Coughs and sneezes. Strange weather. Israel and Hong Kong still in the news. Environmemtal stuff.

 Last Sunday the family came to dinner. The smallest in the family passed on to most of us their sore throats and sniffles. Their older sisters succumbed on Monday. Phil and I waited until Tuesday. In my case I think things were exacerbated by having to stand outside our GP’s surgery for a good half hour in the freezing cold on Wednesday morning. Yesterday I sort of hit crisis point, with aches and pains, coughs and sneezes, and general weariness. Today I seem to have mostly bounced back. 

For the first time in living memory Phil’s chess club was cancelled last night. We have never known that to happen before. It’s strictly a ‘We Never Close’ institution but yesterday the venue was accidentally double-booked and the flower arrangers (I think that’s who it was) somehow took priority. How rude! In a way this is just as well as it meant that Phil did not go out in the damp and cold. Today he seems to have hit crisis in his cold and after breakfast took himself back to bed! So it goes.

Today has seen the whole gamut of November weather: windy and damp but not raining first thing, strong winds later, heavy rain moving on to torrential (Granddaughter Number One reports thatvthey had sleet and snow in her bit of Oldham!), and now, mid-afternoon, mostly blue sky and sunshine. I blame Mrs Tharptcher - see the link to an article about environmentalist Paul Brown lower down!

In today’s news: 

“Video of an Israeli military raid in the West Bank shows soldiers summarily executing two Palestinians they had detained seconds earlier.

The shooting on Thursday evening, which was also witnessed by journalists close to the scene, is under justice ministry review, but has already been defended by Israel’s far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who declared that “terrorists must die”.”

Also in today’s news:

”The death toll from the Hong Kong apartment complex fire that began on Wednesday has risen to 128 with as many as 200 missing, officials have said, as rescue operations were declared over.

Firefighters had been combing through the high-rises on Friday, attempting to find anyone alive after the massive fire that spread to seven of eight towers in one of the city’s deadliest blazes.

Authorities said they had recovered 108 bodies from the buildings, but 16 were still inside. Four people died of injuries in hospital, Chris Tang, the city’s security secretary told the media on Friday afternoon. Another 79 people, including 11 firefighters, had been injured. About 200 people were still unaccounted for, and 89 of the bodies had not yet been identified.

The head of the fire services, Andy Yeung, confirmed what many residents had been claiming for days: that no fire alarms went off in any of the eight towers. “We will take enforcement actions against the contractors responsible,” he said.”

Here’s a link to an article about  Paul Brown, environmental correspondent extraordinaire..he tells us that Margaret Thatcher was seemingly instrumental in making us aware of the hole in the ozone layer and from that climate change. Who knew we had anything to thank her for?’ He explains that apparently the scientist in her won out over the politician at that point. However, the politician won out over the scientist when it came to doing anything serious to improve matters it seems.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!