Snow and ice and frozen pipes. IT and AI messing with our heads. And spoilers!

 According to the weather app on my phone it’s currently -1°. This is an improvement on earlier today when it was -6° but I think -1° might be our high for today.

Its been one of those days when you stand in the shower and realise that your feet are in standing water! The pipe that takes water from the bathtub to the drains has frozen again. It did this last winter. It’s the section on the outside wall. It’s practically horizontal and consequently water collects in it, which is not a problem until we get what the weathermen happily refer to as a “cold snap”.

In some parts of the UK schools have closed because of heavy snow. We have a sprinkling but today is bright and crisp again. 

In Munich they skate on the frozen canal. If the canals here froze, which they do on occasion, I doubt that we could muster enough ice skates to organise some canal skating. We are not as organised as the people of Munich. But no doubt people will have been rooting out the sledges that they put away in the garage after the last lot of snow! 

I was thinking about the odd ways in which IT has played games with our lives. There’s all the hacking that goes on, not just the serious stuff where they mess up the deliveries to places like the co-op and M&S, but the stuff in your everyday life when you discover that someone is trying to steal you identity and post strange stuff in your name on social media. 

Then there is photoshopping - remember the horror with which people greeted the possibility that Kate Windsor might have tweaked a family photo. Nowadays the photoshopping is much more subtle, often impossible to detect, and it’s hard to tell which are genuine photos and which are concocted: works of art in their own right almost. Facebook is always showing us pictures of famous folk in their hospital beds - all inventions as far as I can tell. 

And now AI is messing with our heads, producing supposed songs by famous artists and podcasts which their supposed authors never recorded. It’s hard to tell who hasreally said what! 

Here’s an article by Yanis Varoukis, YouTuber, protesting about discovering recordings of himself that he never made. 

Fake news has become a regular part of modern life. Maybe I should only ever read the book we already have on our shelves. At least I’m pretty sure most of them are not plagiarised. But then, you never know. Perhaps it’s all been going on for longer than we know.

Here’s something by someone called Jason Okunday: 

“I love spoiling the plot for myself. It’s something I do fairly regularly. Before watching a film, I tend to open Wikipedia and read the entire plot synopsis. If every episode of a series has been uploaded to a streamer, I often open the last episode, watch the final five minutes, close it and then start from the beginning. I did as such when the final season of Top Boy dropped in the autumn of 2023. When I tweeted about it from my now-deleted X account, I drew a range of bewildered and outraged responses, including from the official Top Boy Netflix account.” 

Oddly enough when our son was in his teens he used to speed-read his way through books to find out what the ending was and then go,back and re-read the novel in a more leisurely fashion, allowing himself to enjoy the good bits. It’s one way of approaching literature, I suppose. Part of the fun of a good mystery, though, is working out for yourself what you think really happened and then verifying it. And I have been known to getnto the end of a really good book and go straight back to the start justbto enjoy it all afresh! 

Here’s an odd story provided by columnist Arwa Mahdawi: 

“A 3ft-tall wallaby called Rex ended 2025 by breaking out of a farm in New Jersey and going on the run. Eventually, the wandering wallaby was found hanging out next to Walmart. The marsupial is now back at his farm and possibly planning his next escape – hop-fully to somewhere rather more exciting.”

Even animals deserve a bit of adventure.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Trying to get back to normal … in a world gone rather mad!

 Feeling rather more like my normal self this morning, I decided to go walkabout, walking my usual running route, hoping to wake my body up to its normal self. My original plan was to go out before breakfast which is what I usually do when I run. By the time I had got myself out of bed and organised, I decided to waIt until after breakfast. 

The second plan was to take some frosty morning photos. It was only when I stopped to take the first one that I realised that my phone was still sitting on the desk in study. I had been so concerned with making sure that my iPad was actually charging - it was doing that annoying thing of telling you it needed charging and then flashing up the message ‘not charging’ when connected to lightning cable! Grrr! - that I had forgotten to pick up my phone.

So much for plans! Clearly my head is not back to its normal state yet.

It was a lovely day to be out and about, bright and crisp but cold. There would have been photos but …. Less cold than it has been, however. The weather app on my phone tells me we’ve reached a high of 0° but it’s predicted to plummet again shortly and snow is forecast for this evening. We shall see! 

Out in the wider world, Nicolás Maduro has been jailed in the USA but nobody seems to know what to expect to,happen next. Greenland is expressing concern that maybe this latest action will reawaken ambitions to take over their country. The United States of the World! ?

In the strange world of social media, one of the latest stars is the cat who lives in the Belgian Prime Minister’s office in Brussels.

“Maximus Textoris Pulcher was announced in August as an official resident at the Belgian prime minister’s office, Rue de la Loi 16 in central Brussels.

