A peaceful inauguration. A farewell speech. Musical interventions. Rain, snow and flood! Early mornings.

Well, Jo Biden seemed to get himself inaugurated without untoward incident yesterday. 

This may have been in part because the outgoing President Trump lured his supporters away to his leaving party. Instead of politely and quietly going to Biden’s inauguration he flew off to make a speech to his supporters about how much he had done and how he loved them and thanked them and how he would be back one day. Once again it was all about The Donald. He foretold success for his successor, implying that this was largely because his administration had done so much to make great things possible. 

What will he do now? Watch his space seems to be the answer.

But at least they got Biden inaugurated in front of a massive collection of flags. Lady Gaga sang. Jennifer Lopez sang. Even a Republican country singer I’ve never heard of, Garth Brooks, sang. Then apparently there was a Celebrating America TV special after the inauguration, hosted by Tom Hanks and featuring Justin Timberlake, Foo Fighters, Demi Lovato, Jon Bon Jovi, John Legend and the real Bruce Springsteen. 

In the James Taylor Appreciation Group on Facebook some followers expressed surprise that they didn’t see their hero James on the concert as he was supposed to be there. It was all right though; he performed on Sunday evening apparently. 

It’s all part of pointing out that the Democrats can get the best singers to perform for them while Trump failed to get even a Springsteen tribute band to his inauguration. And Elton John was said to be due to sing for him but it seems nobody told Elton about it beforehand and he refused to go as well. The media circus goes on and on and all the bits of it are interconnected.

While all this was going on across the pond, the UK was being drenched by Storm Christophe. It just kept on raining and raining. My daughter sent us a photo of the River Tame overflowing its banks just by the bridge in Delph village. Then on the news came notice of people being evacuated from their homes in Didsbury as the River Mersey was about to burst its banks too - and in a more spectacular way no doubt than the smaller River Tame. 

The reporter was standing in the falling snow. It was snowing in Didsbury?we looked out of the window. It was snowing here too. 

 

My daughter sent photos of snow outside her house in Tameside. 

 

My granddaughter opened her attic bedroom window to look at the snow in Mossley and succeeded in getting snow on her bed! 

Winter, it seems, is back with a vengeance. When I went to bed the road was white. 

 

This morning it’s clear again but there is snow lying on gardens and rooftops. It’s neither raining nor snowing at the moment, 8.30 am, but more of both are forecast for later. We shall see.

I was up bright and early - well, early if not bright. We had ordered some wine, as you do. Delivery was promised today between 7.00am and 9.00am so someone had to be up to accept it. Our delivery instructions had said, “If no answer at the door, leave with the neighbour”, but you can’t have them knocking at your neighbour’s door at 7.00 in the morning.  There really should be a law against deliveries being made before 8.00am. The delivery was eventually made at about 7.45. And the neighbour was up because I saw him heading out to his works van with a cup of coffee in his hand. 

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Out and about in the storm. Inauguration day thoughts. Role models.

I listened to Storm Christophe first thing this morning, if it was indeed Storm Christophe and not just heavy rain beating down on the roof. As storms go it seemed pretty mild but maybe we’ve just got off lightly around here. However, I thought about it and decided that if I was going out in the rain and wind - there is some wind but I’ve known a whole lot worse - then I would rather do so on foot and not on two wheels. On the one hand there was no knowing what state the Donkey Line might be in and besides, on the other hand the bits of my cycle ride on main roads would be more dangerous as speedy drivers notice cyclists less on very wet and dull days.

So I rooted out my waterproof trousers, donned my waterproof jacket and waterproof boots and I was ready to face the world! 

 

Here are a few photos taken close to the viaduct on the way to Uppermill, showing how full the river Tame is at the moment. 

 

But it wasn’t as cold as it has been. That won’t last: snow is forecast!

It’s inauguration day over in the US of A. Let’s hope it goes peacefully for them. Mr Trump has been pardoning people as he leaves office, a very American thing to do. 

