The search for the missing American crew member of the downed fighter jet continues apace but so far without success. Although the Americans are not unaccustomed to losing the occasional aircraft, this is usually as a result of an accident or even ‘friendly fire’ and it is quite rare for an American aircraft to be shot down by hostile fire. Yesterday, the Americans lost not only their fighter jet but a ‘Warthog’ used in the rescue and a couple of helicopters were fired upon and damaged. All of this does rather puncture the Trump claims of complete domination of the skies and points to the fact, disturbing for the Americans, that their aircraft may still be vulnerable to Iranian air defence systems particularly if the latter are of the mobile variety. Trump is keeping tight-lipped over the American losses ad may well be contemplating a way in which he can extricate himself from a mess of his own making whilst claiming complete victory. Meanwhile, there is a part of the American liberal podcast media which is claiming that Trump has lost control of his bowels and they have an incident captured on film in which officials have to usher everybody quickly out of the room. One American specialist  has even gone as far as to suggest that Trump’s dementia is advancing at the rate where he only gives him another 4 months left. Some psychiatrists and reporters have speculated that Trump may have mental health impairments, such as dementia (which his father had) or narcissistic personality disorder. Such claims have prompted discussion about the ethics and applicability of the Goldwater rule, which prohibits mental health professionals from publicly diagnosing or discussing the diagnosis of public figures without their consent and direct examination. However, video is emerging practically every day of Trump either falling asleep or giving vent to random thoughts and non-sequiturs in the middle of his rambling speeches, so it is no wonder that speculation is rife. There are several schools of thought concerning recent sackings, such as Bondi the former Attorney General. One explanation is that Bondi was sacked because of her dismal appearances before Congressional committees where she refused to answer pointed questions. Another line of argument is that Trump sacked her because she failed to pursue his political enemies through the courts with sufficient vigour. A final line of argument is that when things are going badly, Trump will lash out and sack almost anyone so that they and not he can take the blame – certainly, the last explanation fits in with the ‘Narcissistic personality disorder’ from which many would claim that Trump has suffered for years. The investigative psychiatrist Robert J Lifton once explained to us that Trump is a solipsist, as distinct from the narcissist that he is often accused of being. A narcissist, while deeply self-infatuated, nevertheless seeks the approval of others and will occasionally attempt seduction to get what he wants (I think of the French president, Emmanuel Macron). For Trump the solipsist, the only point of reference is himself, so he makes no attempt even at faking interest in other people, since he can’t really see them from his self-centred position. Trump’s absence of external connection is self-evident: his treatment of the ‘other’ – from his own family to his tenants, his political rivals, the victims of the Los Angeles fires or the displaced people of Gaza – displays not only a lack of empathy, but also an emotional blindness. How else could he tease out loud about dating his own daughter, Ivanka? How else could he so cruelly insult former president Biden in his inauguration address, with Biden seated just a short distance away?

The day has turned out to be an interesting one. In the morning I spent a certain amount of time putting the Italian/English lyrics to some of the Mozart arias in my little presentation and I now have only two more to go. In the late morning, I went into town and picked up my newspaper and then went on to my ‘Gifts of Love’ horse sanctuary outlet where I met up with the proprietor and a volunteer and we had a lovely long chat. On my way back to the carpark, I popped into the Salvation Army and saw some trainers of a good make in quite good condition which I picked up for £4.00. The ticket machine in the car park would not accept any of my coins so I got a ‘free’ 30 minute ticket ad explained on it how the machine was malfunctioning thus saving myself £2.50 so on this reckoning I had only paid £1.50 for my trainers and if they last me until the end of the summer, I shall be quite content. When I got home, I cooked myself a meal of pork mince with onions, potato and green beans trying to ensure my protein quota is reasonably high. After lunch (and a rest), as we had a small burst of sunshine,  I got round to cutting the back lawn where the grass seemed incredibly high but it was easy enough to cut. A U3A member of the Classical Music Group and I have been ping-ponging messages to each about getting access to musical tracks and I passed on to him what I hope is useful advice about utilising YouTube but also information on the next U3A trip out to Derbyshire. My Italian friend from down the road gave me a swift telephone call as I had volunteered to take her to church as and when she wanted. It happens that Easter Day is the anniversary of her husband’s death so I am more than happy to take her to the later service  which is held on Sunday morning. Afterwards, I might be able to give her a little view of the rolling photos of Meg’s life to which I can add a sound track supplement of a Handel aria ‘Waft her, angels, through the skies’ so I will take my iPad along with me to church in the morning. It goes without saying that I am looking forward to the next day if only because I can start to indulge in some chocolate tasting again. I know that parents buy Easter eggs for even their (grown up) children but I have noticed that this year, children seem to be doing the same for their parents (myself included) but perhaps this has gone on for years and I haven’t really noticed!

