Yesterday, I got up just before 6.00am as I seem to have entered a pattern where I awake a few minutes before the alarm goes off and go off to make myself a customary huge mug of tea with which to start the day. Meg seemed to sleep quite soundly and is in what appears to be a deep doze during much of the day but I am managing to get some food inside her (just) at mealtimes, even though her eyes are closed. This has implications for the way in which the day is going to progress because I normally try to hunt out interesting programmes for us both to watch during the afternoon but if Meg is only semi-connected to the world and has her eyes closed, then TV watching becomes a solitary rather than a joint activity. On days where the weather is mild and we have no other commitments, then I am still persisting with ensuring that Meg is pushed down the hill every day in her wheelchair so that she gets some fresh air in her lungs, coupled with which there is always the odd chance that I might bump into some friends and acquaintances such as my Italian friend who lives down the road. I have today finally cracked the solution to a facility that I have had with Outlook. I knew that in the past I had stumbled across the fact that one could customise the editor according to one's preferences and I have now discovered where in the complex menu structure this is located. The practical implication is that I have managed to make UK English rather than American English the preferred editing language which, of course, means that words are spelt with the English 's's rather than the American 'z' (words such as 'organise') Now that I am becoming more accustomed to the Outlook editor in which I always save what I am working on in the 'Drafts' section it means that I can catch many more typos as I work making my work so much easier to check upon completion.
As Inauguration Day approaches for Donald Trump, I keep reflecting upon what the original 18th century framers of the American constitution would make of the current American political scene. They were at pains to construct a system in which there would (nearly always) be a check upon absolute powers and did not envisage a situation in which the Supreme Court, the Presidency and both houses of Congress would be under the control of one party (i.e. the Republicans) Added to this, we have a situation in which the President elect consistently lies (the Washington Post documented more than 30,573 either downright untruths or misleading claims whilst the President was in power for four years) and is entering the White House as a convicted felon having found guilty by a New York court of false accounting and illegal payments to a porn star. Added to all of this, we have the world's richest and most influential men (Musk, Besos and Zuckerberg) attending the inauguration having donated huge amounts of money to Trump, removed fact checking from the media under their control such as 'Facebook' and 'X' (ex Twitter) and are being given positions of influence if not outright power in the new administration. Some commentators are saying that this unholy alliance is bound to end up in squabbles and 'fallings out' given the inordinate egos of all of the individuals concerned but there are few signs of this happening at the moment. Even British political figures are engaging in a cozying up to President elect Trump and there appears to be no countervailing sources of power that will stand up to this cabal running American politics (under the circumstances nobody is using the word 'cabal' but I feel it is fully justified in the circumstances that we now face)
The care workers were scheduled to be half an hour later this morning so I used this to send a long reply detailing Meg's current condition to our long standing Spanish friends in La Coruna. The care workers arrived 20 minutes earlier than they were scheduled but one of them was one of the agency's managers who regularly puts himself on a shift and it is always useful to chat with him. He was incredibly busy preparing for a CQC (Care Quality Commission) visit in the next few days so we ourselves shall expect that in addition to a normal complement of care workers, they might well be accompanied by an inspector who can assess the quality of the care provided first hand. After breakfast this morning, it turned out to be to be a beautifully sunny day so I made sure that Meg was well wrapped in blankets (and even I had put on an extra pair of socks which I purchased yesterday in what were termed 'boot socks') and then we made our way down the hill. I took the opportunity to purchase some extra milk as well as picking up our newspaper but the Waitrose partner reminded me that even though the cafeteria was closed, customers who possessed a Waitrose card could still avail themselves of a free coffee from the machine which I did) On my way back up the hill, I ran into our Italian friend again with whom I had a pleasant chat. After the accident which had written off her car, she was having a bit of trouble with one of her legs and wondered if there might be a degree of delayed trauma. But the hospital had not found anything really amiss and recommended a regime of rest and some exercise to allow the leg to heal itself. Our friend was adapting to life without a car and was taking the opportunity of a little walk as the sun was shining and the weather more benign than of late. It was one of those days in which although the air was cool, you could just about feel some of the warmth of a pale winter sun. On arriving home, I managed a brief chat with our neighbours who I had not seen for some time so I managed to give them a quick update on Meg's condition whilst they were on their way down to the park to give their newly acquired little puppy some exercise. Meg and I started watching Questions to the Prime Minister during which time I feel completely asleep and was awoken by my phone ringing with our GP's surgery making a call which, unfortunately, I just too late to answer.
© Mike Hart [2025]