Sunday, 3rd November, 2024

[Day 1693]

Yesterday, I had spent more time than was good for me in the middle of the night getting some of my Bluetooth interfaces to work with current and backup version of my mobile phones. This process was a little fiddly and at times frustrating but I managed to succeed with some but not all of my various interfaces. Meg and I were not very happy that our day was due to start 40 minutes early as the scheduled getting up call was 7.20 rather than 8.00am. I do not think that either carers or their charges like this very early slot in the morning but we have to make the best of it. Meg was not too sleepy this morning so we managed to get her into her wheelchair without much ado. This has now been adapted recently since the wheelchair specialists made some running adjustments to it for us the other day. We now have some professional ankle straps fitted and we also have a curved backrest inserted into the chair which helps to keep Meg stable. Also, the wheelchair specialists supplied a special little triangular wedge which they call a 'lateral support' and this helps to keep Meg in a fairly upright position in the chair. After we had breakfasted, it was time for us to make our Saturday morning trip to Waitrose and there we took coffee with the lady that we know well but she drives a special scooter and then manages to get from this into the store with the help of a couple of elbow crutches. Our friend is fiercely independent which does impress me greatly but she knows that her condition is only going to deteriorate with age but we have to do what we can to put off the evil day. We spent some time discussing the forthcoming US elections as well as some domestic issues until the time came for us to leave. In some ways this was a sad little occasion because I let my friend get to her feet unaided but today her legs just would not work as she wanted them to. I offered her one of arms by way of support and my friend did accept it in the spirit in which it was offered but I noticed that some tears of frustration had crept into her eyes. Both she and I do realise that however well meant, the more she accepts these little offers of support so her independence has just diminished a tad. I think both she and I are of the view with various bodily movements and motions then one has to either 'use it or lose it' and our friends is fighting as hard as she can to do whatever she can for herself. We will meet again next Tuesday all being well, by which time the actual voting in the American elections will be taking place. We walked back up the hill but when we got to the house, coinciding with the two carers, Meg was having a little agitated spell. I must say that one of the carers was excellent in helping to keep Meg on an even keel and I did my little bit in preparing some chicken soup which also helped to calm Meg down as well as some anti-histamine which one doctor prescribed months ago to help in circumstances such as this. We dined on the second half of a quiche with carrot and swede mash and some fine green beans. After all of this, we settled down to watch the biography of Vera Brittain in 'Testament of Youth' which we first saw some years ago but the film is always worth an extra viewing. The film is as powerful a depiction of the horrors of WWI that has been portrayed and is exceptionally poignant in places where Vera Brittain loses first a fiancee and then actually nurses her own badly wounded brother. Vera Brittain was the mother of Shirley Williams who was a Labour MP for years before with three other colleagues they split off to form the so-called 'Gang of Four' (the SDP) in the 1980's. When the war has ended, Vera resumes her studies in Oxford where she meets with another undergraduate by the name of Winifred Holtby. It is at this point that I have some personal connection, albeit slight, with the film. Winifred Holtby was the author of 'South Riding' and was probably resident in Hull or thereabouts. My mother who had lived in Hull used to speak of Winifred Holtby and I wondered if they moved in similar circles or even knew each other, as my mother had done some acting with the Hull Repertory company (or it could have been just an amateur dramatic society and my memory is very hazy on this point). I imagine the BBC is putting on the film at this point because we are getting into the run up to Remembrance Sunday in one week's time. We viewed most of the film but Meg started to experience a period of agitation towards the end of it and in any case the carers were coming for their tea time call so we had to end our viewing somewhat prematurely. I gave Meg a special anti-histamine type pill one of the doctors had prescribed some ago and a combination of this, a cup of tea, some chocolate and the warm glow of the electric fire helped her to calm her down a little. Then we looked at some of the 'Yes, Prime Minister' series that YouTube offers up to us at this time the afternoon.

As widely predicted, Kemi Badenoch was elected as Leader of the Conservative party today. In total, about 132,000 members of the Conservative Party were eligible to vote in the leadership election - a noticeable fall from the 172,000 in the contest in 2022 which Liz Truss won. The turnout was also down - 72.8% in 2024 vs 82.2% in 2022 - with about 40,000 members not voting. But this is rather a historic moment as Kemi Badenoch s the first female black leader of a major political party. Being already on the right wing of the Tory party, it will be quite a job to unify the party which has always been in a fractious mood with the debates on Europe and Brexit tearing the party apart. But the Labour Party is not governing in a very sure footed way and amazing though it might appear, the Tory party is actually one point ahead at this point. But being the leader of the Opposition and with no prospect of returning to power for at least five years and probably for ten years, the task of the leader of the Opposition is not going to be easy. She has stated that each contender for the leadership would be offered a place in the Shadow Cabinet but several 'heavy hitters' such as James Cleverley and Jeremy Hunt who are returning to the back benches so there may be a return of Priti Patel to the Shadow Cabinet. If it were not for the American election results unwinding next Wednesday, then the next PMQ might have been worth a viewing.