When I awoke yesterday morning, it was to the strains of a Good Friday hymn played a minute or so before the 7.00am news to remind us all that we are well and truly into the Easter period. My U3A trans-Atlantic friend has been designated to read some of the lessons in the many church services and I believe that many of the churches collaborate in a religious procession in which a cross is dragged through the streets of Bromsgrove. For my own part, I looked in the media sections of the Sunday newspaper to discover that Bach’s Matthew Passion is to be broadcast in its entirety from 1.00pm-4.00pm this afternoon  and I shall certainly listen to this in its entirety.  I have started  to think in earnest about the breakfasts I have each morning and decided to follow a recipe to which I had been alerted on the back of a packet of porridge oats. The recipe called for some maple syrup (of which I just happened to have some) to be blended with some plain Greek yogurt and whole milk before a serving of rolled oats is stirred in and then the whole left in the fridge overnight. Then in the morning, I will probably need to add a bit more milk, yogurt and some fruit topping. I sought an explanation for this preparation and this is what I found. Yogurt and oats are left in the fridge overnight to allow the raw oats to fully absorb the liquid, transforming them into a soft, creamy, and pudding-like texture without cooking. This overnight soak makes the oats easier to digest, improves nutrient absorption, and provides a convenient, chilled grab-and-go breakfast. A key reason for the overnight fridge method include obtaining an optimal texture. While they can be soaked for less time, 6-8 hours ensures oats fully absorb the yogurt and milk, resulting in a thick consistency rather than chewy, raw oats. An additional benefit is improved digestion and nutrition as soaking oats in an acidic medium like yogurt helps break down phytic acid, making the oats easier to digest and allowing for better nutrient absorption. So I now I am appraised of the science behind the culinary preparation. Whilst having a brief moment of wakefulness during the night, I started to think how I might add some more protein to each of my breakfast meals. I will certainly have the oats plus yogurt mixture on two days a week and then I return from church on Sunday morning, I generally treat myself to a fried egg accompanying some spaghetti or beans on a slice of toasted sourdough bread. For the other four days, I can now plan variations around the other ingredients I have bought. One day I can have lean chicken breasts perhaps enhanced by some onion and avocado. Another day, I can have some shredded ham and so make myself a traditional ‘ham and eggs’ style of breakfast but I only intend to eat meat like this once per week. On another day, I can have some prawns that I bought and on the fourth day, I shall probably add some cheese to an omelette and that completes a rota for the week. When my son calls around, I shall discuss my ‘healthier’ eating options with him because I know that he and his wife are very well informed about such matters.

The morning has proved to be a quiet one. I popped down to get my newspaper as I know from bitter experience that supplies of things like newspapers can be a little ‘iffy’ on Good Fridays. I arrived back in time for my son’s visit and was delighted to give him the Easer eggs recently purchased for him as well as the ‘spider’ plant for his wife. Whilst my son was here, he did a little cutting job on some material that he was using to enhance his newly installed kitchen units. I had set myself to task of bring my very oldest iPad into use to assess what functionality it had left but my efforts were not really successful but it may be that there are sone videos in place on the use of older iPads which might be of some assistance for me. I made myself a risotto meal with some kippers purchased yesterday and as always, I tend to make enough for two meals rather than one so I now another meal in store for later on. In the late morning, I received some interesting news relating to my joining the U3A Curry club which is due to have an ‘elite’ meal next Wednesday. Initially this was over-subscribed but I was the first  on a waiting list. But I received the news that someone has dropped out so I can now occupy the 20th place on the list next Wednesday. I let the organiser know when accepting the invitation that I had curry once a week since I was a student some 60 years ago although admittedly these tend to be of the home made rather than the restaurant provided variety. The news was broken in the afternoon that the US have lost an F5 fighter plane over Iran and the US has despatched a transport plane and a couple of helicopters in an attempt to locate and rescue the pilot and the navigator. The Iranians are claiming that the fighter jet has been shot down but the Americans have not (and may never) admit that this is the case. There is a massive race on the ground because if the Iranians manage to locate the crew before the Americans, then they can be deployed in a massive propaganda display (quite contrary to the rules of war, of course, but these have been torn up, by both sides for a long time now) The analysis given by the media pundits on Sky News is that Trump would have been warned, over and over again, that if Iran were attacked they would close the Straits of Hormuz, would attack American bases in neighbouring countries and that the loss of aircraft would happen even only accidentally in a conflict situation. There is the possibility that a rescue mission could endanger the rescue crews themselves but it has certainly given the story a new twist. Donald Trump, other senior US officials and their cheerleaders appear to be embracing attacks – and threats of attacks – on Iranian civilian infrastructure, which legal experts say appears to constitute serious war crimes under international law. In a rambling national address on Wednesday, the US president warned that if Iran did not reach an unspecified deal with him, US forces would ‘hit each and every one of their electric-generating plants’ and ‘bring [Iran] back to the Stone Ages – where they belong’. Amnesty International’s senior director of research, advocacy, policy and campaigns, said: ‘Intentionally attacking civilian infrastructure such as power plants is generally prohibited. Even in the limited cases that they qualify as military targets, a party still cannot attack power plants if this may cause disproportionate harm to civilians. Given that such power plants are essential for meeting the basic needs and livelihoods of tens of millions of civilians, attacking them would be disproportionate and thus unlawful under international humanitarian law, and could amount to a war crime.’ 

The evening before last, I tuned into Sky News before drifting off to sleep but found the news dominated by the blast-off the latest American space flight to the moon – the first for half a century. The count down went more or less as planned and the entire mission is planned to be about ten days in total including a fly-by of the ‘other’ side of the moon. To the obvious question which is asked why the Americas are doing this, there appear to be two answers. The first is a really  old-fashioned space race as the Americans feel that they may be under competition from the Chinese (rather than the Russians) A second explanation is that the moon will be regarded as an essential staging post for a planned first visit to Mars (from which astronauts, by the way, will never return) It looks as though the explanation lies in the fact that a three year journey will so weaken bones, muscles and organs including the heart that astronauts, even if their vehicle could bring them back, would not be able to cope with the strains of returning to the earth and would die. So if ever we get humanity to Mars, it looks as though it may be a one way trip for the astronauts involved – in other words a suicide mission. This fact is hardly discussed though by the advocates of space travel. Later on today, I have a little project in mind which is to rethink what I have for breakfast every morning. Knowing that older adults need less protein rather than less as they age, I need to think of breakfasts that push up my protein levels first thing in the morning to avoid muscle wastage. I may start on a diet of Greek yogurt enhanced by nuts and other nutrient rich additions but in the short term maybe a meal of scrambled eggs continuing some salmon pieces might be a good way to start. Last night, I cooked myself a meal of salmon and scrambled eggs on toasted sourdough bread and it might be pure imagination but I think I feel the better for it and certainly slept better. Some of my preliminary investigations are extolling the virtues of oats and Greek yogurt but prepared the evening before and then enhanced at breakfast time with some toppings of fruit but this needs a bit more investigation. I certainly don’t want to spend 30 minutes cooking each morning but I may have to be put a little more thought and effort into food preparation, particularly for breakfast time. When Meg was alive, I did get into the habit of having a cooked breakfast in the mornings but this fell by the wayside as Meg could not eat these any more. The weather is still on the chilly and cloudy side and I am anxious for the weather to improve a little so that I can get on with some outside jobs. Later on today, Tai Chi beckons and I generally bump into some acquaintances with whom I can share a coffee upon its completion.

