The night before yesterday I awoke feeling a little restless in the middle of the night. So, I popped downstairs, read an article I had run off the web for a minute or so and then settled down on the settee with a blanket over me. I must have been supremely comfortable because I fell asleep within seconds and did not wake up until 5.00am. Then I popped back into my bed upstairs and, with the electric blanket on, spent the last hour and a half of the night upstairs until got up at 6.30 The mornings are definitely decidedly chilly these days and the day before yesterday was very bright and clear and quite a pleasant autumn day once the sun had got up. I heard a weather forecaster say that the air was so clear over the UK that at one point in the UK it was possible to have a view for 40 miles. There is not a lot in prospect apart from my regular Pilates class. After the UK formally gave recognition to Palestine as a state, the move was followed by other important states such as Canada, Australia and France. I am somewhat annoyed by the coverage given to this UK recognition as most of the Main Street Media is taking the view that all that the UK is doing is appeasing its own left wing back benchers rather than the merits of the case and this explanation can hardly hold for the other countries they have followed the UK in recognising Palestine. The key to all of this rests with the Americans who fund and arm Israel and who alone have the power to exact some sport of peace. As the United Nations Assembly is gathering in New York, it looks as though Donald Trump may hold the key to any resolution. Over the next 24 hours in New York, he will meet key Arab and Muslim leaders from the Middle East and Asia to present his latest plan for peace in Gaza. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Indonesia, and Pakistan will all participate in the meeting. Whether anything will come of this is unclear but Trump is fairly desperate to be awarded the Nobel Peace prize and this alone might be his motivation. But more sanguine commentators are not holding of any prospects for peace until elections are held in both Israel and the USA next year at which point crucial power balances may alter. Part of the problem is that the Israeli government only survives because of the support of two really fanatical nationalist members of a minor party who are giving him a majority and without these two players in place, the Israeli government would fall and Netanyahu would be finished. Meanwhile Trump is doing untold damage by giving prominence to a medical report that claims to have found a link between autism and taking paracetamol in early pregnancy. The medical profession as a whole is denying any such link, pointing out that not taking paracetamol could be dangerous to an unborn foetus if the mother was suffering from a rise in temperature that the drug would reduce. But Trump’s MAGA supporters believe that every word he utters is gospel so following Trump’s medical advice could have dire consequences for, as yet unborn, American children.
In the morning, I had a problem which I could have well done without as the slowly draining basin in my en-suite bathroom became a non-draining basin. I did what I could to fix the problem with things like plungers and a more specialist drain unblocking wire (which I keep handy) but without success. I feared that my efforts might make the problem worse rather than better by compacting any residues blocking the drain so decided to abandon my efforts and message our local plumber. Bit he could not come for at least a week so I went on the web and found a firm that specialised unblocking sinks at rates that did not seem extortionate so made contact at them. They were due to call around at about 2.30 in the afternoon but I had to change my plans for the day so I walked down in to town to collect my newspaper and then decided to abandon thoughts of Pilates for the day as I needed to keep myself available within the house. Whilst waiting in for the plumber, I turned my thoughts to my YouTube history because using search terms such as ‘grief’ and ‘relationship’ the YouTube algorithm had locked me into a series of linked videos all across the common theme of ‘how to succeed with women’ To show how this is advertiser driven, one of these was actually sponsored by an organisation selling a Viagra substitute! I did not want my choices littered up with this American rubbish so took the bold step of deleting all of my history (as I could not find a way of deleting individual clips). I did this with a certain amount of trepidation but managed to re-access some of the things important to me (principally some tracks of classical music, some of the American liberal political podcasts castigating the malfeasances of Donald Trump) and so I am now back on an even keel as I can now rely upon the algorithms deployed to only serve me up with material that is cognate to the selections I have already made. The plumber turned up and was helpfulness personified. He had a ‘wet -dry’ vacuum which removed the water that was not draining away and the accumulated ‘gunk’ which had caused the sink to become blocked in the first place. He gave me some very useful tips about what ‘unblocking’ tools to buy and what I should pay for them as well as useful tips and hints about to keep things clear in the first place. So, at the end of the day I was pleased not only to get the problem fixed but also by people who specialised in this rather than your average run-of-the-mill plumber. As soon as this was completed, I went and mowed the back lawn which badly needed a cut and then settled down to process some of my emails and text messages.