The grey rescue cat is now thought to have the second most popular political account on Belgian social media, with more than 142,000 followers on Instagram – second only to his master, Bart De Wever, who became Belgium’s Prime Minister in February.

The cat’s full name is a mock-grandiose title rooted in the prime minister’s love of Latin and Roman history, conveying the meaning “De Wever’s beautiful Maximus” (textoris being “of the weaver”, or De Wever).

De Wever adopted the cat, an abandoned Scottish fold, from a refuge. “I have a cat in my office, it is grey and it does not catch … mice, but I love it anyway,” he told journalists during a recent press conference.”

Okay, some politicians still feel the need to prove they are properly human. It used to be a matter of being photographed with a spouse, but nowadays, love of animals is also required. 

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!  

We would like 2026 to improve please - invasions, New Year’s day swimming, parties, inadequate tents.

 Well, 2026 has got off to a dramatic start and today is only January 3rd. This was the first news report I saw at around 9.00:-

“Trump claims Maduro 'captured and flown out of the country'

US president Donald Trump claims that the Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife have been “captured and flown out of the country”.

In a Truth Social post shared only moments ago, Trump wrote:

The United States of America has successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country. This operation was done in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement. Details to follow. There will be a News Conference today at 11 A.M., at Mar-a-Lago. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP.

The Guardian has been unable to independently verify this report.”

And here’s Michael Rosen on Facebook:

“Trump is considering bombing City Hall and capturing Sadiq Khan.

Why not?”

New Year’s Day madness led to a number of people going for a swim. I seem to remember my father doing this on occasion in the sea off Southport. The sea there is the Irish Sea, long known to have been warmed by the Gulf Stream Drift. With climate change this may no longer be the case but certainly as a child I swam in warmish water off the beach at Ainsdale, but only ever in the summer. Not quite Mediterranean Sea warmth but pleasant enough. The first time I dipped my feet in the North Sea, probably at South Shields in Tyneside, I was somewhat shocked to see my feet turning blue with cold.

Anyway, they have been pulling bodies from the sea off Withernsea in the West riding of Yorkshire where the water is very cold. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) has issued advice, warning that the effects of cold water shock, combined with weather conditions, pose a risk to anyone entering water that is 15C or below, particularly at a time of year when the average sea temperature around the UK and Ireland is 6C to 10C. And the last few days have been very cold.

In Switzerland they now think the Crans-Montana fire may have been caused by people holding sparklers too close to the ceiling tile and thus setting fire to them. Investigations are under way. But what a combination, excitable young people - mostly teenagers - and alcohol and fireworks in an indoor venue! How horrendous to send your youngsters off to enjoy a New Year’s Eve party and now to be waiting for bodies to be identified! 

Elsewhere, it seems that most of the tents supplied to displaced Palestinians, often sold to them at extortionate prices are quite inadequate for the Gaza winter. Many are not waterproof, others are too flimsy and poorly made to withstand the strong winds. Another nightmare scenario.

Back in early October Phil and I accepted the NHS invitation to have a flu vaccination and a Covid Booster injection. We thought we were protected for the winter. The germs should have a minimum effect of us! But either they gave us the wrong vaccinations or something new has developed in the meantime. We’ve been coughing and spluttering for weeks. Today, apart from a continued persistent cough is the first day I have felt relatively normal since the end of Christmas Day!  

I don’t think it’s just us either. Reports tell of A&E departments inundated with cases of flu.

We smile and wish people a Happy Year as we are out for a walk but on the whole, 2026 can only get better!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

The moon. Parakeets. People’s inhumanity. And a little humour.

I looked out of the window in the small hours of this morning and saw the huge moon on its way down. It will be full tonight. If it stays clear, as it seems set fair to do, we’ll see it rising over the hill in the mid to late afternoon. This one is apparently a Wolf Moon, so called because of wolves howling at the moon in the winter months. Fortunately we don’t get the wolves howling at the moon around here. It’s quite cold enough though!

Things to worry about in 2026: ring-necked parakeets. Apparently there has been a huge increase on numbers of these exotic immigrants in the UK. First appearing in the wild in the 1960, they are believed to have been pets which escaped, or were perhaps set free when their owner tired of them.

Between 1994 and 2023 they have increased 25-fold - perhaps another consequence of climate change is that the winters have not killed them off. Still more likely to be seen in the skies, parks, and woodlands around London and suburban areas in the south east, they’ve also been spotted in Manchester and as far north as Newcastle. I’ll keep a lookout for them. The problem is that they frighten off native species because they take up so much room at bird-feeders. In Spain apparently they also chase bats away from their usual habitat. Oh, dear! 

Even in the animal kingdom it seems that some species want to push others out of the way. 

