We’re all doomed

We’re glued to the Handmaid’s Tale. It’s on Prime. Watching it, if you think about it in the current times, is probably not the best thing for our mental health. I thought it was about a bunch of red-frocked women running a retreat somewhere where they lord it over all men. A sort of nuns do The Midwich Cukoos. Eh. No. Think male dominated, ultra-right wing US (it’s not so hard to do at the moment) mixed with global warming and you have the plot. It is brilliantly filmed and acted, if ever so slightly uncomfortable.

And then … with the short days here and the number of deaths in the UK (10,000 in two weeks), of which we are going to get a substantial rise in the next ten days as Christmas and New Year add to the numbers and before the lockdown kicks in, I fear for all of our safety …

[I’m going to get all dystopian now. Skip this bit if you wish.]

… I don’t just mean in terms of numbers of deaths and illnesses. I mean the wider impact on London, for example, when the hospitals max completely. When the vaccination programme doesn’t run smoothly (an elderly friend of ours had her’s cancelled last week). When the impact of Brexit on food and medicine supplies (there are already many issues at the border) takes its toll. And, eventually, the effect on the whole economy. Our pensions. Inflation. Unemployment. I have a worst case early 70s in my head, with three-day weeks and power cuts, when you paid 17% interest on your mortgage. At that point our parents – who were post war – were reasonably relaxed about it. They had seen much harder times. Our generation, and our children’s? What may they make of it? And would they take to the streets? And would the hard-right, the bully boys, fill the void … they’re pretty much in charge now.

feeling a bit for my kids at the mo. Henry on Bex’s tummy



and Jen … and Cassie

Anyhow, that’s watching too much Handmaid’s Tale for you …

We’ve kept ourselves safe. We’re now walking and running in masks (we both drop our masks when we’re away from people). It’s interesting … we walked to the local fire station a couple of days ago to drop off a secondhand laptop. Any fire station will hold it for https://digilocal.org.uk/ who recondition it and pass it to a schoolchild who needs it for home schooling. If you have a usable machine which you don’t use anymore, please visit the site, it’s really easy and, hopefully, really helpful. Anyway, what was interesting was the number of people wearing masks as they walked. Which is great. One in three, probably. As always, it seems, the people are ahead of the government here. And I do not see why they won’t make masks mandatory outside – every little helps. It’s compulsory in Spain, for example.

I am ranting a bit again, sorry.

Other than that we’ve been following our routine. I’m getting better still at the guitar, and I’m 6/21 chapters into editing book 7 of the Sam Green series. C’s knitting like a trooper and we are both on a bit of a detox regime. My sugar intake over Christmas nudged up Tate & Lyle’s share price, I’m sure.

running in a mask

Stay safe everyone. Please. Not too long before you can have a vaccine.