The day developed into a rather unanticipated direction. After I had partaken of an extensive coffee break and toasted tea-cake, the Tai Chi class having been cancelled, I made my way to Asda in order to try and return a light raincoat I had recently purchased from Amazon but turned out to be about two sizes too small. I have returned items to Amazon  before but this proved to be complicated taking me deep into the depths of a Post Office app where the menu items did not match up with the Amazon instructions. Altogether I struggled for about an hour last night before generating some kind of QR which did not look right. At Asda, the QR code refused to scan so I had to return home and struggle again. This time, eventually got a QR code generated  but it took 40 mins and interaction with an automated query system to get the correct code re-generated. This I did take down to Asda and the parcel is back into the system and also an email telling me my parcel was back into the system and to expect a refund in due course. Whilst I was in Asda, I took the opportunity to buy two reasonable quality chocolate Easter eggs for my son and daughter-in-law. I also took the opportunity to buy some ‘high protein’ things I can utilise to enhance my breakfast each morning. I bought some chicken pieces, ham pieces, prawns, Greek yogurt, blueberries and a special protein rich  drink so now I think I have enough foodstuffs to give myself a healthier breakfast. I lunched on the remains of a curried something I found in the freezer and then in the late afternoon  my hairdresser called around to give me a (delayed) hair cut. I have also ensured that I have the elements in place to give a rolling display of the elements of Meg’s life with the accompaniment of the Handel aria ‘Waft her, Angels, through the skies’ which was played at her funeral and seems to me to be an appropriate soundtrack whilst the photos are displaying.

There is some  breaking news as I write that Trump has sacked his Attorney General, Pam Bondi, for way she handled/mis-handled the release of the Epstein  files by the Department of Justice. Her appearance before Congressional Committees has been disgraceful with a refusal to answer questions directly and instead engaging in the personal abuse of her interrogators. No doubt, the liberal American podcasts that I follow with be replete with details so I shall avidly see what they say later on in the evening. I think that even staunch Republicans were beginning to feel that Bondi was bringing the whole administration into disrepute and there are always those that felt that her days were numbered. The full story of her sacking will no doubt soon be revealed but she is to be replaced by her deputy who is scarcely any better. Meanwhile we have had a sacking on this side of the Atlantic as Reform’s new housing chief has been sacked over his comments about Grenfell Tower fire victims, which survivors and families called ‘deeply dehumanising’ Sir Keir Starmer and opposition parties had called for Simon Dudley to be sacked as Reform’s new housing spokesman after he said the 72 deaths were a ‘tragedy and a failure’ but ‘everyone dies in the end’. This shows political callousness and indifference to the plight of those who lost their lives in the extreme and  am sure that his sacking will be welcomed all round.

The evening before last, there was a very good Simon Scharma programme on the TV from 9.00pm-10.0pm so I watched most of it (until I fell asleep towards the end). It was on the well-worn theme of the consequences of the Black Death which in many ways spelled the end of the old feudal order in that workers on the land were now scarce, could demand a higher price for their scarce labour and thus moved to where the work was – which we now regard as a very modern trend. There is not much to smile at these days but I came across one news item which brought a temporary smile to my lips. Donald Trump had disgracefully demolished much, if not all, of the East Wing of the White House to be replaced by a grotesque and hideous huge ballroom. Donald Trump has voiced outrage after a judge ordered a halt to the construction of his $400m ballroom at the White House. US District Judge Richard Leon granted a preservationist group’s request for a preliminary injunction that temporarily halts the construction project on the site where the East Wing of the White House was demolished. The legal action was brought by the National Trust for Historic Preservation to obtain an order to pause construction until the plan has undergone independent reviews and obtained congressional approval. Whether this judgement is subject to appeal or not is not known but it seems to be one blow for sanity. Donald Trump himself is due to give a ‘major’ speech on the Iran conflict and it looks as though the ground is being prepared for an end to the conflict in Iran within 2-3 weeks. Trump will claim total victory but already it looks as though some key elements of his wish-list will not be fulfilled. It seems quite probable that Iran will retain control of the Straits of Hormuz and, for their part, will be able to claim this as a victory but the situation is confused and changes by the day, if not the hour. Incidentally, it as emerged  that Pete Hegseth, the American ‘Defense’ secretary ordered his financial broker to invest heavily in the stock of arms and munitions manufacturers knowing that as the ‘war’ was announced, the prices of these would soar so this is as plainly corrupt as it is possible to be. I expect that we shall see a pause in war reporting and activities  as the Easter vacation approaches but Israel is itself rampaging through Lebanon. The Israeli Knesset (parliament) recently passed a law indicating that any Palestinian who killed an Israeli would themselves be immediately subject to the death penalty but this would not apply if one Israeli killed another. This is discrimination ‘baked’ into Israeli law and is plainly an assault on democratic values but I doubt whether the legislation will ever be repealed. On the domestic front, I am now keeping up-to-date my U3A (University of the 3rd Age) calendar as I now have three forthcoming events scheduled and I have put these onto a special ‘strip’ style calendar in my living room where it will not get forgotten.

