Yesterday being Monday, we think it is probably a good idea to make a trip along the High Street and do a little shopping whilst making our way to 'The Lemon Tree' All seemed to go well with our shopping and we had our favourite bacon sandwich in the cafe before we needed to make off for home. But before we did, we could not resist a quick peek inside the AgeUK furniture store. Within it, I did discover though an interesting blanket inscribed with a Latin motto which was 'Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus' Of course, aficionados of popular culture will immediately recognise this as the motto that was chosen for Hogwarts Academy in the famous Harry Potter series of books. It it popularly translated as 'Never tickle a sleeping dragon' but a somewhat more grammatically accurate translation would be 'Sleeping dragons should never be tickled' I wondered if this was all meant to be an elaborate joke but found, on the web, J K Rowling's own thoughts on the subject: 'You know the way that most school slogans are thing like persevere and nobility, charity and fidelity or something, it just amused me to give an entirely practical piece of advice for the Hogwarts school motto. Then a friend of mine who is a professor of classics - my Latin was not up to the job, I did not think it should be cod Latin, it is good enough for cod Latin spells, that is they used to be a mixture of Latin and other things. When it came to a proper Latin slogan for the school I wanted it to be right, I went to him and asked him to translate. I think he really enjoyed it, he rang me up and said, "I think I found the exactly right word, 'Titillandus'", that was how that was dreamt up.' So there we have the definitive answer as it were. Having got the blanket home, I put it into the washer for a normal wash but then as it was 100% polyester, I made sure it was dried using the coolest of settings and the shortest of times in the dryer from which process it seems to have emerged unscathed.
But on a more serious note, I also was the recipient of some not very good news by text. My niece had previously sent me a link to the residential home in Knaresborough where it is hoped that my sister would take up a place on Wednesday next. But the text I got informed me that now my sister has COVID, acquired no doubt since she has been in hospital which she entered last Tuesday so it has taken about 4-5 days into her stay to acquire the infection. I do not know my sister's vaccination status although I am pretty sure that she would be up-to-date in this so I earnestly hope that the infection is both mild and easily treated. However, this is bound to delay her entry into the residential home until she tests clear and this must be a period of several days but I am not sure how long. I am in contact with my niece about other sequelae from my sister going into residential care so I will have to wait for some more up-to-date news in that direction.
For Meg's teatime call, one of the managers who regularly undertakes a shift came on duty along with another of the more regular carers and he imparted some interesting news to us. The care agency company is starting to expand its operations by opening a day centre and the manager wondered if I would be interested. Meg would be picked up in her wheelchair some time after 9.00am and then the day centre would operate from 10-4. During this time there would be a good ratio of carers (1 to every 3 clients), they would be given lunch and a lot of activities organised before being brought home at 4.00pm. I put this idea to Meg when she was in one of her more lucid moments and we thought we would give it a try. Although there is a charge for the day, some other slots would be released e.g. my shopping slot, my Pilates slot so this would help to finance most of the additional cost. I am going to email the manager to indicate our willingness to participate, if only for a trial basis, and to ask him to firm up some of the costings for me as well. So this might be an interesting development and if Meg can stand the separation from me and enjoys the day, this must be all to the good. I also informed the care manager about my sister's COVID diagnosis and he informed me that when this happens locally, there needed to be two clear consecutive days when one is tested negative before discharge from hospital could be contemplated.
The big political news of the day is the way in which the Labour Party is trying to woo international investors with a big conference for global investors. The government may be moderately pleased with today's results as the Chancellor was able to announce that some £60 billion of inward investment had been promised (but, of course, might not materialise) What I found more disturbing is that the Government were advertising that they abolish a lot of regulatory red tape in order to attract this international investment. But it was this just this lack of regulation and enforcement that led to the Grenfell disaster from which it appears that the government has not learnt. So far, the Labour government is making exactly the same noises and inducements to investors that a Tory government might make but one would have thought that a Labour government should have seized the opportunity to underline the fact that some regulation is in the best interests of everyone, not just accepting the fact that regulation is automatically problematic and ought to be minimised. Some of the big international investors are arguing that an over regulated economy is inimical to big inward investment but it is hardly surprising that this is their argument when they see potential profits being reduced. Whether regulation does cause big investment to be restrained is a big question as some of the 'threats' may be just a sort of grandstanding that are not meant to be taken incredibly seriously but can be seen as a sort of negotiating stance with the government of the day. In terms of international regulation, the UK economy probably comes in the middle of the pack in any case.
© Mike Hart [2024]