A Little Of What You Fancy

I think the Partygate scandal, if indeed it can be termed a scandal, just shows how much Boris Johnson can obfuscate. Now there's a good word. I think I will henceforth attempt to find a 'Word of The Week. This word.

So, obfuscate. Wording something in such a way that it is so excessively complicated that nobody really understands it. This can be said of the crazy and somewhat pointless regulations regarding the pandemic lockdowns. Then, why on earth are there different regulations in the various constituent countries in the United Kingdom? Why are they not consistent throughout the whole United Kingdom? Then, on top of that, we have Boris Johnson who waffles on and seems to evade responding to the various questions in Prime Ministers Questions and debates in the House of Commons, such as, was he at a party in 10 Downing Street or other government establishments?

Wednesday. 2.50 p.m. So, Denmark has got rid of all its pandemic lockdown rules and regulations. So, when can we in Great Britain remove all of our stupid restrictions? Boris was more or less bludgeoned into introducing them in the first place, by the scientists who should have known better.

I think it's time to drop any more mentions of Partygate. It's getting really boring. 

Thursday. 7.45 a.m. Quite mild as I write this. I just hope it stays that way, at least, for the next week or so.

I've bought a Fitbit Versa 2. It replaces the old one I've had for a couple of years, which stopped working. This model isn't merely a step counter, but a watch that measures heart-rate, and many other things. I bought it from Argos, using my Nectar points and points I had collected doing various online surveys. I was surprised how quickly I was able to get it up and running and using it. I had ordered it via the Argos website and collected it from their store in Milton Keynes yesterday morning ('Click and Collect' I believe they call this.) Argos have stopped their catalogue and seem to only work with their website. I suppose it must have been extremely expensive to create these catalogues which came out twice a year and then distribute them. If you have the internet it's far easier to find and order items which you can then collect from their showrooms or have delivered.

I went to my first lecture of the National Trust Association at the Oaktree Centre at 2 p.m. It was somewhat off being there, but not for a church event, but nevertheless it was interesting. It was a talk by someone who used to work for Charles Ross fine art auctioneers in Woburn. Charles Ross is a regular antique expert on such television shows as Bargain Hunt and Antiques Road Trip. This gentleman, by the name of Evan Willison, gave an amusing talk (he didn't like it being called a lecture, and I can see why. Smacks of 'education' and it being somewhat po-faced, which this certainly wasn't. He mentioned many and various incidents which had happened to him over the course of working as an auctioneer for over 30 years. Very amusing. I was surprised by how well attended the event was. There are regular talks given on a variety of subjects as well as outings to various places, one coming up to the British Museum and another to Chartwell, home of wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill. I don't think I will be going on that one, having already visited and the fact that it would take a good two hours to travel down to Kent and then another two hours back on a coach. Not my idea of fun, particularly as I'm over six foot tall and sitting on a coach for any length of time would be uncomfortable. Most coaches aren't designed with any thought for someone my height. I may wait and see what other outings they have and decide to go one something else, especially if it's to one of the National Trust properties.

More . . . Of What? 2: The Sequel

(Friday) So, more of the same? I can't think what's likely to change. Not a lot. If anything.

We're being told that there's yet another variant of the coronavirus Covid19 virus. This time it's in South America, I think Brazil. Boris Johnson has closed the borders and nobody from those countries is allowed in. When I think of him closing the borders, it makes me think of him literally standing there, arms akimbo, one foot on British soil, the other in the sea, like one of those Gillray cartoons you see from the 19th century (or was it earlier?) with a defiant look on his face, tousled hair blowing in the wind and the virus held firm in a sort of fishing net. Or Winston Churchill, in similarly defiant mood, standing on the White Cliffs of Dover, with Vera Lynn's plaintive voice on the soundtrack of a scratchy black-and-white piece of British Pathe newsreel, with his words from his famous speech comes out of the loudspeaker of an ancient radio 'We will fight them on the beaches and on the landing stages. . . if England and  her Empire should last for a thousand years, men will say . . . this was their Finest Hour.' Not that in any way am I suggesting that it's Boris's 'Finest Hour.' Far from it. 