In the morning, I knew that I had a lot to fit in so I ensured that I was ready to leave the house just a tad after 9.00am in the morning to get my weekly shopping done. Then I just dropped the filled bags inside the house and then went off to have my weekly toasted tea cake and coffee in the Methodist Centre. Here I had a pleasant chat with one or two that I have got to know but knew that I needed to get back before my son and daughter-in-law turned up. When I got home, I unpacked the shopping and after my family turned up we had a meal of quiche and some fried leeks. Whilst my family were with me, I consulted with them about the most appropriate iPad to replace my aged model which is now almost nine years old but whose operating system is failing to update. I had already done some preliminary investigations and ascertained for myself that the M4 chip was more than adequate for my needs so I could afford to ignore the later M5 chip used in gaming and heavy computational work. Now the only remaining question is to whether to settle for the 11″ model which is the most popular model size or spent an extra £200 and go for the 13″ model. We conducted some experiments whilst I had my existing 11″ model and my son and his 13″ model and we played the same YouTube clips on each. I was pleasantly surprised  that because of the lower resolution in which YouTube video clips are made available, the display actually looked better on my 11″ model as the images had to be ‘stretched’ a little to fit the 13″ model. So this all makes buying decisions so much the easier when I get round to replacing my iPad but in the meantime there is some rather more urgent plumbing work  to demand my attention. My son and daughter-in-law ten turned their attention  to questions of my diet and whether the meals I was preparing for myself were nutritionally adequate. It is true that over the years I have tried cut back on unnecessary  carbohydrates. At the same time I have been attempting to cut back radically on my consumption of red meat but my family are getting worried that I might not be getting sufficient protein in my diet. I must admit that I had not realised that protein needs go up one the aging process starts in earnest so it probably quite likely that I have been falling quite a long way short of the 80+ grams of protein I need to ingest each day. So my researches  now indicate that eating sufficient protein is  probably very important to me nowadays and there are some of the reasons why. Protein needs generally change as you get older, particularly to address age-related muscle loss, known as sarcopenia. While a general recommendation for adults exists, many researchers and health organisations suggest that older adults, particularly those over 65, may benefit from higher protein intake per kilogram of body weight compared to younger adults to maintain muscle, strength, and mobility.  Protein Needs Change with age in the following three areas. Preventing Muscle Loss: starting around age 40-50, people begin to lose muscle mass. Adequate protein intake helps preserve muscle, strength, and functional capacity. Second, we have Immune System and Healing: as you age, your body may require more protein to support immune function and improve recovery from illness or injury. Finally we have Bone Health in which adequate protein intake is essential for maintaining bone density and strength. So now I have a series of good practical advice to which I will attempt to adhere a constantly  as I can.

The evening before yesterday, I received one of those really heart-warming emails upon the following lines. My ex-University of Winchester colleague, who has invited me to her 65th birthday celebrations in a few weeks time, had visited the pub which is to host her event and they knew that I was one of the gusts and had booked in for the night of the celebrations, the following day happening to be my own birthday. Anyway, at the initiative of the pub, they want to put on a special celebratory birthday menu breakfast for myself and other guests from the day before – they have a Michelin star trained chef who would like to provide the special food (things like ‘Eggs Benedict’ for example) as well as some specially prepared titbits. So, this is something to which to look forward and will help to make the day a little special for me which will be marvellous as on the day before we will collectively take a little time out to celebrate the first anniversary of Meg’s passing. The night before, before I came to bed, I had a quick burst on providing both the Italian and English translations of the Mozart arias which form the substance of my little presentation. Altogether I have five of these to prepare and am not quite half way through the task having prepared the first two and now in the throes of doing quite a long third, being the seduction aria from ‘Don Giovanni’ (included only for the amusing ‘patter’ of the Don himself which I am including in advance of the main aria) This is one of those tasks that I need to do in little chunks when I have a spare half hour or so. Perhaps because I had an early night last night, I actually woke up wide awake at about 3.30 in the morning and was disinclined to get up. So as this is the week before  Easter, I asked the ‘Alexa’ smart speaker I have beside my bed to play a version of Handel’s ‘Messiah’ and the version which came to the fore was Harry Christopher and ‘The Sixteen’ which provided a wonderful rendition whilst I  dozed for the remainder of the night. As the week wears on, I shall look out for a performance of either of the Bach ‘Passions’ (Mathew or John) to which I always think it is appropriate to listen on Good Friday. One of the very vivid memories that I have as a schoolboy was preparing to leave my boarding school just before Easter when I was aged about 13 and I heard in our Music Room the closing chorale of Mathew Passion ‘In tears of grief’ in which  the genius of Bach is manifest in the way in which our sobs are incorporated into the closing cadences of the chorale. I think this is a case of once heard, never forgotten. The day is promising to be quite a busy one socially as my son is calling around after his swim, it is the day that our domestic help performs her weekly miracles and I am meeting a U3A friend for a coffee later in the afternoon.

