Yesterday I listened to the rain on the roof and decided it was too rainy to run and so I opted to walk into the village instead. By the time I was ready to set off the rain had eased and I could have run with impunity. Today I ran in the rain on the grounds that Storm Christophe is supposedly on its/his and tomorrow might be impossible. I shall check in the morning whether it looks fit to cycle to Uppermill market or not.
Later in the morning yesterday we judged the weather to be fine enough for a walk up the hill. There was even the merest bit of blue amidst the clouds and the tiniest hint that the sun might manage to break through. We snatch every opportunity to garner some vitamin D. In the event the sun only came out some 15 minutes after we arrived home but that’s how it goes.
Out walking I discovered that my much vaunted ability to multi-task does not seem to include blowing my nose and stepping up a kerb at the same time. And so I fell over my feet, possibly blaming my new boots, and ended up spreadeagled on the pavement. Oh, the indignity! In the process I lightly banged my temple, just above the end of the eyebrow. Nothing serious. A bit of a graze. A bit of a bump. Nothing a bit of Savlon antiseptic cream couldn’t cure. I expected a bit of bruising but not the black eye that seems to be the end result.
First it was a little bit of bruising below the eyebrow. By first thing this morning it had spread to most of the eyelid. Each time I catch sight of myself in the mirror it seems to have spread a little further round the eye socket. Quite a shiner! I knew this happened with a blow to the nose but not with a bang just at the end of the eyebrow. How ridiculous!
But, hey! It could be worse. No other adverse effects apart from a slight twinge in the hand that did not quite break my fall but did hit the pavement first. At least no visits to A & E were called for. Hospitals are not places I want to visit right now.
I found a story in the newspapers the other day of a man who was so afraid of catching the virus that he hid in Chicago airport instead of returning home to Los Angeles. He arrived there towards the end of October and was finally challenged by airport officials three months later. Amazingly nobody reported him during that time even though passengers were giving him food and so might well have been aware of his situation. I’m not sure I would have chosen an airport as a place of greater safety at the moment but maybe the situation in America is different. And besides, how do you go three months without washing your clothes? Eeewww! My imagination is going into overdrive. I bet he’s quite relieved to have been found out.
Mind you, he’s almost certainly right to be afraid. Here are some statistics:-
The death toll from Covid is the USA is now within a hair’s breadth of surpassing the 405,000 Americans who lost their lives in the second world war.
There are more than 23,896,221 cases, and rising now at the tearaway rate of up to 300,000 new cases a day.
Last week, at least 4,400 died from Covid on a single day – more than the total loss of life on 9/11.
Not a good situation at all!
As if the pandemic is not enough to worry about, now the USA has a strange presidential inauguration planned for tomorrow. I’ve never been to Washington, never been to the USA, but I’ve grown used to seeing Washington on films and particularly in the series The West Wing. It’s always looked like a rather fine, well planned, beautiful monumental city. On the TV news we saw what looked like a city under siege - huge barricades around the White House and the Capital and along the streets, soldiers armed to the teeth everywhere. What a come-down for a proud nation.
Mind you, we have our own contradictions and oddities in our country. I have been collecting odds and ends that people have put on social media. Here’s a quote from Boris Johnson back in May 2013:-
The EU “is better placed to strike trade deals with the US, or China, than the UK on its own. more generally, there is a risk that leaving the EU will be globally interpreted as a narrow, xenophobic, backward-looking thing to do”.
And here’s another, from the same Boris Johnson, this time in February 2016:
“Leaving would cause business uncertainty, while embroiling the government for years in a fiddly process of negotiating new arrangements, so diverting energy from the real, problems that have nothing to do with Europe.”
And here’s a little comment on vaccination:
“Interesting that the rollout of the vaccine is going so well when test and trace went so badly. It’s almost like if you let the NHS get on & do the job and don’t hand out contracts to private companies that your mates run that things get done properly. Who knew?”
Just a few things to reflect on!
Meanwhile ...
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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