We walked to Uppermill this morning to receive our covid booster vaccinations. It has been quite a palaver getting an appointment. Some weeks ago we received an “invitation” from the NHS. First there was some difficulty logging on to their website, another case of passwords being essential. Then they gave us suggested venues, some half way to Huddersfield, others closer to hand which was fine for those with a car but involving a complicated bus journey for those who don’t. Then there was the problem of arranging for the two of us to have appointments at more or less the same time on the same day.
I even popped into our doctors’ surgery in Uppermill one day to see if they could expedite matters. No luck! Apparently there has been a shortage of vaccine. Then, just over a week ago, we managed to get appointments precisely at the Uppermill clinic. So there we were, walking up the hill to Dobcross and down the other side, when it started to rain on us. Fortunately we were prepared, like good Boy Scouts, and had our waterproofs with us.
Friends of mine have been rejoicing at the cooler weather today but might be disappointed at the rain which could prevent them from working in the garden.
Vaccinations completed, we should have been just in time for a bus home. It was running late. Of course! By the time the bus arrived we could have walked half way home. As we stood in the bus shelter, our feet were sticking to the pavement where someone must have spilt a can of something sugary last night.
Then I spotted a morris man in all his regalia at the bus stop on the other side of the road. What was he doing there? A few minutes later he was joined briefly by another. Then two more jingled along the road in their bell-bedecked clogs, one of them carrying a large drum. These two went straight into the pub, which is where they usually gather before dancing in the square. Then our bus arrived so we will probably never know whether or not they are dancing today.
The pub, by the way, used to called The Commercial but its name has been shortened to The Commie.
Whenever I see it I wonder if its patrons, quite a lot of them most likely local tories, are aware of the irony of that shortened name.
The discussion of artificial intelligence goes on in news reports and various programmes. The fear that robots might take over our loves continues. We are waiting for someone to refer to Isaac Asimov’s 3 laws of robotics, supposedly from the fictional "Handbook of Robotics, 56th Edition, 2058 A.D.":
“First Law
A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
Second Law
A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
Third Law
A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.”
Perhaps they need to step,out of science fiction and into science reality.
In an article in which writers describe their favour places to visit, one of them wrote about Stockholm and it’s archipelago. Apparently as well as the larger area being an archipelago, the city itself spans 14 islands. I had never thought of Stockholm being a city of islands.,
Yesterday I quoted a Michael Rosen Boris Johnson parody comment. Today I found this. Not a Michael Rosen parody this time but a Michael Rosen comment on facts: “Johnson says in his article in tonight/tomorrow's Daily Mail online what Julius Caesar 'said', but 'Caesar' didn't. It was Shakespeare!
"I thought of Julius Caesar, and his preference for well-fed colleagues.
‘Let me have men about me that are fat,’ said the Roman dictator... ‘Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look.’”
Sometimes reality can be stranger than fiction.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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