These days, I always seem glad to be rid of one month and to be entering a new one. So yesterday sees the last day of March and hopefully a bout of some spring-line weather for the first week of April. After my little mishap with the mower yesterday (as when cutting under a low hanging bush a twig or branch had jammed into the engine part) the mower started to run at only half speed and I had to struggle to cut the last bit of our back lawn. I could not see anything evidently wrong but in a week's time I had better haul it on top of our little garden table we have in the back and see of there is anything can I can fix simply. I always reckon that when things go wrong, it is either a simple fix or a more complicated repair so assuming the worst, I wondered what the cost of a new Stiga mulching mower might be. Mulching mowers are marvellous because you do not have to bother about emptying a grass box - the grass is cut once and thrown upwards and then cut again when it falls back and mulched in the grass. Assuming the worst, I investigated the cost of a brand new mower and found that the price is practically the same as I paid eight years ago, so I can only assume it is now manufactured in China rather than Sweden and hence the fact that the price has been effectively lowered. Now I have never had a petrol mower that lasted as long as 7-8 years old and I think I have had this mower for eight years so is it worth the cost of a £100 repair or am I best just simply buying a replacement rather than spending the money on something that might break down again? I cannot not have a mower for a week or so if the existing one is to be repaired so I am inclined to think I might have to fork out for a new one. Taking the old mower to be repaired and picking it up again if it can be repaired is now something that is so difficult when I need to be with Meg in this stage of her illness so we will have to see what happens next weekend when I attempt to use the mower again.
The news from the United States is that Trump is finally getting annoyed with Putin and letting that irritation show. But there are indications that J D Vance the Vice-President, who has has such a low opinion of the UK and all things European, may well be on a position to succeed Trump and would probably be able to serve two terms of four yeas so we have about 12 years of 'Trumpism' effectively - this is a prospect that must fill our hearts with dread unless the Democrats can come up with a saviour which looks unlikely at the moment.
Yesterday morning seemed to be quite a busy one. For a start, the decorating team showed dup, the plasterers having done their repair on our leak damaged ceiling. There was a certain degree of disruption as it was established that the hall was part of the re-decoration schedule, so the carpets needed a special film protection and then everything movable moved to the centre of the hall. In the midst of all of this, the two care workers turned up but about 20 minutes late. One of them had had a fall down the stairs in her own home during the weekend and was limping badly, having badly sprained a toe. So I needed to help out with some of the hoisting activities, and of course I am always willing to lend a hand. After we had got Meg into her special chair, a couple of plumbers turned up 'to remove the radiators' The decorators informed them this was not at all necessary as they reach as far as they needed to (and up to the previous paint line) by just stretching as far as they needed behind the decorator. I spent the morning doing some reading and some other necessary chores like reordering some of Meg's medication before I started to prepare lunch. In the late morning only one care worker turned up and the other (new to me) girl failed to show and the care worker who came was the one with the injured toe. I had seen a crepe bandage in our upstairs bathroom so I offered this to the care worker and showed her (on my hand) how she needed to bind together her toes in such a way that the sprained one was 'splinted' against her other toes. She was going to go home and have her mother do this bit of bandaging but, not for the first time, I have offered first aid to the care workers who call at the house in order that we can all of us keep the show on the road. I was relieved that when it came to eating her lunch, although she was slow (half an hour), Meg managed to get most of the dinner I had prepared for Meg actually inside her because she seemed to be slightly more awake and in touch with the world today.
The amazing international news today is that the far right French leader, Marine le Pen, has been found guilty of embezzlement of EU funds. The National Rally leader was found guilty and barred from running for public office for five years. She receives a four-year jail sentence, with two years suspended, although she is not expected to serve any jail time. But most importantly, she is now disbarred from running in the next Presidential election where she had a narrow lead (although it will not place for another three years) It is interesting that these far right parties are not averse to getting and then mis-spending EU funding. The then Brexit party leader, Nigel Farage, an MEP for 20 years, was docked half his MEP pay after parliament administrators concluded he had misspent EU funds intended to staff his office. A political group dominated by Ukip – Farage’s former party – was asked to repay €173,000, after an official report said EU funds had been misspent on national campaigns. No doubt Le Pen will appeal and there is always the possibility that the sentence may be reduced on appeal. But if the sentence is reduced to three years rather than five, this might still enough to disbar her from being a candidate in the Presidential elections. No doubt National Rally will cry 'foul' but if the judges had taken Le Pen's possible candidature into consideration, they would have been applying different standards to the politically powerful which would hardly be equality before the law.
© Mike Hart [2025]