Yesterday I needed to get up bright and early because I had a scheduled diabetic monitoring at the doctors before 9.00am in the morning so it was important that I did not oversleep. The morning was one of those grey and overcast mornings and the forecast was light showers and a breeze throughout the day with the probability that the rain showers would increase throughout the afternoon. I was faintly amused to read in my review of the international news that Donald Trump was losing patience with the Israeli leader, Netanyahu whose continual bombardment of southern and mid Lebanon is threatening the Iran peace talks. Trump is reported to have sworn at the Israeli president calling him ‘f*g crazy’ and informing him that ‘Everyone hates you now’. Iran has indicated that it will put out of the talks if Israel continues to attack Hezbollah in Lebanon and Trump has sort of engineered a promise from both sides that will cease shooting at each other but whether this means that Israel will desist from strikes and a bombing campaign is unclear. However, I did receive some welcome political news overnight courtesy of the liberal American political podcasts. Trump was planning to use a huge slush fund of $2.8bn (actually a more emblematic $1776 million ) to reward the violent insurrectionists who were responsible for invading the Capitol building and causing the death of at least one police officer on Jan 6th 2021. This finally proved too much even for some of the most loyal of the Republicans who indicate that they would not vote for it in Congress and so the measure looks liable to fail. Trump is suffering other reverses as well because his attempt to rename the ‘Kennedy Centre’ to the ‘Trump Centre’ as been ruled as illegal by a federal judge on the grounds that only Congress has the ability to name/rename this facility. The full title of the venue was to be The Donald J Trump and John F Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. Under District Judge Christopher Cooper’s order, the name will revert to the John F Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, as it was christened when it first opened in 1971 in memory of the US president who was assassinated in 1963. Trump has responded by closing the Centre, theoretically for renovations but expressing the desire that it would never re-open. All of this is redolent, of course with the Trump’s narcissism in which he is attempting to rename all kinds of facilities after himself in order to secure his legacy with the American people. The so called ‘ballroom’ (which is actually going to house a secure militarised bunker as well as a hospital) is still being constructed but whether this will be completed remains problematic, particularly after the mid-term elections to be held on 6th November later this year. American political commentators have been talking excitedly about these mid-term elections as all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, plus one-third of the 100 seats in the U.S. Senate are up for a vote. The partisan composition of Congress can have a major influence on what the President can do during his or her term in office. As things stand in the moment, it looks as though the Republicans will almost certainly lose control of the Lower House (the House of Representatives) but the outcome of the results in the Senate seems a bit too close to call.
In the morning, I needed to attend the annual diabetic clinic monitoring and I have been through these tests a few times before.
Whilst I was waiting for my appointment to start, there was a rolling health information display and one item I found interesting was a short clip entitled ‘Rethinking Dementia’ (or similar) This clip highlighted the importance of social interaction of all types and it seems that those who have engaged in multiple social contacts as they age tend to be less likely to develop the disease, so it may well be that in social interaction, there is a neurophysiological effect upon the brain which helps to protect it. I have also just discovered that those who had the herpes virus (which causes cold sores and never goes away) may also be a risk factor. Some American research is even investigating aloe vera and Chinese celery as possible dietary supplements to help slow Alzheimers. In my examination, a blood sample is taken so these results will not be available for a week but in the meantime my blood pressure was taken and it was as near ‘normal’ as could be for someone of my age. This I find absolutely amazing as I have lived with moderately raised blood pressure for years now so it was a pleasant surprise to have these results come back as ‘normal’ Whilst I was at the clinic I made an appointment for next week to discuss the results of my hospital monitoring tests last week. So I went on to collect my newspaper and then exchange news of the week with both my domestic help whose day it was today as well as my son who had called around. On mornings like this, I do not engage in anything over-strenuous as it is my Pilates day and there were only three of us in the class as one of the regulars is off on holiday. Once my Pilates session had been undertaken, we had a short, sharp burst of a shower as I walking back towards the car but I am wondering how wet it will actually make the ground and therefore whether I can complete a weeding job. Upon getting home, I started to prepare some salmon to have as my main meal but I did not want to ‘smell the house out’ with a fishy smell. So I consulted the web and cooked the salmon with a large squirt of lemon juice and some balsamic vinegar and this combination of elements certainly cut down on the fishy smell. I might have overdone it a little, though, as you wouldn’t normally think of adding balsamic vinegar to salmon and I think that I rather overdid it a little – I will know for next time. Surveying the TV programmes for this evening, I see that Simon Scharma is going to look at the role of women in Victorian society, and I always find his ‘History of Britain’ series well written and illustrated and includes perceptive social commentary.