So another Wednesday dawns and I was pleased to see the carers this morning as Meg, as is customary these days, had not got to sleep by the time I actually got to bed but she was not actively restless so that was a type of blessing. After we had got ourselves up and breakfasted, I popped out to get a newspaper and also to ‘liberate’ some MPS cutlery that I had seen in a local charity store. In one of them there is a collection of largely worthless miscellaneous items of cutlery but hidden in their midst are some magnificent and high quality soup spoons which hold twice the quantity of a desert spoon and which I find particularly useful in my culinary preparations. I managed to buy half a dozen at these at the price of 10p each and promptly donated some to our domestic help whose day it is on a Wednesday. I also found a little knitted crochet blanket which is going to be useful to put around Meg’s knees when I take her out in the wheelchair and the weather is a little chilly. I also bought some seat pads which I intend to use on our outside metal garden chairs now that we are enjoying our own back garden so much. So all in all, it was a very successful little venture out this morning and as there was a slight drizzle, I was not unhappy that I had not taken Meg out for a spin this morning. As it was, I bumped into one of our Waitrose friends but we could only have a brief conversation in the rain and with my needing to get back to Meg as soon as practicable. Meg was feeling a little wobbly this morning but our domestic help was very good in helping Meg to cheer herself up somewhat. We lunched on ham, baked potato and the remains of an onion gravy and delicious it was as well. Then this afternoon, we thought we would settle down and watch ‘Chariots of Fire’ which,in anticipation of the Olympic Games that open in Paris on Friday, was shown at the weekend and which we thought we would access on the BBC iPlayer. We originally saw this film decades ago and there seems to be a very long build up as we view it today but one can see why it was scheduled to be shown last weekend (as the theme of the film was the Olympic Games held in Paris in 1924)
There are just a few indication that the American presidential race may be getting very exciting. Jo Biden finally decided to withdraw, The Democrats have united behind Kamala Harris and one feels that the Democrats feel like a part reborn. I saw some clips of Kamala Harris speaking with campaign organisers and she was unscripted but seemed to hit all of the right inspirational notes. Practically every significant Democratic leader has now endorsed Harris with the exception of the Obamas and this is still fuelling suspicions that Michelle Obama might enter the race if it looks as though Kamala Harris faltering. I thought I saw one poll (amongst many, no doubt) which is now indicating that the Democrats have enjoyed a ‘bounce’ in the polls and may now be narrowing the gap to 1%-2%. Almost certainly, the black voters who were not enthralled by Joe Biden’s support of Israel in the conflict in Gaza may now come back into the fold. And another ‘straw in the wind’, Kamala Harris and some Democratic leaders are not rushing to meet Netanyahu who is currently on a visit to the States. I also saw a report that some of ‘MAGA’ (Make America Great Again’) lobby in the US are worried that Harris may appeal to younger voters as well as black and Hispanic voters and this does not help the Republicans to win over some of the centre ground (not that much of a centre ground exists in the US at the moment)
I have recently started to reflect on the ‘several ages’ which it is said most of us exhibit. It is often said these days that we all have three ages – a chronological age (years we have inhabited this earth), a mental age (our mental acuity which might be in advance or behind our chronological age) and finally a biological age (what a pathologist might judge from the state of our internal organs were they to be subject to a pathological examination) I have generally bought this analysis but I think that I would want to add a fourth age. This is the age that one thinks of oneself as being but even this may be a bit more subtle than I have suggested. Given that we may incorporate the ways in which others react towards us and we absorb these reactions of significance others into our own psyche, then perhaps it is more accurate to say that it is our perceptions of other peoples perception about ourselves that we build into our own self image. Some of this is drawn from some of the American social psychologists and I have thinking in particular of the work of them. The term looking-glass self was first introduced by Charles Cooley (1902) who refers to the dependence of one’s social self or social identity on one’s appearance to others. I have tried out some of these formulations with a couple of the younger care workers who are studying psychology at ‘A’-level so some of the care sessions whilst they are ministering to Meg are taking on some the appearances of an academic seminar. In general, the care workers like to chat and to joke with each but a lot of their conversations revolves around how they are going to cope with the rest of their rota which tends to change endlessly around them and they consult their mobile phones to see what are the allocated jobs for that day.
The first Labour rebellion has been, quite predictably, over the issue of the abolition of the cap on extending universal credit support to children beyond the first two. This was a policy adopted by the Tories and which Labour inherited, as it were. No one in the Labour party likes this policy but it will cost about £2.5 billion to get rid of the cap so that Labour party policy is to wait until it can be afforded. There were seven MPs who voted against the government last night and the Labour whip was immediately withdrawn from them. One of the rebels representing the Tower Hamlets constituency (one of the poorest in the country) was arguing today that she was elected on a policy of ‘Change’ but keeping the existing Tory policy is not to change anything and the voters had voted for ‘Change’ (the Labour Party slogan) in the General Election.
© Mike Hart [2024]