Channel 4's Alternative Christmas Message from Deepfake Queen.

Got to be the just about the funniest thing I've seen in quite a loooooooooooong while! 😄

Bless you, ma'am. 

And a very Happy New Year to you all, with heartfelt wishes for a healthy, safe and prosperous 2021. In fact, simply wishing for a better year than 2020 was for you is not too much to hope for, is it? 

"Now don't be frightened. It's only a little prick."

 

"Ooh, matron - take it away!"

Smirks and 'Carry On......' innuendo aside, has anyone else noticed that this year on TV, virtually any mention of Covid on the news has got to be accompanied by long, lingering shots of someone on the receiving end of a jab. Of course, up to now we've always seen brief shots of patients given a pre-injection swab on the upper arm but, as far as I can recall, hardly ever of the needle going in - though now in close-up too - and being held there for several seconds before being withdrawn. It makes me wince seeing it so much now, just about daily, that I have to either look away or change channels. In fact only the other day I changed channels for that very reason from BBC national news to ITV local news and - as you might guess - both sides were simultaneously showing the same procedure. Even Channels 4 and 5 as well as Sky News are doing it now. so that I just want to screeeeeeam!  

I have to get a regular such poke for giving a sample of blood to be checked twice a year for my diabetes [type 2] condition, as well as getting the annual Winter flu jab, plus maybe once or twice more for other reasons, but I just get it done and over with as speedily as I can as there's no alternative. I just start looking away and gritting teeth long before the needle goes in. But it's really no big deal. What I do not need is for my nose to be rubbed in it by constant visual reminders of what it's like. Jeepers creepers, we all know! 

Every time I go for the annual diabetes check with a nurse at the doctor's surgery it's suggested (every flaming time!) that I really ought to do daily self-monitoring of my own blood to check glucose level, which involves pricking the head of the thumb to obtain a small smear of blood which you can measure on a little thingummyjig they provide you with. About 5 years ago I was given all what's needed to do that very thing myself. When it came to it I just could not give myself the required thumb-jab. Surely I can't be alone in this. It's not cowardice - well, okay, maybe it is - but I've always been a haemophobe (as regards other people's blood as well as my own) which was a major reason why I could stay no longer with St John Ambulance after a two-year stint. My phobia was hindering any effectiveness I might have otherwise had.

As for my diabetes, it hasn't caused me any major problems. Maybe just once a month or so I might get a dizzy spell through having low glucose, but that's put right quite easily by chewing on a few glucose tablets. As to how I'm to know if that level is higher than it should be, well I suppose self-monitoring would have revealed it, but not being able to do so I don't know how to tell. However, so far it's not caused any discernible problems.

Anyway, when it comes to Covid, at my present age and with the underlying condition I have, I'm not expecting to have a long wait before being called for my turn to take the jab - and go I shall, with no hesitation, albeit with just a little trepidation and gritted teeth. What I certainly do not need is to be shown on TV what the experience looks like. If their idea is to show how trivial the whole matter is, I can't be unique in it having precisely the opposite effect on me. (D'you hear that, all you TV companies?)

Brrrrrrrrrr! Winter, begone with you!

 Oh, how I do intensely dislike cold weather - and temps haven't even touched zero C yet, though it has been grazed on a couple of nights. No one here in this country has seen any new snow except, perhaps, high on the Scottish mountains. 

My antipathy for Winter is exacerbated by having two large rooms to keep warm, living room and bedroom (plus kitchen, of course) not just for me but for my four co-residents who feel the cold as acutely as, or even more than, I do, despite their being permanently enshrouded in their fur coats. The expense of keeping us all from freezing is a challenge every year - and now, as reliable as ever, come the warnings that this Winter will be the coldest, if not since ever, then for many years past. But we hear this doom-laden prediction year after year around this time though it never turns out to be as bad as that - so far. 

Perfectly aware that I ought to be grateful that I've got a roof over my head - being homeless for just a short while would see the end of me I'm sure. Any thoughts about the depth of suffering of those unfortunate people cuts deep, as it should.  So let's stifle my grumbling - after all, it's just three weeks to go before nights start, even if hardly perceptibly, back to getting shorter. In the meantime, my current mood is - ROLL ON SPRING!!!

Using the word 'liberal' as an insult.

 

In my daily watching of the current American political shenanigans [mostly via YouTube] I find myself partly bemused, partly confused, by the frequent hurling of certain words from one side to the other [I won't say which side to which 'cos there's no need], not just in terms of deprecation, but in the expectation that the person to whom such address is made is going to feel utterly crushed by such an imprecation, something which we Brits - [at least the vast majority of us] would not feel in any way cowed by - and, to give credit to our American 'cousins' who are the targets of such, for the most part neither are they. 

There's a number of such terms being bandied about as though they were 'terms of abuse' and deemed by the attacking side as being sufficiently cutting enough to close down conversation, including, apart from the word 'liberal' itself, 'socialist', 'anti-capitalist', 'politically correct', 'tolerant', 'non-discriminatory' - and, hopelessly off the mark to genuinely apply to 99% of both British and American politicians, 'communist' [of all the terms!]. I, for one, and I'm sure all those of or close to, my persuasions would feel not only unfazed by but actually quite proud to be referred to in these terms - well, perhaps not 'communist' but only because anyone informed enough can see that it's manifestly wide of the mark. 

