Monday, 4th November, 2024

[Day 1694]

Yesterday certainly did not get off to the best of starts as the care workers were unaccountably delayed for about 25 minutes and one of the care workers was my least favourite. In addition, Meg was going through an agitated period so getting Meg both washed and dressed was somewhat problematic. However, once we had actually Meg sitting in her wheelchair she was in a calmer frame of mind and some porridge helped to restore her equilibrium. Immediately after breakfast and the Lorna Kuenssberg Politics programme, I had a bit of a brainwave and managed to locate very quickly a little external, portable Bluetooth speaker. This was a bit of kit developed by a small British technology firm but it is brilliantly simple. It worked first time when I tried it out on my iPhone4 but then I went on the web to find and print off a manual to make sure I was utilising it to the full. The most important fact I managed to discern is that a single charge through a USB style port may last as long as ten hours which is probably more than the phone. The manual told me to turn on my device first and the kit called a 'Droid' second and then the 'intelligent' Bluetooth connects automatically. This means that I can my iPhone complete with at least 300 classical tracks of music and play it wherever I want. It goes by the name of a 'Droid' and looks somewhat like a miniaturised Dalek in appearance, the name evidently derived from 'Android' An android is a humanoid robot or other artificial being often made from a flesh-like material. Historically, androids existed only in the domain of science fiction and were frequently seen in film and television, but advances in robot technology have allowed the design of functional and realistic humanoid robots. Then, pushing my luck a little, I realised that I could utilise this little system with me on the wheelchair when Meg and I make our daily excursion. So I kitted myself out with the iPhone4 in the little compartmentalised bag which always accompanies us whilst the 'Droid' itself I put into a spare bottle bag that I found and hung on the other handlebar about a foot away from Meg's ear. This worked for half the journey down the hill and then suddenly stopped. What I think happened is that after the charge on the iPhone4 dipped below 20%, the system automatically enters a low power mode and playing music tracks is jettisoned. But after I got home, I recharged the phone and everything is now working the way that it should. On our way down the hill, we bumped into our Italian friend and were very, very sad to learn to know that she is probably going to sell up and relocate herself much nearer to her daughter in the Cotswolds, which I am sure is a very sensible decisions for her as she gets older but a little disappointing for us.

Yesterday afternoon, we had the treat of watching 'Paddington 2' which I always enjoy, even though I have seen it several times before. Towards the end of it, though, I did my usual trick f falling asleep with a cup of tea in my hand. However, all was not as bad as might be feared as I had only a small cup with not much left in it and then most of it on my trousers (which then went straight into the wash), some on the newspapers spread out on the floor before me and only a smidgeon on the carpet which was quite quickly cleared up. After the film was over, there was a news bulletin on with some extraordinary scenes. One of the news items was reporting on a visit of the (Spanish) King and Queen of Spain to the stricken area of Valencia after the recent floods in which a year's annual rainfall fell within 12 hours. In particular, they visited a small town near to Valencia where no official aid seemed to be forthcoming for five whole days. There are gruesome reports that have started to circulate that although the death toll now exceeds 200, the authorities are approaching the task of pumping the water out from some underground car parks in which they may be dozens of cars with goodness knows what number of dead bodies trapped within them. The population are experiencing a simmering anger because they feel utterly abandoned by the authorities, both national, regional and local. In particular, the army has been deployed very late and then only with very limited numbers. The media has shown a lot of reports of volunteers rushing to help with the clear up operations with, almost literally, mountains of mud to remove. But the anger of the population boiled over when the King and Queen of Spain paid a visit and attempted a walk about to give comfort to the local population and they were pelted with 'snowballs' of mud of which there was a lot around. The Queen was shown wiping mud from her face and the King my well have been a successful target as well. Eventually, a huddle had to be formed around the royal couple so that they could be shepherded to safety. Such scenes are absolutely unprecedented, of course, and I intend to email our Spanish friends to offer condolences and to get some more inside accounts.

Yesterday was the second last full day of campaigning in the US presidential election. Trump's advisers are desperately trying to keep him 'on message' whereas Trump himself is already crying 'Foul! Election Fraud!' in Pennsylvania before a single vote has been counted. Even at the last moment, there has been a surprise poll in Iowa, normally firmly in the Republican camp which puts Harris 1% ahead according to a small but respected pollster. Meanwhile in North Carolina, the Trump camp is getting worried that the state might be on a knife edge although, like Iowa, it should be one that Trump would be expected to take. Sky News is promoting its election news broadcasts starting at 10.00pm on Tuesday but I suspect that the really important results will not actually come through until Wednesday so I am not going to stay up beyond an hour or so to see which way the wind is blowing. Some commentators are trying to warn us that it could be several days before the result emerges in an election as finely balanced as this well and then, of course, literally armies (or at least several thousands) of lawyers are going to swing into place to claim irregularities.