I can also imagine Boris as Gandalf, in the first of the "Lord of The Rings" books and films, "The Fellowship of The Rings." The party of dwarves, lead by Gandalf, enter the Mines of Moria and they get to The Bridge of Khzad Dum. It is guarded by the great monster, the Balrog, a fire-breathing creature which confronts Gandalf. He shouts at it 'You shall not pass!" In this case the Balrog is the coronavirus covid 19 virus, huge, round and covered in spikes things and bright green/blue. It is Boris Johnson who bellows at the thing "You shall not pass!" meaning it can't come into the United Kingdom. But in the Lord of The Rings, Gandalf fights the Balrog to the death and then he too falls to his death. But I won't give the story away as to what then happens. Poor old Boris. I don't envy him being PM during this pandemic. He's never going to be right, whatever he does. A very difficult job. Damned if he's right or damned if he's wrong, or words to that effect.

Strange thumping noises somewhere within Dexter House. I suspect it's the workmen who have been taking out asbestos from the ceilings along the corridor in which my flat is. That section is complete and now they are working on the other section. They had to keep tenants away and we weren't supposed to go out when it was on (I have mentioned this in earlier posts.) Another company came in to plaster the ceiling and then another company has rewired, ready to put in new emergency lighting.

I discover the thumping noises are from workmen digging a trench in the garden. Along the edge of a lawn area, with some trench leading towards the building. It might be something to do with the wiring for the emergency lighting, but I'm not entirely sure. Emergency lighting outside in the communal garden. I think they are replacing the old ones. Probably more cost-effective and lower carbon emissions or something. Anyway, at least I know what's going on, or I THINK I know.

(Saturday)I had ordered a new coffee table from Amazon and it turned up during the afternoon. I wasn't expecting it to arrive so quickly. Then the reading light arrived. I began working to construct the table. Not difficult, but it takes time and with so many pieces, in particular the screws and other bits and pieces, I assembled most of it and then left it, and as I write this these sections are leant against the bookcase. I will finish it off later tomorrow morning. The Tomshine floor reading lamp was easy enough to assemble. It works with a power pack which plugs into the mains. The metal sections screw together easily and it stands on a weighted base which is round. I soon had it working, a range of light intensities. It helps to make reading easier and the head is adjustable on a sort of flexible section so the light can be set to exactly how you like it. I am pleased with it. It had controls on it's upright, on/off and another to adjust the setting of the light, but it also has a remote control with is magnetic and will adhere to the metal stand. It needs AAA batteries which didn't come with it, so I will need to go out and buy some later today. I am more than pleased with it and I wouldn't have found this without Amazon.

(Later) I went out with Alfie at around 7.30 this morning. I knew it was likely to be raining, but it looked as if there had been snow in the night as some of the cars parked along Dexter Avenue had a sprinkling of the white stuff. It was really cold and wet and Alfie was more determined to return straight home, but I encourage him to make sure he did everything he had to. We crossed over Oldbrook Boulevard to put the pooh bag in the bin and he soon trotted back to the flat. I think we're likely to get heavier snow later in the day. There's quite a wind blowing as I write this (9.10a.m.)

I went to Waitrose and bought a pack of AAA batteries and when I returned to the flat I put a couple in the remote for the reading light. Bingo! It works! You can even dim the light using the remote! The only problem is I have so many remotes now: one for the Hitachi television, another for the Panasonic Freeview box, another for the Firestick and another for the Goodman's sound bar. The one for the reading light can easily be confused for the TV remote. Oh, does it matter? Just got to get used to all this technology.

