Today after breakfast it was time for our Tuesday walk down into town and meet our friends for our bi-weekly chat in Waitrose. Getting Meg ready for our trip down the hill is a bit of a palaver but it works like this. I try to ensure that the carers have clothed Meg in a thick cardigan and then I put on a windproof and waterproof outer jacket. Then I clothe Meg in our University scarf and put the big, heavy Russian blanket across her knees and fortunately it tucks in securely down the frame of the wheelchair. Then I put a light little woollen blanket across Meg's knees. Finally, I finish off with a pair of smaller men's slippers that I had bought in Aldi the other day and just happen to slip over the thick woolly ankle socks that we put on Meg each day. Finally, we put Meg's Dr. Zhivago style hat of (the sort worn by Tonya and played by Geraldine Chaplin if you remember the film) Once we finally got down to Waitrose, we were delighted to see our three friends there particularly as we had only been expecting one of them. So we had our normal jolly time, enhanced by the telling of a Dave Allen joke which we happened to have heard on YouTube the evening before. Then it was the journey up the hill which is not as arduous as you might suppose. There are some downhill sections as well as longer, and steeper, uphill sections but the amount of steep gradient is quite small. If the gradient uphill is slight then the weight of one's body pushing the wheelchair is sufficient to give the required momentum. However, I do need to stop half up to don a pair of green rubberised gardening gloves that helps to alleviate the strain on the hands and fingers that can become somewhat numbed by the pushing. Once we arrive home, there is a certain degree of ritual as well. Outside in the porch, I use a brush to clean off the worst of the dirt and grit that have accumulated on the wheels. Then once inside, the wheels are cleaned again with a sponge to try to remove the finer pieces of grit and pavement dirt. Were I not to do this, then our carpets would be in a terrible state by wheeling dirt from the outside all over the house. But all in all, my little systems do their job. Having said all of that, when I start to push Meg home, I do feel in quite an enervated mood and can only conclude that some endorphins cut in, stimulated by the pleasantt chats I have just had. Similarly, when the young carers come in the late afternoon and even if Meg is having a depressed time, they do seem able to lighten her mood and even to elicit a few witticisms from Meg as they attend to their caring duties. It is pleasant all round that these young people like to come to do this particular visit and, we in our turn, are always pleased to see them. In fact today as the young male carer had some time doing his sit whilst I bought to a local AgeUk charity shop and bought Meg a new top, he was entertained by a viewing of Meg's speech, and my own, in our 50th wedding anniversary video that we have available on a website and can be viewed on our big TV in the Music Lounge.
The conflict in the Middle East between Israel and its neighbouring states has taken a decidedly ugly turn in the last day or so. UNRWA (or to give it its full and official title 'The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East') was established as a subsidiary organ of the United Nations General Assembly on 8 December 1949 and became operational on 1 May 1950. It is one of the largest United Nations programmes. But the Israeli parliament (Knesset) has just voted through laws barring UNRWA from Israel, limiting it in Gaza and West Bank. This is seen as massive victory for the right wing in Israeli politics, which itself has one of the most right wing governments in Israeli history. Th fact that in the past UNRWA had within its ranks some HAMAS supporters has always been a massive irritant to the Israeli authorities but even though these elements have been identified and sacked, there is still considerable distrust of the agency. UNRWA provides practically all of the education for young Palestinians and the amount of humanitarian help that is supplied is immense. The fact that it is being emasculated and the principal individuals affected will be women and children from whom aid in its many manifestations is now being denied is being seen as a possible war crime in itself. Western governments are wringing their hands in despair but it seems that the West in repeating the refrain that Israel has the absolute right to defend itself is allowing Israel to exact punishments on the Palestinian people that many objective observers would describe as disproportionate.
Tomorrow, at long last, we will have the long anticipated budget and the media are going to fill the airwaves with all from 10.00am onwards tomorrow. Yet another important piece of budget news has been released in that we now know that the Minimum Wage is going to be increased to £12.21 although it falls short of the £12.60 an hour sum recommended by the Living Wage Foundation. Nonetheless at 6.7% it is quite a significant increase and will no doubt be welcomed by many who are struggling to get by on the Minimum Wage. But no doubt the power centres of our society including employers and the generally right wing newspapers, will no doubt condemn this as undeserved and inflationary. I will be watching the Budget debates tomorrow, though, and I wonder if the Speaker will take the opportunity to roundly condemn the selective release of parts of the Budget that ought to be announced first to Parliament. As always, there is a certain amount of shouting before one actually gets kicked, as it were, and it is always a little difficult to ascertain if tax rises can be quite readily absorbed or are the proverbial 'last straw that breaks the camel's back' Budget Day is always a rather special occasion and the leader of the opposition, still Rishi Sunak, has to rise and make an instant speech on the iniquities, as he sees it, of the Budget proposals. The interesting thing this time around, compared with the Liz Truss fiasco, is that Rachel Reeves seems to have carefully sought the reaction of the IMF and the City who would not be averse to tax rises 'per se' provided that they can see that the Budget as a whole is industry-friendly.
© Mike Hart [2024]