In the late morning, I went down into town for my weekly Pilates class, picking up a copy of my daily newspaper (the last on!) en route. When the class was finished, I came home and made myself a quick lunch of grated cheese and beetroot on a slice of toasted sourdough bread. Actually, I had precious little time because I needed to back in town by 3.30pm in the afternoon for my coffee appointment. We are both going on the coach trip in about 10 days time and are therefore each wondering whether we need to buy for each of us a really lightweight shower jacket because although the weather forecast is set fair when we visit Scotland, it is probable that we will encounter a light shower even if alighting from the coach and starting a sightseeing tour. We may visit a camping and outdoor clothing specialist shop in the area but it may be that we can purchase what we need online which might both be cheaper and save us the petrol money. I have already seen a light and waterproof jacket which I think will suit my purposes but I need to have a further think about this before I press ahead. The UK is entering a tricky diplomatic period in the few weeks ahead because it has been decided that the King and Queen should visit the USA, despite current difficulties,  in order to help to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence. I can quite understand the calls from various quarters including he Liberal Democrats that this visit should be cancelled in view of the insulting remarks hurled towards Britain by Donald Trump. But I think more long term damage would be done if the visit were to be cancelled- after all 250 year anniversaries do not come along very often. The visit to the USA is timetabled for late April which gives time for the Trump regime to extricate itself from the Iranian mess. The point I am sure that will be made by the British government is that the visit to the USA is to assist the American peoples, of all political persuasions, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the American War of Independence and there are  elements of the ‘special relationship’ (for example, co-operation between the security services) that is still strong and effective and the Trump regime cannot last for ever. When I got home and consulted my emails, I was pleased to see that my application to join the next excursion of the U3A local days out had been accepted and, in late May, we are due to visit Bakewell and Kedleston Hall. Once an event has been advertised than those who have expressed interest are invited to make their payment into a special account and this is assurance that one is well and truly ‘booked’ upon the trip. This seems to be a well tried and trusted system and all one has to do is to turn up in a local car park to be picked up by the coach and transported onwards. So now I have two events to which  to look forward in May, the first being a celebration of a friend’s birthday (and my own the following day) and the second te U3A trip.

A new week is upon us and it looks as though the very cold snap of arctic air that the country has experienced in the last few days might be gradually giving way to some more springlike weather later on during the week. The finer and warmer weather cannot come soon enough as far as I am concerned so that I can get on with some outdoor tidying up in the garden, not to mention the start of the grass cutting season delayed whilst the weather has been so cold. I always like learning new things or tips for everyday living and, this morning whilst I was browsing the news, I came across the following tips from a florist who had been in the business for decades.  Some of her advice I had been following but here it is in full. Generally, if a flower is fully open, it will not last long, but there is no way of knowing for sure how long they will last. There are so many varieties with different vase lives. There are exceptions, of course, to this rule of thumb with hardy varieties such as chrysanthemum. The best way to make flowers last longer is to cut the stems diagonally, place in cool, fresh water, top up the water daily and replace the water every two to three days or so, re-cutting the stems and removing any stems that are past their best. Also, place the flowers out of direct sunlight and away from radiators; the cooler the spot, the better.  We no longer advocate flower food. Our experiments over the years show no improvement in vase life – the steps above are much more important. To cut the stems, you should use a sharp florist scissors or a sharp knife or anything that avoids crushing them. Now most of this advice is sensible except that it would not have occurred to me to keep changing the water and I must admit I have always added the plant food that bought bunches of flowers tend to contain. As the month of April starts to unwind, all kinds of financial consequences will flow at the start of the new financial year. On the positive side, some of our pensions may increase slightly in monetary terms and there may be a slight and very temporary reduction is gas prices. On the other hand, many other utility and other subscriptions tend to rise with the new financial years and it typically happens that any slight apparent increase in one’s income is swiftly wiped out by increases in other bills. For example, my local county Council of Worcestershire is in a dire financial state and has been given special permission by the government  to raise the local rates of 9% which is almost double the average increase of 4.9%, The irony locally is that Worcestershire is led by the Reform party which has found that the statutory responsibility of funding social care for the elderly population as led to unavoidable increases. Rather cynically, central government lets local authorities shoulder the costs and the political opprobrium of rate increases although the funding of care for older people should be a national responsibility even if administered locally.

I was a little late into town this morning but I decided to kill two birds with one stone and pick up my newspaper whilst getting some freshly drawn petrol for the petrol mower. I always buy the highest  grade of fuel (97 RON) hat I can for the mower because I wish to avoid the ethanol in  the more ‘standard’ fuels  which can be as high as 10%. Ethanol can absorb water from the atmosphere and this can to starting and running problems in petrol mowers, so I buy the highest quality fuel I can and also add a special fuel mixture designed to counteract the hygroscopic properties of ethanol if present. Having bought my fuel I returned home and had a quick salad lunch and then surveyed the prospect for the afternoon. The sun came out and although it was a little chilly outside, I decided to give the grass the first cut of the season. This involves some prepping of the mower (oiling the sponge air filter, getting the requisite amount of new oil into the machine, adjusting the blade height for the first cut of the season) However, all of my careful preparations were not in vain as I was absolutely amazed that the mower started at the first pull of the starting cord. In my eight years of mowing with this machine, I don’t recall this ever happening before. After a cut of the green area in front of the houses (approx. 450 square yards), I gave myself a bit of a break and lower the blades one notch to near normal and give a transverse cut i.e. at 90° to the previous one. These days I do not cut the back lawn on the same day as the front lawn in  order to save my energies but that can wait a day or so. It always gives me a great deal of satisfaction to get the first cut of the year under my belt but this is a weekly task from now on and I generally time the first cut around the occasion of my sons birthday but have stayed my hand a little this year as the last few days have been so cold.

I belong to an obscure little organisation called ‘The National Conference of University Professors’ but why most people join this organisation is the for the sale of a meal once a year in the House of Lords generally held in May time. So, the thought crossed my mind but by the time I had taken myself and a companion, paid for the quite expensive lunch, organised train journeys and tax rides across London I calculated that I would not see much change out of £400. Now my very aged iPad is about 8½ years old so I am thinking about replacing it and I suspect that the iPad will give me a lot more pleasure than a day drip to London so this may win out in the end. But I need to work out whether to go for the nearly universal standard 11″ model variant which many commentators is seen as hitting the ‘sweet spot’ between functionality and portability or the 13″ variant. But as both son and daughter-in-law have their own iPad I will take further advice on this.