I have now managed to finish off the coffee table. A good deal wider than the red IKEA table which I've had since moving to the flat. It's quite fiddly and time-consuming doing up the screws, which are in rather awkward places. I have still got the drawer to construct, but it's done. I am wondering if it needs the top covering in varnish or something, to protect it from the odd spill it's likely to get, as such accidents can be wiped off. I always think that it's best to build these flat pack bits of furniture to do it in stages, as it can become somewhat frustrating, what with all the pieces and reading the instructions. Also made somewhat difficult with Alfie getting in the way, so he was put in the bedroom with the door closed. Just makes it even more difficult with a small dog who wants to get under your feet. He just doesn't like being left out.

The 'New Normal'

(Saturday)What exactly are they talking about when people talk about 'The New Normal'? It's in connection with the coronavirus pandemic and how our lives have been altered since the lockdown was bought in as an attempt to stem the infection rate of the virus. Is it referring to the changes that we have to make for such things as social distancing? Not being able to meet in groups? Not being able to meet our families who don't live with us? Those things aren't what you'd call 'normal' particularly. So if they are the 'new' normal, what was the old 'normal' and what exactly IS normal in the first place? Life pre-pandemic? Before lockdown? Quite a lot to ponder on there.

Whatever measures the government brings in it's all very new territory. It's the bleating and moaning from a certain section of the country which annoys me, lead by the media and in particular the BBC. They seem to love negative news and seem to side step anything that might be positive.

(Sunday) It's 9.55 and it's still strange not going to church and meeting up with everyone. Having some sort of worship on-line, via either YouTube or Facebook is becoming the 'Norm.' But it still seems odd without others around to sing worship songs with, but I suppose you might say it's ;better than nothing.'

I watched the film 'Darkest Hour'  this morning which was originally shown on BBC1 last weekend during the VE Day 75th Anniversary celebrations. I watched it on BBC iPlayer. It was a film I had wanted to see for some time so it was an opportunity to watch it without paying as it would be through the Television Licence. It's about Winston Churchill and his rise to becoming Prime Minister after the removal of Neville Chamberlain as PM after the 'Piece of Paper' incident and the appeasement of Adolf Hitler. Gary Oldman convinces completely as Churchill, not just the voice of the great man, but with the aid of incredible makeup, which must have taken hours to create each day before filming took place. Today I watched the first part of a three-part documentary series on 'History Hit,' which I subscribe to and presented by David Starkey and originally shown on Channel 4, covering the story of Marlborough, Churchill's great ancestor who built Blenheim Palace, and comparing the background to the Battle of Blenheim and the build-up to the Second World War and the rise of Hitler and the Nazis.

Things were going really well at the moment (apart, of course, from the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown) but this afternoon my bed decided to cave in beneath me as I lay on it. It's an IKEA bed. a king-size, and we bought it when we lived in Crownhill and was dismantled and moved with us when we moved to the house in Eaglestone. Like a lot of IKEA furniture, it's one you construct yourself and, unfortunately, they don't like being dismantled and then reassembled. This happened again when I moved to Dexter House, although it did survive being reassembled, which was done by the removal company. But there is a problem in that it has slats which support the mattesss and it's supposed to have metal cross pieces which keep the bed in shape, otherwise it can get out of the correct, square angles and in that case it can collapse. The wooden slats come connected with webbing and you lay these slats across the frame and they sit on the wooden frame, right inside the outer edge. But unfortunately on the side I used to lie on the metal cross-members got broken and as a result the slats keep falling out and you have to lift the mattress to replace the slats in the sides of the bed. Whenever I moved to get out of bed, usually when I sit up and then swing my legs over the side of he bed, the slats move and some fall out. So I started sleeping on the other side of the bed, which has been fine for the past few months, until this afternoon, when even the slats on that side of the bed collapsed. There seems absolutely no way I can continue to sleep in the bed in it's current condition. The slats will not stay where they are supposed to go, so it now looks as if I will need to replace the bed completely. This isn't exactly made easy with the pandemic continuing and not being able to visit IKEA or any other furniture shop, so I may have to simply dismantle the bed and take the mattress off and put it on the floor of the bedroom and make it up with sheets and duvet and sleep on it on the floor until such time as I can entirely replace the bed, which isn't likely for some while with the lockdown continuing. Watch this space for further developments in the saga of the IKEA bed.