On that subject, here’s a bit of Michael Rosen for today:

“Dear Dominic 

I see that Trump has pardoned old Bannon. Pity we don't have that system here. Well,  I suppose whacking some old bastard a peerage is our de facto equivalent. I'll bear you in mind. Missing you.  

Index in surplus flex 

Boris”

And here’s a message from Kamala Harris:-

“I have a message for all the little girls and boys out there who dream of growing up to be superheroes: Superheroes walk among us.

They’re teachers, doctors, scientists, vaccine researchers - and you can grow up to be like them too.”

Good words, Madame Vice President!

There’s been a bit of kerfuffle about Madame Vice President in the media because of a photo that appeared on the cover of Vogue magazine. As a result they’ve redone the issue of the magazine, making a special edition with a new photo. Apparently the original photo was deemed disrespectful. I looked hard at it and could’t work out what was so disrespectful. All I saw was a smart young woman against a pink background. So I read about it. Well, she’s wearing Converse trainers for one thing and she’s “casually dressed” for another.  Some people’s concept of casual is obviously a bit different from mine. What I think it comes down to is that she is not wearing very, very expensive designer clothing and so this belittles her achievement. Yes, she’s done well and is a role model to black girls all over the world but as the daughter of a biologist and an economist she’s hardly a black girl from the project. No, I am not saying anything against her, just reminding myself that to get anywhere in politics these days, in the UK and the US as far as I can see, you need to have had a minimum of privilege in your background. But, yes, she’s a lot less privileged than some and I salute her achievements and wish her well. 

And maybe one day she’ll get to be the first black woman president of the United States. Here’s hoping! Go and show them how to do things, Kamala!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

A storm approaching. Being clumsy. Hiding. Life’s contradictions.

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!

Ways of being out and about.

Another Monday. Rather damp and gloomy but it is January, after all. My snowdrops are just, finally, beginning to poke through the grass in the garden. By the way here’s a link to a snowdrop festival which, like so many things is now going online. Who knew that there were such things as snowdrop festivals. They’ll be having a “day” before we know it. 

In Dobcross snowdrops have been blooming for weeks but they must be a different species to mine, bigger, possibly not native to the area. And maybe that bit of Dobcross has its own microclimate. 

Oh, and the bluebell leaves are already there in the garden. Things are getting ready for spring!

Various well known environmentally-friendly, nature-loving people such as Chris Packham  are writing articles reminding us of the benefits of going for walks even in dull days. 

I love this bit of Chris Packham’s article:

“Every day, I look on to the grass beyond my window and see 150 wood pigeons. Fat grey birds picking their way across the lawn, scoffing acorns. It’s joyous. When I returned from my walk this morning, there was this enormous blast of applause as all these pigeons took to the sky with their wings clapping. Wow. That’s a real winter experience.”

He must have a big garden, that’s all I can say. If there were 150 fat wood pigeons all at the same time in my garden you wouldn’t be able to see the grass!

Another lets-get-people-walking-outdoors article gives us a bit of zen-and-the-art-of-walking advice:-

“Mindful walking.

Being mindful, says Strauss, “just means to be present, focused and aware of your internal and external landscapes in any given moment. When we bring mindfulness into the equation, we take everything up a notch in terms of benefits. We know that mindfulness can slow our heart rate and reduce anxiety and depression.” When we are mindful during exercise, our workout is more effective. One of the easiest ways to “drop into mindfulness” while walking, she says, is to listen to your footsteps. “I like to do a little activity where I breathe in for four steps, hold my breath for about four steps – whatever feels comfortable – and then exhale for four steps,” she says. This takes a little concentration, but it allows you to release the extraneous thoughts in your head and live in the present.”

Personally I might be afraid of tripping over my feet as I count but maybe that’s just me. The advice goes on:-

“Give yourself a mission

Winter is a surprisingly good time of year to practise mindfulness outside, says Strauss: “The fact that the natural world is partly dormant can prompt us to turn our attention inward more. Things tend to come into sharper focus in the outdoors.” It is the perfect season, therefore, to try a “mindful mission”. Once you are “quiet inside” from the breathing exercise outlined earlier, “notice five things in nature you can see, four things you can hear, three things you can feel, two things you can smell and one thing you can taste, although I don’t recommend licking trees or anything. It’s just a way to bring all of your senses into sharp focus.””