It is the time of year for the clocks to be put forward by one hour as we enter British Summer Time. Although I went to bed at about 10.30 the evening before, I awoke just after midnight and went to alter all of the house clocks starting in the kitchen. Thos all seemed to go very smoothly on this occasion with no hitches. There are some clocks (like radios) that should have reset themselves automatically and had not at the appointed hour but they had updated themselves when I got up early in the morning. I was quite pleased to learn that I had not been using the correct technique to close down the open aps on my iPad but on consulting the web and running off a document, I have discovered that I should swipe my finger from the bottom of the screen but pause it in the centre for half a second, at which all of the then open tabs will appear as thumbnails and can then be swiped up to be closed completely. My daughter-in-law taught me some of this yesterday but the ‘pause  in the middle of the screen’ was a new technique as far as I was concerned. Although it does not receive much publicity in the UK, the weekend is marked by masses of anti-Trump demonstrations, popularly called ‘No Kings’ (ever since Trump let an image of himself to be propagated across his own media outlets wearing a crown. Tens of thousands of anti-Trump protesters have been attending ‘No Kings’ rallies on Saturday across the US. More than 3,200 events ‌were planned in all 50 states, and organisers hoped it would be the biggest single-day protest in US history. There were rallies in cities including Washington DC, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, as well as further afield in London and Paris, where people demonstrated against the Iran war. Organisers expected nine million people would take part in America this time, after the first two rounds of rallies last June and October attracted five million and seven million respectively. Whether this popular protest will have any real effect is too early to say but when the occasional non-scheduled election does take place, the Democrats seem able to scoop it up. Speaker Mike Johnson is now able to afford just two defections on any party-line vote if all members are present — and in an election year, they seldom are. In the coming weeks, his situation is expected to become worse, whittling down the margin to a single vote. It is the continuation of a dynamic that has plagued House Republicans since President Trump took office in 2025 –  a majority so small that it gives outsize power to any one member who wants to buck the party and it makes governing difficult, if not impossible. Over the course of the weekend, whilst I am out doing my Sunday morning activities, my son and daughter-in-law are packing up their things and leaving the family house in which they have been staying whilst their kitchen was refurbished. I am sure it will give them a lot of pleasure and I know that that some of the available space as been planned to the inch to ensure that certain things will fit where they should. The colour scheme is delightfully subtle and, of course things such as concealed lighting and new splash-backs will make the new kitchen a pleasure in which to prepare meals.

After I had attended the church service in the morning, it was Palm Sunday so as is traditional, we all received a piece of palm folded into the shape of a cross. There was to be no after-service tea and biscuits in the parish hall so whilst in the car I got some funds out of a local ATM, gave the car its ration of petrol, picked up a newspaper and came home to have myself a small cooked breakfast. I knew I would probably go out to a small village near Bromsgrove called Tardebigge where the horses charity were holding their annual Spring fair (or is it ‘fayre’) in the community hall. I went onto the internet to check the exact postcode of the Community hall and was glad I did so as the website informed us that SatNav would give the wrong directions so they gave an alternative set of clear instructions to reach the venue. So in practice by following the instructions this Community Hall had wonderfully ample car parking space and I arrived some 20 minutes after proceedings had opened. I was warmly greeted by the proprietor and the two volunteers with whom I had had coffee the preceding Friday so I as made to feel really welcome. I indulged in some coffee and home made cake and then did a tour of the stalls eventually purchasing several items that I knew would make suitable birthday presents in the future. On one of the stalls, a volunteer had brought along some home-grown plants so after consultation with my daughter-in-law, I purchased a ‘spider’ plant for her. The fair was offering baked potatoes with a variety of fillings so eventually I was persuaded to buy one of these, stuffed with a mixture of coleslaw, baked beans and cottage cheese. This was so huge and filling that  could not actually finish all of it  but in the course of eating this and wandering around the other stalls, I engaged in quite a of conversations with the proprietor and three of the volunteers who I know quite well by now. They were a really friendly and welcoming crowd of people and I was glad that I made the effort to attend and to socialise.  When  got home, there was no need to have any lunch but the whole house felt pretty chilly and I sat and watched the edition of ‘Question Time‘ from last Thursday night. Later in the afternoon there is a good film to be shown on Film 4 which  has been shown quite recently but which I have missed but now is my opportunity to make sure  can view it uninterrupted. I have missed all of the politics programmes that are normally shown earlier on Sunday mornings but no doubt, both of these can be viewed later if the spirit moves me. And I have my copy of the ‘Sunday Times‘ which typically offers some in depth analysis of the week’s news.

