The day before yesterday, we had already completed the task of getting the petrol mower prepped, its oil changed and a start made on mowing the large grassed area in front of our house. Yesterday, I was delighted whilst Meg was asleep to complete the first mowing of the lawn which I already started and then having mowed it in one direction, I then go and mow in the transverse direction (horizontal rather than vertical) The first mowing of the season is always quite a hard affair because the grass if very 'tufty' after the winter and last autumn some sort of short term crisis had intervened and I had not managed to get the mower emptied of petrol and oil as I normally would. But I am off to a flying start this season as I generally reckon to re-commence the grass mowing starting on March 25th which is my son's birthday. The lawn at the back of the house, not visible to visitors to the house, has yet to be done but I think I will wait until Monday for this task to be completed because as opposed to the somewhat gloomy and cloudy conditions today, the weather forecast is for some sun tomorrow. In the days when we used to have a long garden in the house in which we lived in Leicestershire and when I grew a lot of our own vegetables, I purchased a few gardening books so that I knew how to sow and care for my vegetable crop. One particular phrase used to ring out from the books which was to 'choose a fine day' as though all that one needed to do was to click one's fingers and a fine day would emerge.
When I consulted Sky News early on this morning, there was an item about the ways in which so many household bills and utilities were due to rise this April. It is true that our Teachers' Pensions are due to rise by 1.7% (in inline with the CPI for last September) but in the meantime we have some horrific increases in the pipeline with water bills, in particular. heading for an average rise in about 26% and other things like council tax and fuel due to rise by at least 5%. Living standards for all UK families are set to fall by 2030, with those on the lowest incomes declining twice as fast as middle and high earners, according to data that raises serious questions about Keir Starmer’s pledge to make working people better off. The grim economic analysis, produced by the respected Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), comes before the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, makes her spring statement on Wednesday in which she will announce new cuts to public spending rather than increase borrowing or raise taxes, so as to keep within the government’s “iron clad” fiscal rules. In what it describes as a “dismal reality”, the JRF said its detailed analysis shows that the past year could mark a high point for living standards in this parliament. It concludes that the average family will be £1,400 worse off by 2030, representing a 3% fall in their disposable incomes. The lowest income families will be £900 a year worse off, amounting to a 6% fall in the amount they have to spend. The JRF also said that if living standards have not recovered by 2030, Starmer will not only have failed to pass his No 1 milestone but will also have presided over the first government since 1955 to have seen a fall in living standards across a full parliament. Comparing 2030 with 2025, it said the average mortgage holder is set to pay about £1,400 more in mortgage interest annually and the average renter about £300 more in rent a year, while average earnings are set to fall by £700 a year. The JRF said the poorest third are being disproportionately affected by rising housing costs, falling real earnings and frozen tax thresholds. I am not sure that the public at large really knows that is about to hit them but there are so many price rises in the offing that it must impact badly on the rate of inflation. The next tranche of elections are about 26 county councils (including Worcestershire) that go to the polls on 1st May and I suspect that the Reform party will massively benefit from discontent with the Labour government. There is quite an irony here because if the reform party were ever to take power in the UK, its cuts to welfare spending would put both the Conservative and the Labour Parties in the shade.
On Sunday morning, we received a visit from our University of Birmingham friend and this is always especially welcome. We sometimes have a YouTube baroque concert playing quietly in the background whilst we swop the news of the last week over a cup of coffee (and chocolate biscuits for our friend) Today, I actually played our friend some Joan Baez tracks from a concert recorded in London in the mid 1960's and of course the clothing and the hair styles were just the things that we remembered from when we were ourselves at University. After he had left, the carers called round to see to Meg and then I prepared a Sunday lunch of ham in an onion gravy, runner beans and a baked potato. I was a bit disappointed that I only get a very few mouthfuls inside Meg on this occasion but I cannot force food and drink on her if she does not want to accept it. In the mid afternoon, I had quite a long chat on the phone with our Italian friend who lives down the road. I think that she thought that I would be pushing Meg down the road every day but it is only on two occasions per week (on a Tuesday and a Saturday) and that is why she has not seen me recently. She promised to try and pop around one afternoon if she can and in the meantime indicated that she would always be a source of emotional support for me in the weeks and months ahead (as I was for her, on the occasion of own husband's death nearly ten years ago now) We share an interest in classic Italian opera (Puccini, Verdi as well as Mozart) and there are always arias within all of these operas with deep emotional significance for each of us.
© Mike Hart [2025]