I bring the subject up because recently in our TV networks' reporting on the recent decisive election result [at least the 'President' part of it] and its needlessly drawn-out aftermath, a number of American politicians from both sides are being invited to give interviews here - and exclusively for the Republicans, their interviews almost invariably descend to 'accusing' the BBC or Channel Four [our most middle-of-the-road channel, some would claim slightly left-of-centre] of being - shock, horror! - a typically 'liberal' or even 'left wing' [!] medium, as though that alone invalidates all questions being asked, the interviewer being expected to deny such an egregious 'slur', which they never do, often while trying to hide the smile on their faces. This happens time and time again. 

To give the British Conservative Party its due, its members do not spit out these and similar words with the name-calling venom that some American Republicans do in accusatory tone. If they are used at all it's in the sense of being non-judgmentally factual. And I've also noticed, by the way, that when an American right-wing politician is suggested as being 'reactionary' or even a 'fascist-sympathiser' they rarely, if ever, wish to disassociate themselves from such words. Interesting.

 But those I'm talking about here, rather than answer a searching question they'll draw out the argument, usually because the answer is too difficult or they don't have one, by throwing in a time-wasting hostile deflection. Can't they just see that such faux-vituperations have zero effect? Exasperating! 

So, to all those to whom I'm referring, pray let me have just one more word..........

Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts Youth Choir - “We All Stand Together”.

Isn't this just MAH-vellously uplifting? For me it's now going to be the 'earwig song' for today and maybe longer, but that's okay. [I actually even liked the original, though right from its release it's been considered 'infra dig' to say so]. 

Happy, happy, HAPPY!!! 

Could TR*MPelthinskin really run again in four years' time?

 

Taking the current most likely Presidential election result as a 'given', I see that some of the current One-Term-President's supporters, that is the less out-and-out crazy ones, are saying that he'll be back to win in 2024 - when, incidentally, he'd be even older than Biden is now. But if he's not already by then in prison, or up to his neck and beyond in litigations, when was the last time an American President, having completed one four year term, lost an election yet remained as party leader [for whichever party], but then came back to win a second four year term? I can't recall it happening in my lifetime - and my memory goes right back to Eisenhower. Would a party want to retain a 'loser' as leader anyway? I only ask because so far I've heard of no one asking the question. Maybe it's premature to even posit such a situation? Just a-wundrin'.

Another b/day come, one more notch.

 

Thurs 15th 4.30 a.m. - the numbers just keep on coming. When will it end? (Not before I'm ready, please). 

Best wishes due to RTG - arteegee.blogspot.com/ - with whom I share this auspicious date - anniversary only, rather than actual d.o.b.. In tally of years accomplished he's a comparative mere stripling.

So, on with the show - 

      "Mumble, mumble, mumble"

And here, on a cat-heavy blog, are new pics of my current co-residents, all snapped this last week-end. (Don't know why I seem to attract only tom-cats. Maybe they want a male homophilic carer who'll always do their bidding?)

In pride of place and, I think, the eldest at going on 15, is Patchie -

He's now past the time when he had the stamina to chase off any 'intruders'. He now suffers other feline presences grumpily, though he does have a particular animosity to one - growling at and even sometimes, attacking, the youngest, Snowball ........

He's a mischievous one, and the least popular among the other three, though he's become very affectionate towards me after an initial wariness, which makes me guess that his previous owners, whoever they were, were not especially nice towards him, maybe with kids who treated him as their toy. He's very conspicuously not been neutered which is rather concerning. arriving here on the very same day as another one, two years ago, suggesting they might have come from the same household, his 'companion' in arrival being Bobby ..........

who bullies Snowball mercilessly, even though it means he tries to run after him, lolloping his excessively fat tummy along as it swings side to side like a bag of washing. Showing who's 'boss', I suppose. One nasty practice he has is to do stinkies in the bath, though not every day. At least from there they can be cleared out and cleaned up with relative ease, much more than if he was doing them on a carpet. The other three do all their business outside, none of them having taken to using the litter trays.

And the final member of the quartet is Blackso (the Second) who's been here just over a year and I reckon has arrived in search of a refuge from an unfriendly home where he's not wanted, his advanced years making him less attractive than a younger cat would be. But he's a sweetie and (usually) appreciative of my hospitality, though moving slowly and sometimes seemingly painfully, perhaps arthritic. He might even be older than Patchie for all I know.........

With these four my constant worry is what can I do with them when I get the notice to move out. Patchie is my only 'official' pet and is the only one I've got registered with a vet, so he's the least problem. But goodness knows what I can do with the other three when I've got to leave this place -  or if one of them gets ill or suffers an injury, the expenses are likely to be well beyond my reach. Every day it's a bigger concern on my mind, and it gets ever moreso by the day.  

Anyway, just look at what I sometimes have to put up with on my bed. And I only wanted to have a daytime cat-nap for myself, not having four more to contend with in such limited space! 

Bobby often sleeps in this position, his tummy being so fat this must be how he's most comfy. 

So there you have my latest update. I hardly dare think what my situation could be like this time next year - if I'm still around, that is. Must say that my health, though not ideal, could be considerably worse, and in several respects is better than that of several blog-pals, nearly all of whom are younger than I am, so shouldn't complain - which I am not. 

Btw: Still haven't been to the cinema since Sept 4th. There has been a small handful of films come and gone which in 'normal' times I might have made the effort to see (most notably, perhaps, being 'The Trial of the Chicago Seven') but being stuck in a tiny auditorium for two to three hours with strangers, albeit masked and seated with 'social distancing', well, the risk is just too high to contemplate. If I should go down with you-know-what, especially if it might entail in extremis an hospital admission, the worry alone about the pussy-cats would be enough to push me over and put paid to any fragile condition I might have for good. But let it never come to that. 

However, cheerio for now - and thanks for reading.