Meg and I were slightly disconcerted this morning as we had woken up at 6.30am and at 7.00am, I went downstairs to make our early morning cup of tea. But then the doorbell rang and it was a couple of pleasant enough carers who we had not met before who had turned up one hour early. Well, the schedule on their phones had indicated a 7.00am start whereas the spreadsheet with which we had been provided indicated a start at 8.00am. Last night, the carer was scheduled to appear at 8.20 but was half an hour later than this. The upshot of all of this was that one way or another Meg was short of about two and a half hour’s sleep which I am sure her body actually needs. So this morning, we had plenty of time in hand but managed to get down to Waitrose in good time, taking in a feeding of the cat which opportunistically keeps an eye open for our front door and also makes an appearance if he/she feels we are on our way out. We met with three of our normal ‘Tuesday’ crowd friends today and kept each other entertained for an hour. Occasionally, I see other patrons of the cafe shooting glances in our direction whether out of annoyance or curiosity, I cannot say because we always seem to have a lot to say to each other and humour abounds. It was one of those days with brilliant sunshine but I imagine it might have been very cold first thing in the morning because we were all glad that we had put on extra clothing before we went out. When we returned home, we started to prepare lunch which was a simple half of a quiche with some primo cabbage and a peas/carrots mixture parboiled and finished off in the oven (and normally I add a dollop of syrup to this mixture but forgot today) After I consulted the TV schedules for today, I saw that it was the Six Nations Women’s Rugby fixture between England and Ireland starting at 2.15.I calculated that if we had lunch promptly and as the weather was fine, I could probably just squeeze in getting the front communal grass area cut and still be in time for the rugby. I put Meg down to sleep immediately after lunch and when she appeared to be in a deep doze, immediately started on the grass cutting. This normally takes about 40 minutes but I divide it into two twenty minute sessions and half way through each session (i.e. at 10 minute intervals) I need to shoot inside to ensure that Meg is OK and suffering unduly from separation anxiety to which she is prone. I managed to get the lawns cut and the mower cleaned up and put away only missing one minute from the start of the rugby match. To start off, this was quite an enjoyable fixture to watch but the English team were so dominant being several tries up and over thirty points in the lead at half time so the match tended to lose its power of attraction.
In the last day, I have received a couple of emails to which a response is required. Meg’s second cousin has written to give us the date of the funeral of her cousin and this is the best part of three weeks away. We will need to make a trip to the environs of Derby for the actual crematorium and no doubt we can SatNav this to get the precise directions. The funeral is to be held at 11.00am in the morning which gives us good time to get the funeral rites performed and then the traditional funeral bash following on from that. Hopefully, Meg and I should be able to manage that all right and it is always pleasant to see distant relatives, even though it is a sad occasion. It happens to be the day before we are due to go down to meet the same relatives in Cheltenham in any case, providing that the arrangement we have already made still sounds. The second email to which I need to respond was from the Secretary of the Church Parochial Council of which I used to be a member but I needed, with some regret, to relinquish as Meg’s infirmity increased. It was a delightful and touching email and it is always nice to know that one is not forgotten.
The latest Trumpism of which I have become aware is that Trump through his own social media website is attempting to put pressure on the members of the jury who have just been selected, after a long and arduous set of procedures, who are due to pronounce on his guilt or innocence. This has got so severe that the judge in the case is considering whether Trump should be fined for each attempt to make disparaging remarks about members of the jury, the judge, the court proceedings and anybody else even remotely connected with the case who comes within his sights. On this side of ‘the pond’ we observe these court proceedings with a kind of fascinated horror but it looks as thought the trial proper may start next week with opening statements from the prosecution and the defence. Six additional jury members have been selected to act as reserves in case any of the original members drop out. But if Trump is successful and puts all kind of pressure on jury members then it is is always possible that one or two may drop out and then there is a possibility of a mistrial being declared, in which case we have to go through the whole procedure of jury selection all over again. Some of the legal team that have previously advised Trump are of the view that Trump is almost certain to be convicted but if this were to be the case, it looks as though the penalty for a ‘first offender’ might be a fine and community service rather than a period of imprisonment.
© Mike Hart [2024]