At the start of the week Twitter was so full of posts motivated by hate that I decided to close my account. I thought I might suffer from withdrawal symptoms, but none so far. I think Twitter is now doing more harm than good. I had blocked all sorts of vicious posters, but still others appeared, and there is no fun in that. I had joined Blue Sky, thanks to an invite sent me by another kind subscriber that I know from elsewhere, but it was so vacuous, despite making posts myself, and following other people that I ditched that too. So to complete the (un)social media clear out I closed my Mastodon account too.
Earlier this week, was it Monday night I had the most awful vertigo in bed. I had to clutch the sides of the mattress as it seemed like I was going to be thrown off. This dizziness and lightheadedness has continued all week to a lesser degree, including today. It is inconvenient rather than disabling and I can get around using my walking aids quite successfully. According to the NHS website this is either labyrinthitis, or vestibular neuronitis – it always helps if you can put a name to these things, doesn’t it ? – and it should pass off by itself in a few days, a few weeks, or it may go on for years. I leave you with this happy thought.
The amount of junk mail we get is amazing, and it is going up. All this mail has to be printed which means shifting paper about between the paper mills or the ports and the printers, and then more moving and burning of diesel to get it to our letter box. When we receive it we doctor it and it goes in the paper salvage, which means a refuse lorry with a crew of say three men tours all over the local area emptying our blue bins and then taking the stuff to Dumfries for further treatment. Much of this junk mail is from charities who address you by name and then cunningly put your name and address a second time on a payment slip at the back. We remove all names and addresses and shred them, and we pay Council Tax to have the rubbish taken away. Where is there any sense in all that ?
Temperatures were forecast to fall to -2 or -3˚C last night, and indeed, today we are all white. Not alright, but all white.
Burke’s philosophy on representation was famously articulated in his 1774 Speech to the Electors of Bristol, reproduced below.
“I am sorry I cannot conclude without saying a word on a topic touched upon by my worthy colleague. I wish that topic had been passed by at a time when I have so little leisure to discuss it. But since he has thought proper to throw it out, I owe you a clear explanation of my poor sentiments on that subject.
“He tells you that “the topic of instructions has occasioned much altercation and uneasiness in this city;” and he expresses himself (if I understand him rightly) in favour of the coercive authority of such instructions.
“Certainly, gentlemen, it ought to be the happiness and glory of a representative to live in the strictest union, the closest correspondence, and the most unreserved communication with his constituents. Their wishes ought to have great weight with him; their opinion, high respect; their business, unremitted attention. It is his duty to sacrifice his repose, his pleasures, his satisfactions, to theirs; and above all, ever, and in all cases, to prefer their interest to his own. But his unbiased opinion, his mature judgment, his enlightened conscience, he ought not to sacrifice to you, to any man, or to any set of men living. These he does not derive from your pleasure; no, nor from the law and the constitution. They are a trust from Providence, for the abuse of which he is deeply answerable. Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.
“My worthy colleague says, his will ought to be subservient to yours. If that be all, the thing is innocent. If government were a matter of will upon any side, yours, without question, ought to be superior. But government and legislation are matters of reason and judgment, and not of inclination; and what sort of reason is that, in which the determination precedes the discussion; in which one set of men deliberate, and another decide; and where those who form the conclusion are perhaps three hundred miles distant from those who hear the arguments?
“To deliver an opinion, is the right of all men; that of constituents is a weighty and respectable opinion, which a representative ought always to rejoice to hear; and which he ought always most seriously to consider. But authoritative instructions; mandates issued, which the member is bound blindly and implicitly to obey, to vote, and to argue for, though contrary to the clearest conviction of his judgment and conscience, – these are things utterly unknown to the laws of this land, and which arise from a fundamental mistake of the whole order and tenor of our constitution.
“Parliament is not a congress of ambassadors from different and hostile interests; which interests each must maintain, as an agent and advocate, against other agents and advocates; but parliament is a deliberative assembly of one nation, with one interest, that of the whole; where, not local purposes, not local prejudices, ought to guide, but the general good, resulting from the general reason of the whole. You choose a member indeed; but when you have chosen him, he is not member of Bristol, but he is a member of parliament. If the local constituent should have an interest, or should form an hasty opinion, evidently opposite to the real good of the rest of the community, the member for that place ought to be as far, as any other, from any endeavour to give it effect. I beg pardon for saying so much on this subject. I have been unwillingly drawn into it; but I shall ever use a respectful frankness of communication with you. Your faithful friend, your devoted servant, I shall be to the end of my life: a flatterer you do not wish for.”
