Well, today has been one of the gloomiest in a long while. Certainly the gloomiest Thursday.
On Thursdays, as I have mentioned before, our youngest grandson comes and spends the morning with us. So usually by 8.00 i am being invited or, indeed, instructed to “Sit on your carpet, Grandma! Hold this dinosaur!” He has a second breakfast of toast with honey when Grandad has his breakfast. Then in the late morning we generally go for a walk so he can identify a few plants and animals and eventually agree to climb into his buggy and have a snooze before lunch and before Mummy gets back.
This morning, and for most of the day in fact, it was so wet and blustery that we went nowhere. It was altogether too inclement to walk at a two and half year old’s pace and it really wasn’t worth fighting him into his buggy so that we could walk in the rain. So we stayed in, drew more pictures, built more towers and pushed more little cars around the place.
(I was about to comment on the fact that we talk about inclement weather but not about clement weather. i thought I’d better look it up before I made a fool of myself. It turns out that some people do talk about clement weather, meaning mild and pleasant. However, it’s more often used to describe people and judgements - or it was when people used to say it frequently - to mean inclined to be merciful or lenient. So those people who were named Clement, such as Clement Attlee were perhaps so named in the hope that they would be that kind of person! There you go!)
This evening in contrast has turned out to be mild and sunny. So I took myself off for a brisk walk round the village and a quick visit to the coop store for a couple of things. As you do! Well, as I do!
The news, when I got around to looking and listening to it, has mostly been full of the government’s decision to help out with the cost of living crisis. There will be a windfall tax on energy companies but we can’t call it that. It's an Energy Profits Levy, not a Windfall Tax, insists the government with an entirely straight face. There was some rather loud laughter in the Commons at that. Anyway, we all get £400 off our energy bill. People on benefits will get more help. So will pensioners. It will come to us with our Winter Fuel Payment. If we have any twinges of conscience - which we probably won’t as, after all, we have paid our taxes and made our contributions over the years - we can always give it to a good cause.
The opposition is claiming that the government stole their idea. Maybe so! Also, it takes attention away from Partygate and gives the Borisophiles another reason to say he’s doing a good job!!!
And I’ve been finding comments about the latest school shooting in Texas. The USA has more school shootings than other countries and a lot of them happen in Texas, where 18 year olds, and maybe even 14 year olds can easily buy guns. Several people have pointed out that after the Dunblane shooting here, strict gun controls were introduced and we have not had a shooting like that since. (We de seem to be seeing a lot of knife crime on other situations, and with knives wielded by youngsters so we are not perfect.) But the Americans are seemingly not convinced.
This comes from Newsthump:
“By Rich Smith
26 May 2022
God has rejected America’s latest batch of thoughts and prayers following another mass shooting, this time in a Texas Elementary School, telling them he doesn’t grant prayers for things you can easily fix yourself. As the latest mass shooting saw more young children gunned down in a place they should feel safe, God has shocked many Americans by flatly rejecting their requests to do something about the constant mass shootings seen across their nation. God told us, “If your injured buddy Gerry wants to walk again, that’s a prayer I’m willing to listen to, and I will give it my full consideration.
“But, if you’re praying to me in the hope I’ll help stop mass shootings, then no – I’m not helping. Because that’s a job for your politicians. I’m here for divine intervention, not because America’s political establishment have becomes so heavily dependent on the gun lobby’s money.”
Then there’s this, for which I can’t find the source but which sounds quite persuasive:
“Sacramento police held a gun buyback event. Both legal and illegal guns were brought in - no questions asked - and exchanged for gas vouchers.
The even was so popular they ran out of vouchers in under an hour.
Every police department in the country should do this.”
It just seems crystal clear to me. Make it difficult for everyone to buy guns and especially teenagers. And surely NOBODY really NEEDS an assault rifle. Aren’t shoot’em’up computer games enough?
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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