Failure to be efficient. Early Advent. Looking at things from a different point of view. The crazies!

Well, I got up this morning, donned wellies and waterproof and walked briskly into the village with my little rucksack on my back. Instead of running I was walking through the rain precisely so that I could carry my rucksack and bring some shopping back with me. I know that soldiers in training are said to run with loaded back-backs but I am not a soldier in training and find running with a bag on my back distinctly uncomfortable. Besides it WAS raining quite heavily and, while I don’t mind too much running in the rain, this was a bit too much. 

I had been really efficient. I had made a list. I had even remembered to take the list with me. And once in the co-op store I had consulted my list from time to time. So how did I manage to stop at the dairy fridge and pick up a bottle of milk (our milkman having failed to deliver yesterday) and completely ignore the cream that I need for a recipe later today? 

So much for efficiency! 

Another walk into the village is called for. But at least the rain has eased somewhat.

Christmas has arrived early in the village. At least it has arrived at one house. At first I thought it was just fairy lights in the garden but in fact there is a huge Christmas tree and the windows are festooned with massive snowflake stencils. Goodness! They have only just taken down the artificial cobwebs that draped over the hedges in the garden! I think they might be a little fed up of that tree and the flashing lights by the time Christmas gets here. And for once I am hoping, for their sake not my own, that the tree is an artificial one. Otherwise they’ll be having to throw out their tree before Christmas comes along as it sheds all its needles.

So this is the new game when we manage to go for a walk with the small grandchildren:- spot the Christmas decorations. Pumpkins are so-o-o-o-o last month’s thing!

Scanning the newspapers online later I came across an article about a series of tweets by Patrick Gathara, a Kenyan political cartoonist, satirist and writer, looking at the USA election fun and games from a different point of view, as it might have been reported had such things been going on in a third world country:-

“Nov 11, 2020

 @gathara

#BREAKING US President-elect Joe Biden, soon to be perhaps the oldest leader in the G-20, is calling up his younger counterparts around the world for assistance in throwing babyish incumbent autocrat, Donald Trump, out of the presidential palace wherein he has barricaded himself.

@gathara

#BREAKING After days in barricaded presidential palace, US dictator, Donald Trump, hesitantly emerges to attend ceremony for fallen troops in coastal capital, Washington DC. Race is now on to get back to the palace before President-elect Joe Biden can sneak in and depose him

@gathara

#BREAKING Following intense pressure from the AU, British strongman Boris Johnson calls US President-elect, Joe Biden, with an offer to send troops under the rubric of "Western Solutions for Western Problems" to help secure its troubled former colony's transition to democracy.

@gathara

#BREAKING Rumors - hotly denied by regime officials - are spreading that US dictator, Donald Trump, who has not been seen in public since he returned to the barricaded presidential palace days ago, may have fled the crisis-torn republic for asylum in an undisclosed country

 @gathara

#BREAKING In a message conveyed by their political wing, the Republican party, white extremists in the US vow not to lay down their arms if moderate white opposition leader, Joe Biden, is declared president-elect of the conflict-prone nation, a haven for armed terrorist groups.

@gathara

#BREAKING As ruthless purge of disloyal elements within the country's military continues, US Foreign Minister accuses opposition of rigging presidential elections raising fears corrupt regime of aging dictator, Donald Trump, will declare state of emergency and cling to power.”

It’s an interesting point of view from which to look at it all. 

Meanwhile Mr Trump has been out in his motorcade waving at crowds who waved flags including “Trump 2020: Keep America great”, “Trump 2020: No more bullshit”, “All aboard the Trump train!” and (perhaps my favourite) “Trump 2020: Pro life, pro God, pro gun”. I suppose putting their belief in God and Guns together has a kind of logic to the flag-wavers. Indeed, it just about sums up their philosophy. 

Inevitably later in the day it all crumpled into fights between supporters and opposers of Trump. Police arrested at least 20 people on a variety of charges, including assault and weapons possession, officials said. One stabbing was reported, two police officers were injured and several firearms were also recovered by police. 

Crazy people. 

Our own home-grown crazies have been out and about as well, this time in Bristol where fourteen people were arrested at an anti-lockdown protest of about 400 people. On the news last night they said that police warned them not to march but in the end did not actively prevent them as they wanted to avoid possibly violent confrontations. There were very few masks and little social distancing to be seen. But then, if you are protesting against lockdown measures I suppose you disregard such protection. 

And yet there seems to be evidence that the lockdown measures might be working. Even our Oldham, with probably still the highest number of cases in the country, has seen a small but noticeable reduction. Let’s keep going, even if Christmas isn’t quite what we want it to be.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!