Yesterday, Meg appeared to be in quite a deep sleep practically all of the day. I was sufficiently concerned to send off a series of emails to friends and relatives detailing Meg's current state of health and my friend from University of Winchester days immediately sent me a supportive email, sensing by feelings of concern. We had a wonderful WhatsApp chat for a couple of hours during which I could unburden myself a little but we were largely discussing items in the media and on YouTube that had attracted our attention. Before I actually crawled into my bed, I learnt of the death of Denis Law who was one of Manchester United's most prolific strikers. He is remembered by a statue, I believe, along side others to George Best and Bobby Charlton. George Best's quotes are remembered to this day. Perhaps the best known is 'I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered.' But another, almost equally memorable is this one 'In 1969 I gave up women and alcohol - it was the worst 20 minutes of my life.'
The background to the peace agreement in the Gaza war is now becoming clear. The overall framework of the agreement reached on 15 January was broadly the same as the proposal set out by President Joe Biden during a White House address last May. It uses the same three-phase approach and will see a ceasefire, Israeli hostages released in return for Palestinian prisoners, and the Israeli military's gradual withdrawal from Gaza. But sources familiar with the discussions agreed the dynamics of the talks shifted decisively in mid-December and the pace changed. Hamas, already reeling from Israel's killing of its leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza two months earlier, had become increasingly isolated. Its Lebanon-based ally Hezbollah had been decimated and had agreed to a truce with Israel. Bashar al-Assad's Iran-backed government in Syria had also been swept away. The view in Washington is that Hamas was forced to abandon the idea that 'the cavalry was coming to save it', as one US official put it. 'It is hard to overstate how fundamentally the equation changed and what that [did] for Hamas's calculus,' says a senior Biden administration official familiar with the talks. We now await the inauguration next Monday which has moved inside the Capitol building as the normal venue is predicted to be too cold for the participants.
In the morning, although Meg was dozing most of the time, we went to see our friends in the establishments of Wetherspoons where I indulged in a breakfast muffin (fried egg, bacon and sausage including a free refillable drink for £3.99) Meg was largely dozing throughout but at least we made contact with two of our regular friends and then, as we on the High Street, made off in the direction of a cosmetics shop to buy some soap. After that, it seemed a shame not to make a minimal tour of one or two of the charity shops but we saw nothing that took our fancy. But it made quite a long morning for us and the journey up the hill seemed a little more arduous than usual. The minute we got home, I prepared some pea and mint soup for Meg and myself and we were followed shortly by the mid morning carers. Then, whilst the carers were here, the District Nurse showed up which was very valuable because we were able to discuss how to treat the pressure sore that is developing in Meg's heel. This is not going to be dressed at this stage but the District Nurse will keep it under careful review, having photographed it. Whilst in the house, she wondered if we had the most appropriate mattress on the bed for Meg and was going to recommend once she got back to base whether another mattress might be better for Meg at this stage so that pressure sores do not develop. When everyone had departed, I cooked a quiche with some stir-fry vegetables and even managed to get a portion into Meg which is quite something. This is going to be complemented by a mousse or something similar.
Today, I have received several replies to the several emails which I despatched yesterday. One of my nieces has sent me some very helpful suggestions regarding Meg's diet at this stage in her illness whilst another, ex-De Montfort University friend of ours was bringing us up to date with their own afflictions. Our friend did make a tentative suggestion of a face-to-face meeting but in view of the health status of our respective spouses, we probably need to confine ourselves to some videocalls. I must say that I have been very appreciative of the messages of support and encouragement that I am being given in these difficult times. One has to live one day at a time but I don't know what life would be like without the benefit of email and the occasional video call.
Some of us are watching with a certain wry amusement the fact that the social app TikTok may well 'go dark' on Sunday morning, The US Supreme Court has ruled that the app or at least that part used in the USA needs to be sold so that the app does not remain under Chinese (government) control. It has been left to Donald Trump to find a solution to the problem but whether a US based buyer can be found at such short notice is problematic. Whether national governments can ever effectively regulate these enormous media companies (such as FaceBook and Instagram) is one of the big stories of our time, as the revenue streams could well give them a financial worth that is more than the GNP (Gross National Product) of many of the poorer countries of the United Nations. So far, the way that the UK government have approached media companies to tighten up their operations insofar as they may adversely affect young people has been very much the 'kid glove' approach and the social media companies have not proved to be very amenable to whatever legislation has been passed to harness their undoubted power.
© Mike Hart [2025]