Monday mornings are not meant to be very good and yesterday was true to form.It did not start well as when Meg woke up she seemed to be in a very agitated condition and took some calming down. The two carers were due to arrive at 8.10 but at 7.55 and before I was ready, one carer turned up, the other reporting sick (which is not an uncommon occurrence) So between us we got Meg up and as the carer was leaving, she intimated that the next call would be at 2.00pm which is in 5 and half hours time which is too long an interval. So we are going to make representations to the care agency who may, or may not, be able to do anything about it but I do get the feeling that things start to go wrong on a Monday morning, they do not correct themselves. My son is still poorly and confining himself to his own home although I had hope to be looking after him this week. Whilst Meg was taking a doze, I downloaded the BlueSky app to my phone which I have recently joined and become about their 18 millionth subscriber. Whilst browsing BlueSky, I also signed a petition that the UK rejoin the EU as soon as possible because the predictions of the absence of economic growth, now from official sources such as the governor of the Bank of England, are all pretty dire. A variety of economists are saying that the consequences of Brexit are getting worse and worse. According to Aston University Business School, the value of UK goods exported to the EU was 27% lower – and imported goods 32% lower – compared to what the economy may have looked like if Brexit had not happened. Leaving the single market officially in January 2021 has had a 'profound and ongoing' impact on Britain’s trade with the EU, according to the economists’ modelling. The variety of exported goods has also declined, with 1,645 fewer types of British products sent to every EU country and many manufacturers no longer sending their produce to the bloc.
The morning was quite dull and cold but without being too icy. Both Meg and I felt somewhat dozy this morning so we confined ourselves to a quick trip down to Waitrose to collect our newspaper and then straight home, regaling ourselves with a cup of chicken soup. We dined on the remains of the chicken from yesterday and just needed to heat up some of the veg from yesterday in the microwave. We had just about finished this when our carers turned up at the scheduled time of 2.00pm which I had wanted to bring forward but there were no staff available. The carers had some difficulty in getting to the house because they have theoretically closed off the whole of the circular road which runs around the town as a de facto ring road. In practice, though, it is possible to evade or ignore the barriers if you know your way around the system but it all adds to the confusion. No sooner had the carers arrived, then so did our chiropodist whose appointment was on our planning board but which I forgot to consult this morning. In the midst of all of this, our daughter-in-law phoned up with the unpleasant news that our son was in A&E with bronchitis-related breathing difficulty for the second time in less than five days. I am awaiting a progress report how long he is likely to be in the queue at A&E but we are thinking it will be at least six hours before some kind of resolution. No doubt he is being 'triaged' and I hope they can provide him with some oxygen whilst waiting so that his condition does not deteriorate.
In the dying days of the Biden presidency, a decision has been taken to allow the Ukrainians to deploy missiles against Russian military installations rather than just against the Russians who are occupying parts of Ukraine. There are some who think we might be on the edge of World War III at this stage but there is a bit of 'game of chicken' going on. Putin would no doubt label any hostile action taken against the Russian territory as 'proof' that NATO had long wanted a conflict and there is no doubt that the rhetoric will be nudged up several levels. But of course Putin knows that Trump will take over in a manner of weeks and Trump would like to think to think of himself as a 'deal maker' who, together with Putin, could bring the war rapidly (but certainly not within a day as Trump has claimed) The Europeans are in a real bind over this because if the Americans withdraw all support, does Europe have the money or the military capacity to fill whatever holes are left in Ukraine's defences after a military withdrawal? The Ukrainians may be tempted to use their weapons if only as a bargaining counter when it comes to negotiations but one does the horrible feeling that one way or another, the Ukrainians will be abandoned and will be forced into a situation where they sacrifice territory for peace.
The weather forecasters are full of dire warnings tonight about what may befall us tomorrow. The blast of arctic air that we are experiencing does mean that much of the North of England may receive some show showers whilst the South appears to be subject to icy winds. I am hopeful that here in the Midlands, we will escape the worst of the weather and I hope we avoid snow which is going to make any journeying out of the house problematic. On the campus of the University of Winchester which was my last place of employment, I remarked to some of the locals that the university built on the slopes of West Hill and therefore with lots of slopes and steps must be murder to negotiate when there was snow. But I was met with an astonished look and I was informed that it never snowed just there. I think that any storms raging up the English channel hit the Isle of Wight first and then Southampton but had petered out when they got to Winchester 20 miles to the north. Similarly, bad weather sweeping in from the Bristol Channel hit towns like Basingstoke before they arrived in Winchester so I suspect that the whole university was located in a local zone whether the weather systems had already done their worst. But in all of my ten years there, admittedly experiencing a succession of mild winters, I think I can only remember it snowing mildly for about half a day only.
© Mike Hart [2024]