Today we stared off fairly bright and early as the two care workers were scheduled to arrive 15 minutes earlier this morning and they arrived on time. After Meg and I had breakfasted, we received a most welcome telephone call from our University of Birmingham friend, discussing our availability for coffee. Tuesday is our regular coffee day anyway so the group of us met discussing things relating to Christmas. I was reminded of a story that I was told some time ago that often the younger male members of couples would go out and buy either black or red underwear for the objects of their affections and to be given as Christmas presents. However, a goodly number of these presents were always taken back to the store and exchanged for either a more virginal white or certainly a more utilitarian version of the underwear in question. To add a degree of veracity to this story, one of our number announced that exactly that had happened in their own family over the festive season. Our University of Birmingham friend had, in the past, expressed a wish to read my PhD thesis so this morning I pulled off my bookshelves both a collected version of a dozen papers underpinning the PhD and also a rather battered final draft of the work which I used to brandish in front of students, principally to show them how to reference correctly, what to do about extended quotations particularly if quoted by one author citing the work of another and the sorts of problems that can create dilemmas for students when writing their final year projects. I have asked my friend to pull no punches in his evaluation of what I wrote nearLy thirty years ago now but also intimated that he had no fear of suffering from insomnia as a reading of the thesis might prove to be so boring that he would be asleep within minutes. We had to rather dash up the hill after our extended coffee session to ensure that we met with the care worker due to undertake her Tuesday morning sit and, having got Meg settled from a period of agitation, showed her some of our 50th wedding anniversary pictures if only to show a picture of Jo, my very old and dear friend who passed away in her mid 90's before I had the chance to say a proper goodbye to her. However, I seem to remember that I did play her a little piece on my keyboard on the very last occasion that we spoke.
Today I poached some haddock in milk as our midday meal. served with a baked potato and some green beans. As my cooking coincided with the visits of the carers, I think I left the fish cooking for too long and my desire not to smell the kitchen and the rest of the house out with a fishy smell did not succeed. Nonetheless, the meal was delicious and delivers a lot more worthwhile protein than would be the case of fish fingers or even a bought fish pie, so I need to refine my cooking methods for next week. This afternoon, we started to watch the concluding part of 'The Mayor of Casterbridge' which was a little slow moving compared with other Hardy novels but we left our viewing at a point of suitable dramatic tension ready for us to conclude tomorrow no doubt. I have in one on or two locations throughout the house and principally by the side of laptops any my main computer some cheap computer specs bought from the aisles of Poundland and elsewhere. But one of my favourite pairs had unaccountably gone missing so I went on the internet and purchased a box of four which seemed well designed and of the relevant quality. But what turned up, courtesy of Amazon, actually amazed me. Complete in a little presentation cardboard box were four pairs of spectacles, each in their own little plastic case and with a pair of cleaning cloths and an instruction leaflet to boot. The manufacturers of these spectacles make the claim that they have 20 million satisfied customers and offer a guarantee of quality with their product. They also claim that the spectacles have an 'anti-blue light' treatment which features heavily in their marketing and which may well be a bit of scientific over-stretch as a brief visit to the internet indicate that anti-blue light claims are rarely justified. But I must say that my first impressions are very favourable and as I was rather expecting four pairs of Chinese made units to turn up in a little plastic bag, it could well be that I have stumbled upon a real find. I must say, though, that to have four pairs to hand (although in reality I only needed one) is a facility which is going to prove very useful to me.
Something rather strange politically is happening before our very eyes which is the resurgence of Nigel Farage's Reform party. Since Reform's leader made a surprise return to frontline politics, he has leant even harder into anti-establishment rhetoric. The political elite do not want Nigel Farage to succeed, is his mantra. The problem Reform UK faces is that it now has five MPs, giving it a presence on the green benches alongside the very establishment it rails against. Its next job is to try to professionalise the party beyond the cult of Nigel and widen its supporter base. While most of its supporters are still older white men, according to YouGov's post-election analysis, Reform was the third most popular party with men aged 50-64 - just one point shy of the Tories. But there are signs of growing support among younger age groups, including young men aged 18-24, where Reform was the third most popular choice, alongside the Green Party. Surprisingly, Mr Farage's party was as popular as Labour among young men in that age group, according to a poll by JL Partners in the week of the general election. More scandals left behind by the last government are just starting to be revealed. The latest is that the last government spent £50m on Rwanda deportation flights that never took off, new figures reveal. This included the cost of securing the flights, escorts to force migrants onto the planes and preparing and securing the airfields, Home Office documents show. Spending on the asylum scheme overall reached £715m before it was scrapped by Labour after the general election in July. Other costs outlined include £290m paid to Rwanda's government, £95m on detention and reception centres and £280m on IT, staffing and legal fees.
© Mike Hart [2024]