(Monday) I managed to sleep really well with the mattress on the floor of the bedroom. I think Alfie was a bit mystified by the fact that I was lying more or less on the floor. He came to have a look during the night, lay down with me but didn't stay long and went back to sleep on the sofa in the lounge. I'm quite happy with the new sleeping arrangements and I will need to take out the bits of the bed whenever it's possible to get the Council to come and collect it all. I'm not bothered about replacing the bed and may just leave things as they are until I can get a new replacement.

It's 6.25a.m. and it seems it's going to be another pleasant morning on the weather front. Washed, shaved and ready to take his nibs out at around 7.15.

Later. I've taken Alfie out again and it's odd seeing Oldbrook Green so free of people. Yesterday evening when we went out it was crowded and had the atmosphere of a Bank Holiday, with children with their parents, some sitting in groups on the grass, some playing football, others walking their dogs, like me, whilst others just strolling around. I'm still not completely certain how much of the social distancing is going on, but a definite more relaxed atmosphere generally.

New Medication

I'll be perfectly honest and admit that discussing depression isn't the easiest of subjects. It has hit me quite hard since Carol died. I have had various forms of medication and  it's not just that form of medication I have had, sleeping tablets mostly. I was put on Zopliclone, but, having taken it for around 2 weeks, it hasn't really had much of an effect. I have got a routine to get myself to sleep before going to bed: a soak in a hot bath and then a hot, milky drink, of Ovaltine and then, just before I get into bed, take the medication. But I only sleep a few hours, probably waking at 2a.m. or a bit after and then I'm unable to get back to sleep. Usually I have to get up in the night to go to the toilet (just something you have to live with as you get older, I'm afraid.) I rang my surgery to get an appointment with my doctor on Monday, but then found I couldn't get one until later in the week, on Thursday, when a doctor would ring. It tied in with the delivery of the fridge/freezer. Then I got a call at mid-morning, around 11-11.30. I explained to the doctor what I needed, and he suggested increasing the dosage of the Zopliclone, and explained what was going on with my sleeping, or perhaps, not sleeping. Also, depression reared it's not insubstantial head (what Winston Churchill described as his 'black dog.') He suggested another anti-depressant (I forget which one) and said he'd send the prescription to Lloyd's in Sainsbury's, but after about 5 minutes he rang back to ask me if I was allergic to any medication, or any of the previous anti-depressants I had been prescribed. I said that, years ago, when I was prescribed another brand. it made me feel awful. I found it quite difficult to judge when to cross the road, so I didn't get run over by the passing traffic, and just a feeling of nausea and feeling light-headed. As a result, he suggested I came into the surgery for a proper doctor's appointment, and it was made for the next day, Friday, at 3.40, with my registered doctor. So I went for that appointment. I have now been given Temazepam 10 mg. Tablets to take just before I go to bed and Sertraline 100 mg to take in the morning. I slept reasonably well as a result, but in the morning I was reluctant to take the Sertraline because I wasn't sure what the side-effects would be. Having taken two at around 9.30, it took a while before they had an effect (I know that most medication don't really work for you until you've taken them for a period, probably a month, but I began to feel nauseous and later on I had to rush to the toilet. (There's no point in explaining in too much detail what I mean, but you can guess.) I think the Temazepam left me feeling slightly unsteady on my feet earlier this morning, and as such, I wouldn't have been safe to drive (which is what the warning is on the packet they come in from the pharmacy.) I was earlier put on Diazepam, which isn't a full-blown anti-depressant, but seemed to help me sleep, but, unfortunately, because they can become addictive, you can't take them for much longer than a month. I have to go back and see the doctor mid-january, to discuss any reaction I might have to any of these medications and to probably see if there is an alternative which I can take which isn't addictive or at least have side-effects.