as seeing the 2012 film adaptation as well as reading the Victor Hugo novel (some 1500 pages or so.) I think I know the story very well. This is a more faithful version that has six hours to tell the story and can therefore go a good deal deeper than a 3-hour stage or film musical can possibly manage. 

Tuesday. 6.45 a.m. Another somewhat overcast day. It seemed dry enough when I took out Alfie for his usual walk.

Still in Groundhog Day. Now that Hancock has gone as Health Secretary we have a replacement, Sajid Javid, former Chancellor of The Exchequer. His approach to the pandemic is a good deal less 'Nanny State' and insists that we return to near-enough normality on 19th July. Thank goodness! I just hope that we can at least not have to wear face coverings and social distancing is either entirely removed or somehow relaxed in some way.

Wednesday. 6.00 a.m. I was out with Alfie around 5.30 this morning. Well, if you're awake and you have a very lively Yorkie that's got a need to go out, why not just go for it? Not warm, but still mild and fairly pleasant.

There was a certain amount of noise coming from The Cricketers (well, I presume it was there.) as I did washing up yesterday evening. I think it was because England had just beaten Germany in their game in the Euro football game. I'm not interested in football, as you will have realized if you follow my blog posts. But it's good that there's something positive to give people a lift after near enough eighteen months of lockdown and misery which it's caused. The outside of this pub has been decorated with flags of all nations in celebration of this football competition and certainly adding a touch of colour to the area around Chadwick Drive and Oldbrook Boulevard.

I have a new iPhone 12 arriving sometime today! My contract with Sky Mobile has finished and because Sky had a very good deal on iPhones (other mobiles are available, even if they're not as good as iPhones!) I decided it was too good to miss. I won't be paying much more per month than I am currently with around the same amount of data. I will return the old iPhone 7 back to Sky and get a credit on my new contract and, with the data I have used each month 'rolls over' and can be used to get a discount on the contract. So getting excited about it arriving. Red iPhone 12. Now I have the fun of transferring the SIM card from the old mobile into the new iPhone, which isn't difficult but very fiddly getting that tiny little chip into the little tray that slides out of the side of these mobiles. This is because I will be keeping my phone number as I really don't want to change it. I ordered a case for the new case which had arrived in the post from Amazon. I always get cases for my various gadgets because I want to look after them. My iPad and this MacBook air which this is being written on have their own cases. If you're going to buy expensive gadgets, then it makes sense to me to keep them in good condition.