I republish these two utterances because there is currently an examination in progress of the actions of Government in the early stages of the COVID epidemic – the first months of 2020 – and so far the actions of the then Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and the Cabinet, are not showing up well. The sort of men and women who have made their way into high office in recent years simply do not match up to the qualities of men like Burke or Churchill, and, indeed, seem quite unsuited to the positions they hold and incapable of carrying out the duties and responsibilities that they demand. Quite how we correct this failing is not clear to me, but fairly obviously some sort of examination and selection process to arrive at suitable candidates is necessary. Such procedures have been in pace for many tears for HM Forces and in commerce and industry – but are not apparently required for those who are going to govern us and run the country.
Today I have deleted my Twitter account. Always controversial, it did include quite a number of decent people with whom it was a pleasure to engage. Of late, however, it seems to have become overwhelmed by posts of a hostile and hate filled nature, and one wonders whether these posters are real people, or whether they are devices posting deliberately at the will of their controllers to sow dissension, stir up more hate, and generally promote the destabilisation of our society.
I have just finished “Excellent Women” by Barbara Pym. A while ago I read “Quartet in Autumn”, also by her. Barbara Pym is well thought of in the world of literature . . .
“Barbara Mary Crampton Pym FRSL (2 June 1913 – 11 January 1980) was an English novelist. In the 1950s she published a series of social comedies, of which the best known are Excellent Women (1952) and A Glass of Blessings (1958). In 1977 her career was revived when the critic Lord David Cecil and the poet Philip Larkin both nominated her as the most underrated writer of the century. Her novel Quartet in Autumn (1977) was nominated for the Booker Prize that year, and she was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.” (Wikipedia).
This is what I wrote for Goodreads . . .
Barbara Pym is rated highly as an author, reviews speak of her wit and humour. I read this book right to the end wondering where it was going and finding when I got there that we didn’t seem to be very far from where we started. I have also read “Quartet in Autumn” with much the same result. Barbara Pym obviously has a big fan club, but alas, I do not qualify for admittance.
The extract below is from the Church Times of Friday, 10 November 2023. Each week they put in a piece from a past issue, sometimes of just general interest, sometimes relevant to the season or date. This one is obviously relevant to both season and date. The extract is dated November 9th, 1923 which was a Friday, so the “attractions offered by hotel managers to their guests on Saturday and Sunday next” must be the immediately following, Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th. I think the context is that the writer is reflecting on the consequences of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles which has been regarded by many as a major contributory cause of World War Two because of the attitude of the “victorious powers” to Germany and the terms and conditions laid upon that country together with the expectation of very considerable financial reparations.
“The main result was the Treaty of Versailles, with Germany, which in section 231 laid the guilt for the war on “the aggression of Germany and her allies”. This provision proved humiliating for Germany and set the stage for very high reparations Germany was supposed to pay (it paid only a small portion before reparations ended in 1931).” (Wikipedia).
So, the writer sees the settlement as being unjust and that hopes for a better outcome “were in vain” and he (or she ?) is glad that those who died in the fighting are not alive to see what their sacrifice has brought about.
It seems therefore that Armistice Day has not been without its problems from its earliest days, and it helps to put the ructions of this year into some sort of perspective.
BT and EE have been an “item” for some time past, but now they want us to transfer our business to their new EE set up. And the email screen shot above shows you how they want you to do it. If you suffer from hearing loss and find using the telephone very difficult, you are out in the cold. I could find someone to make the call for me, but having done this in the past I know that the caller gets asked ‘techie’ questions which they cannot understand, and it all get very pear shaped. So, as Mr. Asquith said we, “Wait and see !”
As an addendum to the above read what the RNID have to say about the number of people in the UK suffering from some sort of hearing loss. Bear in mind that “the current population of the United Kingdom is 67,817,292 as of Thursday, November 9, 2023, based on Worldometer elaboration of the latest United Nations data”.
