Random reflections.

I have mostly been trying to avoid pictures of that inauguration that went on yesterday. As a rule I avoid watching opening ceremonies of things like the Olympic Games as well. Oh, I know there is a lot of grand, spectacular display goes on at such occasions but in the end that's all it is: grand, spectacular display!

And then, quite accidentally I saw a photo which included Trump's youngest offspring, Barron, a boy of about ten. What struck me was how much he reminded me of the young Joffrey Baratheon, as portrayed in the first TV series of Game of Throne. It was not that he and the actor truly resembled each other. No, it was the sort of arrogant sneer and narrow-eyed stare that the photographer had caught. How sad to be so young and yet to look so hard!

Are the Trumps a real(ity)-life version of the Lannisters? (For the uninformed about Game of Thrones, Joffrey Baratheon, despite his name, has not a drop of Baratheon blood as his biological father is his mother's brother, a Lannister. Yes, it is a bit shocking but then the ancient Egyptians did it all the time. Hmm! Where are they now?) Two rich families taking over their respective worlds!

Somewhere in the midst of all this I found a little nugget of information which told me that Henry J. Heinz, the founder of the Heinz company, was the grandson of Charlotte Louisa Trump of Kallstadt. Related then. Maybe rich families are like European royalty: in the end there is always a family link between them. The important question is this: can I now eat Heinz baked beans with a clear conscience?

Maybe I should stick to other kinds of food such as vegetables and salad. And yet, it now seems there are problems with this. Rain and cold and snow in Spain and other Southern European countries have reportedly been affecting our supply of courgettes and aubergines and salad vegetables. Prices will rise! According to a radio news report last night, a few towns are completely without courgettes. How shocking! The newsreader struggled to keep the amusement out of her voice as she told us that they had not been given the names of the towns concerned. Were they expecting courgette riots? We're okay. Our local co-op is well supplied and the price is reasonable. Phew! What a relief! Aubergines I have no regrets about at all.

 Now, here is something else altogether. A friend of ours said that his Christmas was greatly enhanced by his hearing a young autistic girl singing a reworked version Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. I must say that I did not see that as a particularly Christmassy song but someone, presumably a music teacher at the school for autistic children, wrote a new set of words, making it into a version of the Christmas story.

My friend suggested I should include it in my blog. So here is a link.