Changing time. Boxes. Being a consultant. Some photos.

All change! Well, maybe! If Trump ever decides to concede, then maybe there will be a new President Biden in the White House. Numerous comparisons have been made between Obama’s graceful handover of the White House and the current seeming lack of co-operation. Let’s be kind and remember that Obama had already served two terms and was not going to have any chance of staying there ... no way! ... while Trump is feeling peeved because he wanted another term. But, no! I don’t really have kind feelings.

And here in the UK, Dominic Cummings has been shown the door. There was talk of him staying in post until Christmas but he’s already gone. Photos abound of him leaving Number Ten with his trusty backpack, containing his laptop I suppose (what secrets does that hold!?), and carrying a cardboard box. Why was he allowed to leave by the front door? some have asked. Why not scuttling out of the back door? That’s a bit churlish, if you ask me. Anyway, I expect his leaving by the front door provided a much better, more symbolic, photo opportunity. He does have a tendency to scuttle though.

What I want to know is who is making money out of those very neat cardboard boxes that seem to be de rigueur when someone finally leaves their desk in an office somewhere. It became a kind of symbol of the Crash, when hoards of bankers were seen departing from their posts with their neat boxes containing, I assume, the contents of their desk - pens, pencils, potted plant, coffee mug, cute ceramic “thingy” which showed you were a human being after all! You see those boxes in  American films and tv series as well. Nobody ever seems to depart with a Tesco carrier bag full of their belongings. Nobody ever has a scruffy old cardboard box they have scrounged from somewhere. No, it’s a nice neat box with a lid! Who produces them? A bit of niche marketing there!

I have seen, by the way, a grizzly little cartoon where Dominic Cummings arrives home and is greeted by Mrs Cummings, who wants to know what is in the box. Whereupon Dom lifts out the head of Boris Johnson! We shall see! Whether or not his departure signals the end for Mr Johnson, I doubt that we have seen the back of Mr Cummings!

There will probably be a book of memoirs - the truth about Barnard Castle at last? And probably consultancy jobs of one kind or another. 

My brother-in-law, an electrical engineer, was joking about consultancies yesterday as we walked along the soggy Donkey Line. He has recently retired from one of the electricity companies, having postponed that retirement several times as they needed his expertise on this and that. Now, he says, if they need him he can charge a hefty consultancy fee. Several thousand pounds a day seems to be the going rate for those who advise on PPE and Track and Trace, so maybe he can ask for something similar. Pipe dreams, I think!

We were walking along the Donkey Line in the last stages of our Diggle Chippy Hike, taking advantage of the fact that yesterday, although cold, did have some sunshine. Today, as predicted, is grey and dull, not quite so rainy as expected but hardly conducive to sitting at picnic benches. So, to cheer up a dull day, here are some photos of the sunshine on the Donkey Line yesterday morning 

 

 

 

 

 

and the rather chilly brightness over the Uppermill viaduct yesterday afternoon.

 

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!