The evening before last, I received a pleasant surprise as I has received an email from the trip organiser for U3A to organise a trip to Kedleston Hall and Bakewell in Derbyshire for an amazingly reasonable £20. However one did need an up-to-date National Trust membership to go around the Hall and I went scurrying to my wallet to discover two out-of-date cards and then an up-to-date one. This must have renewed automatically and is one of those occasions when one is glad to have automatic renewal. One emerging problem is that Meg had her own National Trust card and I have not got round yet to informing them of Meg’s demise so I have made a reminder to myself to phone them up on Monday morning to get Meg’s subscription cancelled. I find these trips are quite important to me nowadays and going by coach takes out all of the trouble of navigation and it means there is a coach full of people with whom to interact. The trip is in late May and the system is that you first have to apply to get on the trip[ and, when accepted, go ahead and pay for it. But the Jodrell Bank excursion a few days ago went without a hitch so now there is another excursion to which to look forward. I spent more time than is good for me messing about with audio things for the following reason. Thinking ahead to my little musical presentation in about two weeks time, I wondered whether I might enhance the sound of the speaker in my iPad which are tiny but do quite a good job considering their size. I had in my possession a standalone Bluetooth speaker so I needed to find the right cable for this, charge it up, print off the manual again (fortunately saved and in my ‘manuals’ folder on my desktop) Now I knew I also had a pair of quite powerful little speakers which I had linked year ago onto an old IBM laptop but evidently they need a power supply. This can be provided on a portable basis by a portable power source such as a Power Bank and one of these I had purchased some time ago. I know this worked well with my speakers in the past but I had to work out how to get it charged it up again which meant quite a lot of experimentation with cables of various sizes, some of which looked as though they might fit. Eventually I found one and I have the Power Bank charging up (slowly) but I know it will give me a couple of hours at the very least which will be enough to power the speakers. Whenever I get a new charging cable, I must get into the habit of labelling it up well so it can be matched up exactly – fortunately, the model I had bought in the past gives an electronic display of power actually charged which  seems at first sight to be incredibly useful but I know from what other users have said that these displayed charge levels are often very approximate and often malfunction. But at the end of the morning, I have got the kit more or less assembled together that I know will work and it has given the results that I think I will need in the future. But playing an iPad in large sonorous kitchen with sound that can reflect  off hard surfaces gives a very different result to that found in a living room with a lot of (sound absorbing) soft furnishings.

My son and daughter-in-law left our family home to go and give their own flat a good clean after the installation of their new kitchen and to get some of their pots, pans, crockery and kitchenware into their new resting places. Whilst they were doing this, I picked up a copy of the newspaper and popped into Wetherspoons where I knew that my long standing acquaintance, World  Seasoned Traveller, was occupied having his coffee and consulting his iPhone for photographs. We had a few words and then I proceeded along the High Street popping into the occasional charity shop. Actually I did find a glass butter dish which I wanted to buy (for the storage of cheese) and then happened  across two dog walkers that Meg and I would often see in the park. This couple I know pretty well and the lady hails from Pula in Yugoslavia which I have actually visited on holiday decades ago. I had a quick ‘fish on read’ type lunch and then my son and daughter-in-law turned up, pretty tired after their cleaning activities  and then we are going to be preparing a meal together this evening. My daughter-in-law very slowly and patiently helped me to sort how to make my music website which relies upon links to Youtube will play videoclips without the interruptions of adverts.  I already have a subscription to YouTube but I was not aware how should I access the premium edition of YouTube and then ‘pin’ it so that I could access further links advert free. Some of my problems arose from the fact that one runs tabs in a browser on a desktop but apps in a browser window on an iPad and although the operating systems are similar, they work in subtly different ways. But my daughter-in-law has now pushed me further along a learning curve for which I am very grateful and it means that when I come do my presentations, they should now be advert free. It has been a beautiful afternoon with only a little of a cold breeze but instead of doing outside jobs, I have been dosing myself up with flu and cold remedy to stave off an imminent cold. We are now approaching the start of British Summer Time at which at some ungodly hour in the morning, I need to go round and put all of the clocks forward one hour. Some are easy and some I always have to think about such as how to adjust the clock on our oven which seems to have a mind of its own. I think the time is approaching when we may have a debate about whether we need (DST = Daylight Savings Time) at all. There is now a school of thought that we should put forward our clocks by two hours at this time of year and then stick at that with no further clock changes at all. As so often in these matters, it is a case of the balance of advantages vs. disadvantages but there are times for long established rituals to have had their day and not in tune with modern living conditions.

My next door neighbours have both been in the wars a little as one of them has had a knee replacement and his wife a replaced hip. Consequently, we never quite got round to our Christmas-time get together but our neighbours put together quite a lavish little tea party, which, as it happened, almost coincided to the day with my son’s birthday. So the day before it was excellent to finally have a get-together and I know that my son and daughter-on-law really appreciated this gesture. The installation of the new kitchen in my son and daughter-in-law’s flat seems to be proceeding on schedule and may well be finished by the very end of the week. Meanwhile, though, there is quite a big ‘cleaning up’ job to be done because as units were cut to size and adapted, there was a certain amount of saw-induced fine particles which will have settled everywhere. The one redeeming feature of all of this is that the flat is not very large which means that ultimately the amount of cleaning to be done is limited and will come to a finite end.  I remember from decades ago when Meg and I had our house extended in Leicestershire some forty yeas ago now, Meg and I would come home tired from work and would immediately have to set about cleaning surfaces before we could even start to think about preparing our evening meal. Meanwhile, I am watching the liberal American news podcasts and  in particular, one channel which gives a lot of attention to the health of Donald Trump. According to this podcast, the health of Donald Trump is visibly declining before  our very  eyes. In the last week, we have seen clips of video in which Trump is constantly falling asleep whilst in Cabinet. His frequent outbursts against ‘criminal’ judges (i.e. any judge, anywhere in the US who does not issue a judgment  which backs up the Trump view of the world is immediately labelled ‘criminal’  and that includes some of his nominees on the Supreme Court) There are also signs of some neurological damage to one of his hands and experienced observers seem to be concurring in their view that Trump is exhibiting all of the classic symptoms of a neurological condition such as  dementia. In the Iranian war, he has extended his latest deadline to the Iranians to accept his ‘peace plan’ (unconditional surrender) for a whole ten days which, as it happens, very conveniently excludes the Easter period including  Easter Sunday. This means that Trump can retreat to Mar a Lago over the Easter period  whilst the bombing continues but there is no political process such as negotiating a peace to interrupt the Easter vacation period. After quite a busy last couple of days, I am quite looking forward to some peaceful relaxation over the next day or so and we have the distribution of palms on ‘Palm Sunday’ to which to look forward in my next attendance at church. The weather is unseasonably cold with an arctic blast sweeping over all of the country but we can expect a slow improvement over the next few days. We shall have to wait until next Wednesday until we actually see a burst of anything like spring sunshine.