Okay! I am not licking any trees or, indeed, tasting anything I collect while out and about. I’m not really mocking these ideas. In fact, I need little encouragement to go out and about and I photograph and collect interesting things en route. My collecting has been much reduced in the wet winter months. At other times of the year I have regularly returned home with wild flowers, which often became the subject of my painted covid chronicle. No doubt this will happen again. It’s mostly photos at present. 

Some people, however, seem to need something more stimulating than a bit of zen walking. I read that police in Swansea came across eight people having party in a shed, complete with bar and issued them with fines. That shed must be in much better nick than ours. Even if there was space for eight people among all the stuff stored in there it’s hardly an inviting place to hang out with friends. My guess is that it’s a bit more like David Cameron’s shed or the one the Guardian columnist Tim Dowling writes from at the weekend. 

Another group of people, about 50 this time, face fines after they got together on Saturday night to race cars round a roundabout in Romford, East London. Those who weren’t actually driving were watching and, horror of horrors, mingling! Such an activity wouldn’t appeal to me even if there were no threat of Coronavirus - I mean racing cars round roundabouts - mingling I can cope with in normal times! 

Mingling will have to wait. I’ll make do with the zen walking for the time being.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Postal services. Moving patients around. Celebrations in difficult times.

Yesterday or the day before I received a birthday card. This is odd as it’s well over a week until my birthday comes around again. The envelope was covered in stickers of flowers and stars and rainbows and such so that even if I had not recognised the writing I knew who had sent it - an old friend of mine who always decorates envelopes for Christmas and birthday cards in that way. She sent the card early, very early, she explained, because she has been having major problems with postal deliveries. All sorts of magazines and things she has on regular subscription from Germany have been arriving very late indeed. 

I knew this already as she has a good moan about it on social media every time it happens. I had rather dismissed it as being an international delivery problem, almost certainly Brexit related. After all, we had had no problems sending parcels to the southern branch of the family or receiving parcels from them. Most of the stuff we have ordered online recently has arrived in reasonable time, despite the suppliers’ warnings that there might be a delay because of high demand at present. In fact, the only delivery that was seriously delayed was a book ordered from Spain. International deliveries! As I said.

However, I have read recently that Royal Mail has a huge backlog of undelivered parcels and sacks of mail. People have been posting more stuff, especially over the Christmas period, because they can’t visit. There have been staff shortages in sorting offices because of Covid. And the whole process is slowed down because of social distancing in the sorting offices themselves. The net result is a great pile of stuff waiting to be sorted and delivered. Let’s hope there is nothing perishable in there.

My friend added a further reason for posting early: she is only venturing beyond her garden gate once a week, or even less frequently if she can manage it, at the moment, busily avoiding germs. It would be annoying to have got to this point only to succumb to the temptation to do a little extra shopping or a trip to the post box and pick up some nasty germs en route!

Frightening reports are coming out of patients having to be transported away from places where the hospitals are becoming overwhelmed. There are places like the Isle of Wight where they just don’t have the facilities as the hospital is too small for the surge that came after Christmas. They were doing quite nicely before people travelled over to spend Christmas in their holiday homes there. Then there’s the London region where they might at a stretch use the Nightingale hospitals but they simply don’t have the staff to cope with the problem. 

In BBC 2’s Newsnight on Friday, an expert was telling the news reporter that the problem is mainly one of staffing. The major shortage is not beds but medical staff to man (or perhaps that should be woman) the wards.

Thinking back to my days working as a sixth firm tutor, I remember students having difficulty getting onto nursing degree courses because there was a shorage of places. A decision had been taken to reduce training places. We ended up recruiting nurses from other countries. Now we have a shortage. 

I know that in hindsight it is easy to sort out out problems but really ... they did know that we were due a major emergency, a pandemic of some sort! We should have been better prepared. Too late to say that now!

