It looks as though the Gaza conflict is now edging towards some sort of resolution. Donald Trump has said Hamas is ready for a ‘lasting peace’ after the Palestinian militants agreed to release all remaining hostages, as he called on Israel to stop bombing Gaza. The US leader was responding to a statement by Hamas on Friday in which the group committed to returning all remaining hostages in Gaza, dead and alive. Hamas also said it wants to engage in negotiations to discuss further details of the president’s peace plan, including handing over ‘administration of the enclave to a Palestinian body of independent technocrats’. Now I am sure there is some way to go yet and there are bound to be some last-minute hitches but the signs are promising so far. Donald Trump has posted that ‘Based on the Statement just issued by Hamas, I believe they are ready for a lasting PEACE. Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the Hostages out safely and quickly! Right now, it is far too dangerous to do that. We are already in discussions on details to be worked out. This is not about Gaza alone, this is about long sought PEACE in the Middle East.’ This was a remarkable statement and represents a huge moment. Neither Mr Trump, nor Joe Biden before him, has ever asked this of Israel before. The American president was telling Israel to stop by standing its military down and to bring this war to an end. Trump is assuming that Hamas have accepted most of the peace plan which it has not but there is no doubt that we are entering an endgame in which there need to be tit-for-tat moves on both sides.
I woke late this morning as the rain storm is continuing to sweep across the country and I suspect that it might change my plans for the day. I am pretty sure that the weather is too inclement for one of our coffee mornings this morning. I think I will probably take the car to get my newspaper and I might pop into the charity shop to purchase the neck-shaped hot water bottle for my Droitwich friend before it is snaffled up by someone else. The evening before last, I had a surprise video call from one of my University of Winchester friends which was very welcome. He had remembered that it was the date of Meg’s birthday and had made a video-call in case I was in need of being cheered up. As I happened, the day passed without a great emotional impact but it was delightful to get the call. We discussed medical matters which unfortunately is all too common at our ages. My friend and I are both living in houses that are somewhat too large for us and so we spent some time discussing what our respective down-sizing plans might be. At the moment, I am just battening down the hatches and preparing to see out the winter before making any other plans. I am hopeful, though, that I might take a short trip to Spain at the start of February to help to pull some of the teeth of the winter.
The morning turned out to be quite a busy one, what with one thing or another. By the morning’s post, I received an invitation from my local council to re-register for my postal vote as I was informed that the legislation had changed and I needed to re-register for another three-year period. In order to comply with this, I needed to put my signature on a sheet of paper and then photograph it. I emailed the photo to myself so that on my computer system I could put the image file sent from my phone by email into a file location that I knew about in my main computer system. Then I went online to complete the form and had to supply address and contact details together with a national insurance number and the uploaded signature file. This all seemed to go well and I received an email informing me that I would know the result once my application had been processed. I just wondered, en passant, how many other seniors would be able to complete this process trouble-free. As I was now late, I went down to Wetherspoons by car, spending a bare 15-20 minutes with my two lots of friends before re-parking the car in a car park at the top end of town. I made a lightning visit to purchase the specialist hot water bottle for my friend and then made my way to the surgery where everyone was being processed in an operation that seemed to be run like a military operation. I was seen by one of the doctors who I know quite well and it might have been her who gave Meg and I our jabs at home, a year ago on her birthday as it happened. I received a flu jab in one arm and a COVD jab in the other and was in and out of the surgery in a few minutes. The doctor made sympathetic enquiries into how I was coping in my newly widowed status and I was able to say to her that it was a case of ‘So far, so good’. Then I called in at Waitrose to pick up my newspaper and one other item and then returned home to have a little rest and then to prepare my lunch of quiche, broccoli and some microwaved tomatoes. Then I settled down to watch ‘Question Time’ broadcast last Thursday evening which I had missed but was coming from Belfast and therefore there were some issues particular to the province and this made the whole programme a little less appealing. I intend to have a fairly quiet afternoon just in case I feel a little under the weather from having received two vaccination jabs, one in each arm and it may be that I experience a little soreness in the morning. The weather has brightened up considerably since the rain storms of the morning and although it is bright, it is still pretty windy. In the late afternoon I shall attend the Saturday evening service in my local church which is part of my new routine by now. Then I expect that after quite a busy day, I may treat myself to an early night unless a good film grabs my attention.