“12 million adults in the UK are deaf or have hearing loss. We can all play our part to be more deaf aware, both at work and in daily life.“
In other words – about 1 in every 5 or 6 people you meet is likely to suffer from sort sort of hearing impairment.
At the risk of being thought a religious nut – not far wrong – I cannot help thinking the passage below is more helpful and uplifting that all the junk we have been subjected to since 1s October about Halloween.
“See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.”
Halloween, despite its really being the Eve of All Hallows seems to me to be summed up as “Beloved, we are the children of American commercial interests now” – except,of course, that those interests have now become world wide.
Summed up, I suppose you could say it translates as “You are good already, but you can become a good deal better”. When you read the revelations coming out of the COVID Enquiry now going on it seems our current lot of Conservative MPs were bad when elected and have got a great deal worse since then.
Went to bed with a mildly sore right shoulder, due, no doubt to yesterday’s injection – but what went in the right side ? I am sure the Nurse said it at the time, but do I remember ? – obviously not. Took some Paracetamol which did not seem to have much effect.
Slept until 10.00 am and got up to see what was happening on the Tesco front . . .
“We’re contacting you with an update about your Tesco grocery order.
We’re sorry to advise that your driver is running late due to a van breakdown. We expect your order to be with you by 18:30.
The best way to get order updates, like if there’s any delays, is by adding a mobile phone number to your delivery address. You can do this by following the steps below: . . . “
The last bit is daft. They know my mobile number and sent me the same message – word for word the same – on my mobile phone. Truly the right hand knoweth not the activities of the left.
Stop Press . . .
The new Microwave has been delivered. The delivery man switched it on and it all lit up, so now we have to read the manual . . . Oh Joy !
And, Tesco now think they will be here twixt 12.00 noon and 4.00 pm.
Update at 1.30 pm . . .
The tension mounts . . .
Tesco arrived at 2.54 pm, but I failed to get a picture as I had intended. We have unloaded all we can to the kitchen. I am now in a state of collapse, but my OH is still on her feet and fighting the intruders. But, with this delivery and a new microwave – what larks !
Get up at 7.30 am, go to local Hospital at 9.30 am and receive Flu and Covid vaccinations from nice Nurse.
Go to local electrical shop and pay for new microwave and small kettle to be delivered after shop closes at 4.00 pm.
Go to Hairdresser at 1.45 pm and both get haircuts – pay using new issue of Visa card using chip and PIN so that card becomes validated for contactless payments.
Discover that local garage that appears to have closed off its petrol pumps has done so because it is going to have a revamp, and not stop selling petrol permanently. Relief !
Fails
Wait around for delivery of new microwave, but nothing appears . . . but – – – – – by bedtime my OH tells me that the delivery being today was never a certainty. There’s a lot of misinformation about these days !
Wait around for Amazon delivery, initially “before 10.00 pm”, then “before 6.00 pm”, finally gets here in the dark at about 6.30 pm.
Put off eating because of expected deliveries so finally get sprouts and chilli con carne sometime after 5.00 pm.
I was quietly dozing over my laptop just after midday when some sixth sense made me look up – and – Lo ! – out of a side window I could see a neighbour’s dormer window roof shredding itself in the breeze. Planks were going everywhere, bendy stuff was curling up and then detaching and blowing away. Just as I was wondering what to do next, a figure appeared in their garden and it was obvious that some had also seen what was happening and was on site.
The worrying thing about this firstly, is that although technically we are being affected by Storm Babet at the moment, here it is having little effect and although we have had a breezy morning it has been no worse than any other breezy days around here.
Secondly, many houses on this estate have extensions in their roof spaces and it is almost universal for the projecting windows to have flat, felt covered roofs. So now, people will be wondering “is ours alright ?”
“There is no wealth but life. Life, including all its powers of love, of joy, and of admiration. That country is the richest which nourishes the greatest numbers of noble and happy human beings; that man is richest, who, having perfected the functions of his own life to the utmost, has also the widest helpful influence, both personal, and by means of his possessions, over the lives of others.”
32.000MILES
ONE FORMER OWNER 
