Back to drizzle and damp. MAGA and MAHA. Starbucks news. Ceasefire possibilities.

It seems that we are back to just normal damp weather. There are just a few extremely stubborn bits of snow hanging around, where it was piled up when paths were cleared or where it drifted against walls at the edge of fields. And although there have been a few feeble attempts to brighten up, the cloud which has descended on all the hill tops has been winning the battle.

So much for seeing the full moon and whichever planets are apparently lined up with it in the January sky. During the last week there have been some splendid opportunities to see the moon bright and clear approaching the full but last night there was nothing to be seen but cloud. As ever, heavenly phenomena are rarely visible around here. Even sunrise is delayed because of a great huge hill on one side and sunset is best seen from the attic window as another huge hill gets in the way on he other side. 

Across the pond we have ween MAGA, Make America Great Again, and now there is also MAHA, Make America Healthy Again. MAHA people support the choice of Robert F Kennedy jr as Health Secretary. After all, like them he rejects vaccination, and recently he’e been going on about seed oils (sunflower seed oil, for example) are actually poisoning people. Not true, by the way, as this article explains. 

The MAHA people are mostly female influencers, stay at home ‘moms’ who probably don’r need to worry about how to feed the kids but have plenty of time to post “interesting” items on social media.  “Anyone can consider themselves Maha, but mothers in particular have become its fiercest evangelists online, where they post videos explaining their politics while cooking dinner or resting a swaddled baby in their arms.””

For example, there is Mikyla Page, mother of a three year old. “Before eating anything, the stay-at-home mom reads an ingredients list, staying away from artificial colors, flavors, dyes, and excess sugar. She doesn’t support vaccination, instead believing that “bathing in sunlight” will keep her family healthy, making sure her family gets outside every day to soak up vitamin D.

At first, Page felt alone in her choices. “You’re called crazy for even questioning the medical field,” she said. “My intuition was telling me one thing, but the world was telling me something else. My husband was like, ‘Are you sure this is where you want to go?’ I just went with my gut.”

I don’t patronise Starbucks. On the whole I find their coffee rather insipid, but that’s just a matter of choice. A lot of people must find it perfectly acceptable as their cafes are ubiquitous. However, I don’t want to talk about the quality of their coffee today. i read that they have changed their policy regarding use of their toilets. For some years now it has been possible for anyone to walk in and use the toilet facilities free of charge, a boon for pregnant women, who often have to pee very frequently, parents of small children, who often decide that their little bladders are full at some crucial point in a shopping expedition, and, indeed, anyone  who feels a similar pressing need. Now it seems that Starbucks has decreed that only paying customers can use their loos! Well, at any raye, that’s the situation in America. Will Starbucks UK follow suit? We shall see! 

On a more serious topic, there are reports that Gaza ceasefire negotiations are at their “final stages”. However, Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson, however, cautioned that people ‘shouldn’t be overexcited about what’s happening right now.” He said, “It is very important not to raise expectations to a level that doesn’t link to what’s happening on the ground right now.

“We are, we do believe, at a developed stage. We do believe we are at the final stages. But obviously, until there is an announcement, there will be no announcement, and therefore we shouldn’t be over-excited about what’s happening right now.”

Perhaps we should all start to cross our fingers. But it’s hard not think that reports of people not allowed to leave Gaza cor medical treatment, as in this article, are not a very optimistic sign. 

We shall see.

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Life goes on, stay safe and well, everyone!