Yesterday started off in the most interesting of ways. The day before, I had been tempted by the Amazon 'Black Friday' offers into buying one of the latest generation of 'smart' speakers, activated by voice commands, which Amazon were discounting by 50% By the time I took into account the fact that I had not been spending money on coffee and cakes at Waitrose during the bad weather, the speaker was already two thirds paid for and Amazon had even promised same day delivery before 7.00pm (and it was duly delivered) I waited evidently until Meg was in bed to install it and it needed one to download the Alexa app onto one's phone which I did. But then the app on my phone would not recognise the device but I knew that iPhone 16 had some BlueTooth troubles in this respect. So I downloaded the app onto my old iPhone which I still have in use with a TescoMobile Sim card inside it and it installed perfectly. Last night, I could do only the most limited of trials and I have only tried music so far but from what I have both seen and heard it is a really impressive piece of kit with, to my ears, superb sound quality to boot. In the morning, I experimented a little more and am truly impressed by the quality. The only downside I can see at the moment if that, for example, one asks Alexa to play a Mozart concerto, Amazon will consult its bank of music and play the first in the list, which may only be one movement. So one really knows to know exactly which recording Amazon has in its library to get the full work and the recording that one wants so a certain amount of research using the Amazon Music app is required.
This morning, as is often the case, I was called upon to act as No. 2 to the single care worker but this individual I know well and we work well with each other. I joke with the staff that I dare not get too good at the job of assisting as I feel in danger of being recruited by the care agency itself. Friday is the day when our domestic help calls around and we always keen to welcome her and she helped me get Meg for a visit down the road. We have not been out because of the weather practically the whole of the week so we were keen to get out today if we could. As we set out, the weather was quite sunny and almost pleasant but after we had our coffee in Waitrose and started our journey back up the hill, a huge black cloud appeared so we had a somewhat icily windy and unpleasant journey home. When we got in, I regaled Meg with a cup of soup and our domestic help rushed into the fray with a hot water bottle to help to warm up Meg's hands. Then I pressed on with our lunch with a supermarket fish pie which we had with 'Mange Tout' peas followed by yogurt. As soon as we got cleared up for the afternoon and a telephone call had been made, we got busy watching last night's 'Question Time' where practically half of the discussion was taken up with the vexed question of small family farms having to pay inheritance tax. I did discover, though, something in the course of this debate that I did not know i.e. that many medium to large firms are owned by private equity trusts or large financial conglomerates who do not pay inheritance tax anyway.
The care agency are really badly hit by the cold weather induced sickness at the moment. For example, this morning I was assisting the sole carer and practically the same thing happened with Meg's lunchtime call, although in this latter case it was the lack of access the to the road serving our access road when a large delivery vehicle was delivering a load of aggregate for the roadworks in the immediate proximity of our house. Then the afternoon call was one of the carers rather than the anticipated two as the other had gone off sick. Even the young lad who called round this afternoon was feeling pretty rough so I dosed him up with some 'Cold and Flu Relief' powder and gave him a couple of sachets for later. Exactly the same thing happened yesterday and so I was glad that when I did my weekly shop up at the supermarket, I bought another packet of the medicinal compound, suspecting that we might need a lot of it. So I am in the rather strange situation where, apart from the perpetual tiredness which afflicts me these days for understandable reasons, I am actually helping to care for the carers to provide a tolerable service for Meg. Some of the problem may be a Monday morning problem (sickness built up over the weekend) whilst there is the Friday syndrome (worn down by the demands of the rest of the week) As I suspected when I asked this morning's care assistant, when staff report in as sick it might not be them but their children who are sick and, of course, children are mutually infecting each other with god knows what all the time they are at school. I think the care agency staff really do struggle in to work where they can and are very conscious that when they do not turn up then they have clients who are potentially disadvantaged as well as adding to their work pressures of their colleagues. But, personally, I am happy to help out where I can and am praying for the spell of milder weather which is due to move over us on Sunday in a day or so's time. However, to help to alleviate the universal gloom, it has been a case of 'boys and their toys' because as the care workers have struggled to get in, I ask them for their favourite track of music and am then have Alexa play it for them. Having said that, they all seem to have had Alexa themselves for years so it is hardly a complete novelty for them. It seems they have often asked for this piece of kit as a birthday or Christmas present and that is how they have managed to afford it on the very low wages endemic in the care industry.
CNN is reporting tonight that the sentencing of Donald Trump after his conviction in a New York court might be delayed indefinitely The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial has adjourned his sentencing, which was set for next week. Judge Juan Merchan also agreed to hold off on issuing his decision on presidential immunity until after he reviews the parties’ filings. Merchan granted Trump’s request to file a motion to dismiss the case, ordering his legal team to submit their papers by December 2, and prosecutors have a week to respond. Trump’s team wanted to have until December 20 to file their paperwork. The judge did not set a new sentencing date or make any further statements about the delay. Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Trump, called Mechan’s decision a 'decisive win' for the president-elect. So it looks as though the power of delay, a convicted felon in Donald Trump is allowed to get away with no sentence after his election as President-elect. What this says for the rule of law in America needs no further comment.
© Mike Hart [2024]