I have been reflecting upon the recent conviction of Marie Le Pen for embezzlement of EU funds as well as the report that Donald Trump is actively contemplating running for a (completely illegal) third term. In particular, the attitude towards law and the legal system is deeply ambiguous. Whereas these rich and powerful right wingers will actively use the law to defend their own property and interests if any of use were to infringe upon their property rights, they take a completely different attitude to the law when they themselves run foul of it. Trump was convicted in a New York court of false accounting practices and now Marine Le Pen of embezzlement, but when found guilty, thee is an immediate cry of political persecution. The point was made on NewsNight last night that these right wingers are not really the nationalists that they claim to be but part of a worldwide endeavour to support each other and to advance right wing causes. So, or example, other right wing leaders have all rushed to Le Pen's support each claiming that the law has been used by (in Trump's phrase 'radical left') to use the law to achieve what cannot be achieved in the political sphere. In all of this, when convicted these extreme right wingers will never accept the attribution of 'criminal' and any conviction is seen as a purely political and not legal movement against them.
Yesterday afternoon, after I had successfully got some dinner inside Meg, it was a beautiful sunny afternoon and the issue of my 'sick' mower had been preying on my mind, I decided t have a quick look at it myself. Having put it on a small stand, I reasoned to myself that it had started to malfunction when the left side of the mower was cutting under some quite spiky bushes so I thought I would look here first. Here I discovered a sort of 'V' shaped rocker switch attached to a wire which controlled air flow though the air filter (and hence to the carbureta) and nothing seemed to be controlling it. So I reasoned that it was probably held in place by a little spring which was now lost after the incursion under the bushes. Holding this in one position and then with another holding the mower control lever, I discovered that this rocker switch did indeed control the engine speed so I improvised a sort of rubber band arrangement to approximately hold the switch in the right position. Actually for little jobs like this, I used a couple of those elastic hair bands that are sold everywhere in cosmetic departments and are dirt cheap but I find them more substantial for repair jobs than perishable elastic bands themselves. I did quick mow up and down to ascertain that my temporary repair was holding which indeed it did and it could be that my temporary repair could prove a better solution than the spring itself which could again detach under similar circumstances. I am not the world's most natural mechanic bit I did experience a degree of satisfaction in both diagnosing and then fixing the problem, not least because the mower is completely available to me at the start of the rapid growing season. I have always reckoned that if you keep on top of the grass cutting in the months of April-June, then one can afford a somewhat more relaxed attitude to grass mowing in the subsequent months.
Yesterday morning, being a regular Tuesday I wheeled Meg to have coffee with our friends in Wetherspoons. We had experienced not a very good start to the day as one carer waited outside for the other and she was about 20 minutes late. So I started assisting the carer who had turned up and was two thirds of the way through the task when the second helper turned up - consequently, everything took place in a bit of a rush. I was a bit worried that if Meg slumps in her wheelchair, she is in danger of sliding out so I really have to be careful she is in the right position before starting out. But we got down all right and although Meg was a little slumped in her wheelchair, we did get her home without mishap. On the way home, we bumped into out Italian friend who invited us in for a coffee but I could not tarry as I felt under pressure to get Meg home in one piece.The decorators dealt me a bit of a body blow because they now decided they needed to paint behind our big display cabinet and could this be emptied please. But this is a huge unit and is groaning with precious class, crockery, liquor in one of the lower cupboards, books, spare table linen and goodness knows what else. It has not been emptied in the 17 years that we have been idea and the packers probably did it when we moved house anyway. So most of the afternoon was spent putting precious glassware into cardboard boxes and I still have three large drawers and a side cupboard to empty. The unit is so heavy that it will have to be completely empty before the decorators can move it even a few inches. In the midst of all of this, a nurse turned up to give Meg and I our COVID booster jabs which she did very efficiently, breezing in and out in no time.
Today is the day when the various utilities are going to increase their charges and mostly increasing at more than the rate of inflation. At the same time, the non indexation of income tax allowances will, via 'fiscal drag', draw many more people into the higher tax bands. The pain will become evident in the weeks ahead. In the meantime, my son has enjoyed the first day of his retirement, having retired from his high pressure job in the NHS (which was probably going to be abolished shortly in any case, but with a fair probability it would have to be reinvented under another guise) He has spent a lot of the day both shredding and throwing away stuff which is surely the way to start off a retirement. Soon, I must get into the Swedish habit of 'Death Cleaning'. Once you reach the end of middle age (or sooner if you feel like it, or later if you’re late to the exercise), you get rid of all the stuff you have accumulated that you do not need anymore — so that no one else has to do it for you after you pass. That’s according to Margareta Magnusson, author of the new book, 'The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Make Your Loved Ones’ Lives Easier and Your On Life More Pleasant' which is to be released soon.
© Mike Hart [2025]