Progress reports.

Well, the Vaporub in the socks thing as a cure for night time coughing was only a partial success. But that's how things go. However, we did manage to get out for a walk in the windy sunshine this afternoon. Yes, sunshine! But the wind was very strong and very cold! 

 As I walked along the canal towpath yesterday I came across a group of men in hi-vis vests collecting bottles, cans and plastic or polystyrene food containers out of the undergrowth at the edge of the path. Admirable! They may well have been only doing their job but still admirable! Somebody should be praised for the initiative. I get quite agitated about people who keep their own homes and cars clean and tidy but think nothing of littering the highways and byways with their detritus! 

I see that the Infanta Cristina is still likely to stand trial for aiding and abetting her husband Iñaki in fraud and money laundering. Do they still get to keep their titles as Duke and Duchess of Palma de Mallorca, I wonder? Everything has gone quiet here on the royal misdemeanour front. Mind you, there have been other things taking over the news in the last few days. 

The film "Mr Turner", a splendid film in my opinion, did not make it into the nominations for outstanding British film for the BAFTA awards! "Paddington" did. Granted I haven't seen "Paddington" so it's difficult for me to judge it's excellence. But it's based on the Paddington Bear stories which, splendid as they are for children, are not really greatly demanding stuff intellectually. Are we down to lowest common denominator judgements? Or am I growing old and jaded? 

I shouldn't be surprised at the lowest common denominator aspect of things. It seems at the moment that our political parties make up their policies in line with what they think the public want to hear. Surely they should be wooing us with their magical oratory to persuade us that their ideas are sound and worth voting for. 

Modern technology. You can now buy sports gear that measures your performance and sends comments in a signal to your smartphone. There are socks that track a run using pads on the soles of the feet. They cost £130 pounds! They can only be washed 35 times! Limited life span then! I suppose though, that if you can happily contemplate paying £130 for a pair of socks, you probably don't mind having to replace them fairly quickly. I guess I'll just go on wearing ordinary sports socks ... and ordinary other sports gear for that matter. I think I can just about manage to rate my own performance without the need for lots of technology. 

Last night we watched a programme about singer-songwriters at the BBC. Lots of singers and songs from our youth. A lot of very earnest, serious stuff about how we would change the world, even if it turns out we haven't managed to do so. Lots of very good stuff. And all the female singer-songwriters sang their songs without any need for semi-pornographic dances and performances. 

Amazing!