Today was the day when we were scheduled to have both a flu jab and also an updated COVID jab (one in each arm). We were scheduled to have these in our local surgery and they were all geared up for a mass vaccination event – the nurse who administered the jabs told me that they were anticipating vaccinating 500 people today so I suppose that they were timing people at 2 minute intervals or even less. The vaccinations went smoothly but then our frustrations started. I wanted to get a particular kind of cream for Meg from the pharmacy adjacent to the doctor’s practice. However, we then found out it was closed on a Saturday. Not deterred, we visited the pharmacy across the road only to discover the cream that we wanted they had run out of. So as we were in the car, Meg and I made for the large Morrison’s supermarket knowing that they have a good range of pharmaceutical preparations. But they did not have any of what we wanted in stock so we struck for home, thinking that after all, we would have to order supplies online. Fortunately, we managed to order several tubes of the cream and this ought to be delivered to us shortly. Meg and I had our elevenses at home and then we read the newspaper and watched some of the rolling news programmes until lunchtime. We had a half quiche for lunch, supplementing this with some sprouts (which we finished off in oil) and some carrots (which we always glaze with a little honey) After we had our lunch, the effects of the injections we had had earlier in the morning were starting to manifest themselves and although Meg and I did not feel actively ill, we did both a little ‘off-colour’ and with a headachy and dazed feeling so we decided to both have a doze. However, Meg starting to feel a lot worse so she got herself off to bed and then had a doze/sleep for a couple of hours, afer which she started to feel a smidgeon better. Whilst Meg was asleep, I busied myself with preparing some of our special ‘root vegetables’ soup. Fortunately, last week I had done a lot of the hard work in cutting up my vegetables into little cubes so it was a very easy job to get these parboiled. Then I fried off some little onions which then occupied the base of the soupmaker into which I then poured the vegetables and their water. To this I added a half tin of coconut milk, half a jar of tomato pasta sauce and a big squirt of some low low-fat ‘chipshop curry’ to add just that little touch of piquancy. The whole took about half an hour and then I saved a big jar of it for our domestic help when she calls round next Wednesday. The soup we will probably have at lunchtime tomorrow. As it is Meg’s birthday on Monday, we are treating ourselves to a roast in a local restaurant which we have not frequented for some yers now (after a bad experience) but whose current reputation is riding high. Our meal together with son and dughter-in-law is timed at 4.00 in th afternoon which is not our favourite time, but there we are. So the homemade soup will fill a gap until we eat later on in the afternoon.

The Tories are assembling for their annual conference in Birmingham this weekend. The conference might be quite interesting on this occasion – one expects rows and splits in the Labour Party but here the roles are reversed and there may be a lot of disquiet, if not actual infighting, done at the conference. In general, ministers displike having to attend the conference. If there is such a thing as a middle-of-the-road minister in a Liz Truss administration, then they feel obliged to make a blood curdling speech in which they do not necessariy believe in order to satisfy the delegates who are always to the right of the parliamentary party. One wonders on this occasion when Liz Truss has made such an appalling start to her premiership how the Tory rank-and-file are going to react and whether any of them will exhibit any buyer’s remorse. But in the wider world, some interesting currents are afoot. The Tory party has been absolutely spooked by an opinion poll showing the Labour party some 33 points ahead and were this to hold until the general election (which it won’t), then the Tory party might be reduced to about 3-5 MPs only. Matthew Parris, a liberal ex-Tory MP is writing in today’s Times that the only hope for the Tory Party is to ditch Truss the minute they get back to Westminster, install Rishi Sunak unopposed without an election and then they might have a fighting chance of winning the general election in two years time. It could happen – you read it here first!