It’s a good job we don’t have a presidential inauguration to organise as well! Over in the USA it doesn’t sound as thought their inauguration is going to be very joyful occasion. Everyone will need to be socially distanced and then there is the major problem of being on the lookout for loonies.  There has already been one case of a gun-toting Trump supporter trying to cheat his way into the area where preparations are taking place. I don’t think Joe Biden is going to have an easy or straightforward ride. Interesting times!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Sun seeking. Muddy paths. Enclosures. Mixed messages. Musical vaccinations. And “days”.

Yesterday we decided to take advantage of the sunshine and get some vitamin D by going for a walk up the hill towards Dobcross.

 

As it was so crisp and cold we took the risk of turning off onto  our “forest path” skirting round below Dobcross village. It’s been so wet and muddy that we have been avoiding the path for weeks now. However, there was a chance that the mud would be nicely frozen.

Well, only partially. There were still lots of surprisingly soggy places. Often these were further churned up cyclists. Quite way anyone would choose to cycle that path, even with an all-terrain bike, is beyond me. But this gave me an opportunity to try out my new lightweight walking boots. My old boots have served me well for years and years but their waterproof qualities are seriously suspect and with all the wet weather we have had I have returned home with soggy socks on more than one occasion. So new, supposedly waterproof, boots were called for, ordered, delivered and yesterday given a test drive. They seem to work well, I am pleased to report.

On our various “adventures” up the hill towards Dobcross we have watched a patch of land go up for sale and eventually be sold, around the high point that we call IADH (it’s all down hill). A fine new five-bar gate was erected at one access point, a section of dry stone wall was partially restored and then seemingly abandoned and various piles of stones were gathered. And that was that. The piles of stones have since grown grass. Nothing much ever seemed to be going on, or if it was it was just round the corner of the access pathway and we could not see. 

On odd occasions the gate was left open and we saw vehicles parked there but little sign of any kind of work taking place. This was reasonably reassuring as it implied that nobody was building a huge house there. 

Yesterday on our foray down the forest path we came across a new section of fencing in a place where there has always been open land at the side of the pathway.  It is rather unfriendly fencing with a couple of strands of barbed wire at the top of it. Is this what has been going on when we have seen vehicles at IADH? It’s a possibility.

The fencing does not prevent access to the pathway. You can still get to the Wishing Tree. Nonetheless it looks a little forbidding and the air of open meadow has disappeared. Maybe the owner plans to put animals on his land. I’m pretty sure the land was sold as agricultural rather than any other kind of area. We shall see.

We still had a good walk. At the end of the path we turned up the lane to Dobcross village and headed home once more. As we walked we could see mist of cloud rolling in from the direction of Uppermill. The sun was about to disappear. We made it home before the cloud reached Delph but that was the end of the blue sky once again!

During the night it rained. Copiously! The noise of the rain woke me several times in the night. In fact, the sound of the rain permeated my dreams, weird dreams involving a former student and a lot of heavy rain. All I remember about the former student is that it was her wedding day; the rest of the dream narrative has gone, the way dream narratives do  but the rain remains. When I eventually got up all was quiet so I assumed there was a hiatus in the rainstorm, a good chance for a morning run. In fact the heavy rain had just turned into quiet drizzle! It might be time to start building an ark.

As a matter of fact, an ark might pretty soon be our only means of travel. The much vaunted travel corridors are closed from Monday. Nobody is allowed in from South America. Are we finally going to become an actual island, isolated from the rest of the world? I doubt it.

As regards the Coronavirus, I think the prime minister is trying to reassure us and warn us both at the same time. On the one hand he wants to tell us that we are beating the vaccine (Never Say Die Johnson!) but on the other he wants to remind us that we must remain vigilant. Both these things may well be true; the second one certainly is. Levels of infection might be falling slightly but they remain frighteningly high. Maybe the PM should have been less reassuring at earlier stages! 

But vaccination is under way, although with some odd stories accompanying it. Here is one:-

“Soothing organ music will be played as people over 80 receive Covid jabs in what must be the UK’s most spectacular and historic vaccination centre - Salisbury Cathedral.