In the human sphere, I read this:

“Israel is banning 25 major aid groups from Gaza starting January 1st, including Doctors Without Borders, which serves nearly half a million Palestinians with critical medical care and water. Over 1.3 million people still need urgent shelter while 740,000 face toxic flooding from collapsed sanitation systems due to Israel's bombardment. Winter rains and collapsing buildings  from Israel's genocide have killed at least 20 Palestinians.”

Here’s a cartoon by Carlos Latuff.

Then there is this: 

“The Israeli army rounded up at least 50 Palestinians in military raids across the occupied West Bank on Thursday, an advocacy group said, Anadolu reports.

Former prisoners, including a woman, were among those arrested in the raids that targeted the cities of Ramallah, Al-Bireh, Hebron, Tubas, Tulkarem, Nablus, Jenin, and East Jerusalem, the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a statement.

It added that the arrest campaign was accompanied by extensive home raids, abuse, assaults against detainees and their families, and destruction of property.

According to the group, the Israeli army arrested more than 7,000 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank last year.

Separately, Israeli army forces demolished two Palestinian homes east of Jericho in the West Bank and issued a notice to demolish a third, citing construction without a permit.

Local sources told Anadolu that Israeli forces and bulldozers stormed the area and razed the two buildings in areas classified as “Area C.”

Israeli forces and illegal settlers have killed at least 1,105 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, injured nearly 11,000, and detained around 21,000 since October 2023, according to Palestinian figures.

In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.”

It rather looks as though 2026 is not greatly different from 2025.

According to this cartoon it would seem that the Owl and the Pussycat fared no better than other refugees.

But here’s a cartoon that made me smile.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone! 

2026. How to start the new year. And some nostalgia.

 Happy New Year everyone!

Suddenly, inevitably, it’s 2026!

It began noisily here. I had already retired to my bed but I knew when 2026 arrived as there was a veritable explosion of fireworks which seemed to go on and on and on. Time was I would have leapt out of bed to watch the show but not this time. I was too cosily ensconced under my duvet! Besides, I who have always prided myself on not succumbing to cold and flu have been knocked flat by whatever lurgy has attacked my system. Not a good start to the New Year for me! 

It began more dramatically in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana with a fire in a bar, reportedly killing dozens and injuring many more. Not a good start to a new year for that ski resort.

I am reliably informed that The Archers, the “everyday story of countryfolk”, is now 75 years old!

You can switch it off any time, but you can never leave … here’s a photo of Harry Oakes as Dan Archer and Bob Arnold as Tom Forrest for Picture Post Meets the Archers in 1953. I find these constructed photos of scenes from a radio series a mix of creepy and nostalgic.

And here, love her or hate her is June Spencer who played the rather snobby Peggy Archer over the years, looking remarkably like an aged aunt of mine! 

It began broadcasting in 1951 and it was one of the sounds of my childhood. My mother didn’t miss an episode. (I believe she also listened to  Mrs Dale’s Diary, the slightly older series about which the Queen Mother is supposed to have said, "It is the only way of knowing what goes on in a middle-class family”. What do the Royal Family regard as a source of information about their subjects nowadays?)

It is The Archers, however, which stands out as family listening. On a different level there was also science fiction in the shape of Journey Into Space, keeping us on the edge of our seats, but it was The Archers which was a constant throughout my childhood - a soap opera before we had even heard of soap operas. It gave us love stories, crime stories, high tension, social issues, just about everything.

You can switch it off any time, but you can never leave … is probably true. It’s possible to stop listening for months at a time and then pickup the storyline again within a week of resuming listening.

A friend and I went on an adventure together to Cuba when we were 70 or 71, just after Fidel Castro died. My friend kept up with The Archers story line via the internet. Back home she usually listened to the Omnibus edition on  Sunday morning. One day we found ourselves deep in conversation with another guest over breakfast about which way we expected the story line to go. Such was its appeal!

You can switch it off any time, but you can never leave … a friend of mine switched off and left during the time of Helen Archer’s problems with her gaslighting husband. Helen’s young son was being used as a pawn in the game. “I can take a lot but when they began messing with the child,” my friend declared, “it was just too much for me!” To my knowledge she’s not been back.

You can switch it off any time, but you can never leave … we stopped listening when the broadcasts became strange during the covid !lockdown. We’ve not had a relapse yet, leaping up to change the channel as the theme music begins. But just occasionally, as the BBC summarises what is going on in an upcoming episode, we look at each other and ask, “who is that person?” However, thus far we have resisted the temptation to be  drawn back into the farming world. 

How many generations need to go by before we lose track altogether.

For those who want a review of highlights of issues covered by The Archers, here is a link to an article. 

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!