Today we knew was going to be the start of a busy day but we both had a good night's sleep last night so were ready to face the day. After the carers had got Meg up and we had breakfasted, we had a good chat and exchange of some Christmas presents and cards with our domestic help before anticipating the call of our 'sit' carer who was due later in the morning. Then the Eucharistic minister called around and we held our little service, made a little more poignant because she, too, had lost her brother-in-law within the last week. Then I knew it was time for me to face the multitudes whilst the Christmas shopping needed to be done, postponed since yesterday. But just before I went out, our domestic help and I amused each other by getting Alexa to sing some silly Christmas songs. The one which I had not heard before was 'I want a hippopotamus for Christmas' whilst, for my part, I remembered 'All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth' But more seriously, I remembered that my sister and I had jointly bought a record of a modern Christmas carol called 'Mary's Boy Child' which was written by Jester Hairston in 1956. The Christmas song is, due to its religious lyrics, also considered as a Christmas carol. But the version that my sister and I bought in about 1960 was by the Cuban/American Harry Belafonte. He lived to the ripe old age of 96 and only died last year in 2023. Harry Belafonte was a legendary singer and actor who broke racial barriers in the US and campaigned for black civil rights. He was also a friend and ally of Martin Luther King, and organised the charity single 'We Are the World'. So eventually I hit the road to do our Christmas shopping, fearful of what was going to meet me. Ads I expected, I needed to circulate around the car park three or four times to get a parking space but, in the event, the store did not seem too crowded inside and the whole 'Christmas' shop was not quite as stress-filled or as expensive as I thought it might be. I finished up buying several varieties of mince pies not only with our own consumption in mind but also thinking ahead to the nibbles to be put out for people to enjoy in the Christmas party which the carers will hopefully enjoy next Monday.
When I got back home with my six bags of shopping, Meg had been cared for both by the 'sit' carer who was complemented by the midday carer who makes sure that Meg is comfortable. Then I started to unpack the voluminous shopping but stopped halfway to make some lunch. We were running somewhat late by this time so I cut some corners by doing a sort of stir-fry using onions, peppers, fragments of ham and some tomatoes. I then made a sort of Spanish omelette by beating up four eggs and making a sort of mixture. In the afternoon, I hunted out a program first broadcast yesterday on the life of Caroline Aherne (aka 'Mrs Merton') who died at the tragically young age of 52. After this biopic was broadcast so too was one of the Mrs Merton shows so this provided some interesting entertainment in the afternoon. To get a little more in the Christmassy mood, I have started to play Handel's 'Messiah' on my smart speakers and am enjoying a performance by 'The Sixteen'. I always associated 'The Messiah' with the Huddersfield Choral Society who must have made some of the definitive recordings. As the carers come and go, I need to ascertain if I am due to see them again before Christmas day. If not, then I give them one of the collection of Christmas cards but most will get them next Monday on 'party' day. I feel that I have just about variety of soft drinks to suit almost everybody - paradoxically, alcohol is no problem but hardly any of the carers will be drinking it. But I have stocked up on about four different varieties of mince pies as well as stollen and some crisps so should have enough to eat. Two of the younger carers are coming along, perhaps in their party gear, to help me to prepare things on Monday and I do know that they secretly love coming here and feel at home here (as we are almost like kindly grandparents to them)
There are real shenanigans occurring in the US where some hard line Republicans are threatening to effectively shut down the government. The US government could shut down in a matter of hours unless politicians agree on a spending deal.A compromise put forward by Republicans and Democrats collapsed on Wednesday after billionaire Elon Musk publicly hit out at the proposal. The tech tycoon's stance was backed by president-elect Donald Trump, who wants to increase the debt ceiling, which caps the amount the federal government can borrow. But his revamped plan to suspend the cap for two years lost in a vote on Thursday. If a deal is not reached by midnight - 5am on Saturday UK time - the government will shut down, meaning federal employees and military personnel will not be paid. Several Republicans had said they were not interested in getting rid of the debt ceiling if they did not also cut spending.The outcome is a massive setback for Mr Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk, who has been tasked by the incoming president with pruning the federal budget. This is not the first time that we have a scenario like this and the issue is nearly always the same - either agree to increase borrowing to finance necessary state spending or effectively shut down the government. But some commentators are saying that Elon Musk, an entirely unelected private citizen, is practically acting as a co-President by intervening in governmental decision making and all of this before inauguration day. We are used in this country to extraordinarily fast transfers of powers when a general election is won or lost with the defeated Prime Minister exiting within hours and the newly elected Prime Minister moving in that day. The removal vans are typically sent to the back of Downing Street to restore a bit of dignity to the proceedings. But the American system has this long gap between election day and inauguration day so that newly appointed officials can be briefed on their new role by the outgoing administration.
© Mike Hart [2024]