Yesterday I awoke 6 minutes before the time that Alex generally wakes me up at 6.00am in the morning but although reluctant to leave my warm bed, I knew that the care workers had been allocated to come along at 7.00am rather than 8.00am (for reasons which they do not communicate to us) The Met Office confirms Friday was the coldest night of winter so far in the UK, with the temperatures falling to -17.3C in Altnaharra in the Scottish Highlands. Meanwhile, Saturday is likely to be bitterly cold, while Sunday is forecast to be a little milder. The weather here in Bromsgrove was -6° and it is not predicted to rise much during the day but we may get a high of 1°. Just before I went to bed last night, I thought I would consult my emails and found (in my 'Junk' folder) a communication from the building firm which has been subcontracted by the insurance company to assess (and hopefully repair) the damage caused by repairing the bad leak which afflicted us yesterday. The firm wished me to send electronic copies of the invoice supplied by the emergency plumber (which I had to scan as their own website refused to accept the job number on the invoice) and also photos of the damage. Fortunately my son had taken ten photos of the damage but this had to be uploaded and described to the building form so, all in all, this took about an hour to do when I was desperate to get to bed. On the brighter side, at least the job was done and the receipt of the uploaded files acknowledged so at least I am into their system. But the firm's email implied that they could not progress any claim until their documentation had been completed so what less competent IT people would have done, I cannot start to imagine. Many have smart phones these days but not necessarily a scanner but I suppose people out there will take a photo of the bill with their smart phones to get an electronic copy. Normally we would consider getting out to see friends but the weather is so ferociously cold I must just stay in all day. Meg and I do have a sort of midday treat to which to look forward because there is a film of the life of Anne Frank broadcast which I hope is worth watching.
On the international front, Foreign Secretary David Lammy has refused to condemn Donald Trump's threat to seize Greenland and the Panama Canal. Mr Lammy told Sky News he is 'not in the business of condemning our closest ally' when asked if he would denounce the US president-elect's rhetoric. On Wednesday, Mr Trump said he could 'not assure' the world he would not resort to military action or economic coercion to try to get control of Greenland and the Panama Canal. He has said he wants the US to buy the vast island off Canada's east coast that is home to a large US military base 'for purposes of national security and freedom throughout the world'. Once you enter the mindset of the rich and powerful thinking they can (almost literally) walk over their weaker neighbours, one can understand how Trump views Putin. As the Ukraine was once part of the USSR, then Putin probably feels he has a 'right' to retake Ukraine and no doubt Donald Trump in his present expansionary mood, probably agrees with Putin. None of this bodes at all well for the moves that Trump will made once he is inaugurated and the inauguration is only just over a week away.
Our front door bell seems to have failed and it is essential that this is working so that the care workers can alert me to their presence. One of them who had arrived early was outside in the cold for up to a quarter of an hour so this situation has to be rectified. I did take out the batteries and give them a gentle warming in the oven but this move was not enough. Then as a light glows in the keypress when it is pressed, I reckoned there must be a battery inside which had probably not been renewed for about ten years or more. So I removed it from its sticky mount and prised it open to discover that there was a coin size battery of type CR2032 inside. I promptly went ahead and ordered some of these which will arrive some time tomorrow. Then whilst Meg was sound asleep, I decided to go to the garage down the road to pick up both a newspaper and buy a battery. I did get the last copy of the newspaper but the garage said it did not stock the coin size batteries so I went next door to a store called 'Homes and Gardens' where they have a large battery bar, as it were. Here too I drew a blank so went to my local Asda where I did find what I was looking for and Meg was still asleep when I returned. I fitted the new coin size battery and was relieved that this solved my problem for me. When the batteries arrive tomorrow, they will always be useful to have in stock.
In the afternoon, Meg was still fast asleep as she has been all day and so I started to watch 'The Diary of Anne Frank' made in 1959 and shot in black and white which suits the bleak character of the theme. The young Asian male carer arrived early and as there had been a terrific smash on the dual carriage way between Bromsgrove and Redditch was not keen to depart until the carriage way had been cleared. So we had lunch together, the young carer insisting that I have something from Greggs that got delivered to the house. So after a long chat on the 'meaning of life' (well, largely modern relationships in the younger generation) the carer left but he was due to return with another young companion carer for Meg's teatime call. I then tuned into the last five minutes of the Anne Frank film which was poignant but art least we were spared the gory details of Anne Frank's death in a German concentration camp a few months before liberation by the Allied forces in 1945.
© Mike Hart [2025]