Local GPs have invited a group of patients to be vaccinated in the 800-year-old building and the cathedral has organised a programme of music, which will be played on its 19th-century Father Willis organ.

The Very Rev Nicholas Papadopulos, Dean of Salisbury, said the cathedral was delighted to be helping. “We are proud to be playing our part in the life-saving vaccination programme, which offers real hope in these difficult times,” he said.

“Staff of our local NHS and their patients will receive a warm welcome to their cathedral, and we assure them of our constant prayer.””

There we have it: the church as a place of refuge and protection from evil! Will vaccination in a cathedral offer extra protection?

And now for a bit of nonsense. I have been known many times before now to express my amazement at the proliferation of “Days” - National or International ... insert topic or theme of your choice ... Day. There are “days” to suit all tastes.

Well, on an advertising item for Spanish tourism that pops up on social media I came across this little gem:

“Today is International Croquette Day! 😋 To celebrate the one of our favourite tapas, we've taken them for a short tour around #Spain and hidden them in our snaps! 

Can you spot them? 👀

#SpainGastronomy #DiaDeLaCroqueta”

Oh boy! Whatever next!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

A bit of cold sunshine. Post covid people. 21st century shame. Painted stones.

It’s been a lovely sunny day but very cold. There was ice on the millponds first thing but remarkably few slippy places on the pavements. 

Here is Michael Rosen again:-

“Dear Dominic

The advantage of keeping hopeless Gavin on is that it distracts from how hopeless I am. He's wittering on now about how exams are on. Or off. Bit like me saying one day schools are safe and the next that they are vectors of infection.

Convolvulus involvulus

Boris”

And again:

"

“Lo, look where Trump appears in all his pomp

His face orange in hue, provoking mobs 

To play the Samson, pulling down pillars

To put up his power and gloried state."

'All's Well That Ends Really Badly' (William Shakespeare)

Note how Shakespeare used alliteration of 'p' to express contempt in an explosive way. Note his  pun on 'state'. Remember these for your GCSE please.”

It’s good to know that Covid has not slowed Mr Rosen down too much. I was reading an interview with Marianne Faithfull, who says she has huge memory problems, not to mention breathing problems, in the aftermath of three weeks hospitalisation with the virus and then further recovery at home. 

Bring on the vaccination, please!

I suppose things could be worse. Here’s a link to an article about a French woman who, because of some kind of administrative problems in a legal case, was declared officially dead and has been having immense problems proving to her bank, her doctor, all sorts of people, that she is in fact really alive and kicking. It sounds like the stuff of nightmares. 

Presumably, indeed hopefully, she can reinstate all her records. Can Priti Patel do the same with the 150,000 police records that are reported to have gone missing? Hmm!

It’s the 21st century and yet there is a shanty town only 12 kilometres from the centre of Madrid which is suffering from electricity cuts, water shortages, the after-effects of Storm Filomena and, of course, a pandemic! 

It’s the 21st century and yet we have children going hungry in the UK. 

It’s the 21st century and yet we have a jingoistic Rees-Mogg blathering on about how our fish are now British fish and ‘better and happier for it”. How does he know they are happier? Has he done a fishy survey? How can you judge the happiness of a fish? And can they be said to be happy if they end up rotting because they cannot be transported anywhere?

I am still waiting for the great stories of how Brexit has benefitted lots of ordinary people. At present we seem to be getting lots of stories about the problems. And governmental response seems to be largely waffle about “teething problems” and how things will get better. It sounds suspiciously like jam tomorrow, which you can’t put in today’s toast, unfortunately. Oh, my goodness! I am talking in metaphors! I must be hearing too much Boris Johnson. 

Okay! Let’s get back into positive vein. Here’s a link to a story about painted stones.

I first came upon painted pebbles a couple of years ago in a park with my granddaughter, my son’s child. She told me solemnly, as five year-olds can, that this was painted and hidden for people, especially children, to find. Our job was to hide it again in a new place. Which we duly did. Diring the first lockdown painted stones popped up everywhere. Now some people are setting about making them into a permanent monument. Well done!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!