After we had breakfasted,  made a journey into town picking up some supplies from Waitrose and then popping in, as I normally do at the end of the week, into my ‘Gifts of Love’ horse sanctuary outlet. There I consoled  the proprietor, who I know quite well, on the death of her dearly beloved dog and she has spent most of the week getting over this sad event. One of the regular volunteers was assisting in the shop this morning  and then another of the volunteers came by. Evidently, they all know each quite well so t was not long before the proprietor, two volunteers and myself were sitting around a table having coffee and biscuits and cracking lots of jokes (i.e. not like your normal coffee establishment) This Sunday was going to the their Spring Fair which  is primarily  a money raising event held in the community hall of a nearby village. There were going to be lots of stalls with some selling a wide variety of (home prepared) foodstuffs. I was told that there would be a wide variety of age ranges amongst the volunteers and lots of interesting people with whom to chat so they invited me along  to participate n the activities as I am a long standing patron of their café and have already met with some of their volunteers. I feel well inclined to go along – although tempting to say that a ‘horse sanctuary’ is not necessarily my cup of tea, the opportunity to meet with and to  chat with a lot of the participants and guests is not to be turned down lightly so I will probably go along.

After  we had lunched, my son got a text to say that he fitting of his kitchen was all but complete. So we all decided to go over and have a look at things – my son and daughter-in-law were delighted with the finished product and the fitter/joiner had taken a great deal of care not only with the fitting but occasionally with little adaptations that have to be made as well as more specialist cupboards built from scratch. The joiner had even brought his own wife along so that she could a womanly ‘deep cleaning’ touch to the newly installed units before  the kitchen as a whole was due for a hand-over.  So, the amount of cleaning to be done is now much less than thought and tomorrow my son and his wife can return to their newly enhanced flat and start to re-populate the kitchen with all of normal kitchen pottery, silverware and cooking containers. Last night, I started to watch ‘Question Time’ on the TV but fell asleep towards the end of it.  I shall probably  watch it again on catch-up and then may have an early night before  an early start tomorrow, as I am fighting off a sore throat and cold/’flu symptoms which may have been passed on by fellow family members. So far I have been able to resist these predations of winter but I may have been caught at the very end.  I tend to always carry a supply of flu and cold relief capsules and powders so that I can dose myself up before the symptoms intensify.

A very interesting judgement in a US court emerged late yesterday. The tech giants, Google and Meta were found liable for a woman’s social media addiction in a landmark lawsuit. A jury in Los Angeles found Instagram, which is owned by Meta, and YouTube, which is owned by Google, were responsible for harm caused to the 20-year-old – awarding her $6m in damages. Meta and Google both said they disagree with the verdict and plan to appeal. But it is been seen as a bellwether decision that will inform hundreds more cases against social media companies for creating addictive algorithms. This case has enormous implications for the way in which the social media companies operate and accumulate vast wealth and the judgement strikes at the heart of their algorithms. But it is fascinating that a US jury has found the use of social media to be addictive and potentially harmful to the mental health  of millions of teenagers. Of course, the big tech companies have the ability and the funds to appeal over and over again and no doubt any legal cases may drag on the years. But there are potentially thousands of similar court cases waiting in the pipeline and we may be seeing just the start to a big fight back the power of the large tech giants. Regulatory legislation is being debated in our own House of Commons and Australia has banned the use of mobile phones for under 16’s which is interesting in its own right. To underline this point, the combined market capitalisation of top tech firms—led by Nvidia, Apple, and Microsoft—exceeds $12 trillion, a figure higher than the total GDP of every country except the United States and China. I think this is a case where no individual country can take on the might of the huge giants but one hopes that the combined resources of the EU, including for the purpose of this argument the UK, might be able to exert some influence. The day promised to be an exceptionally busy one today as the shopping will have to be fitted in somewhere and there is Tai Chi, an introductory conversational Spanish U3A course and an audiology appointment to be fitted in somewhere. Days occur like this sometimes when there is a cluster of appointments to be managed somehow. In the Iran war, we now have a very bizarre prospect unfolding. The Iranian foreign minister has been spared after Pakistan warns US no one would be left for talks. Israel has taken Iran’s foreign minister off its list of assassination targets after an intervention by Pakistan, a Pakistani official told Reuters. Abbas Araqchi ‌and parliamentary speaker ​Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf were on the hit-list until Pakistan asked Washington not to kill them, who in turn requested Israel to  ‘back off’, the official said. Araqchi has become an increasingly prominent Iranian political figure since the start of the war and the killing of several top Iranian officials. So we now have the situation in which the assassination of top Iranian officials has been halted so that there are sufficiently political important people remaining with whom to negotiate. As Trump is blowing so hot and cold, it is unclear whether we are on the verge of a peace deal or not as Trump continues to issue blood curdling threats if the Iranians do not agree to his own ‘peace plan'(unconditional surrender) but it is not for nothing that Trump has earned the label ‘Taco’ which is a shorthand for the expression that ‘Trump always chickens out’

Later in the morning, I attended my normal Tai Chi class, although I did miss last week’s session. When the class was over, I indulged in my normal coffee and teacake with some of the regulars before I needed to leave to get my weekly shopping done. Fortunately, it was quite a light week this week about which I was pleased if only because I could quickly get things put away and then a quick lunch prepared. This afternoon was to be the first in our Conversational Spanish and was to be held in a local village community centre. Fortunately, I was able to locate this fairly easily using the SatNav and as I had arrived about 15 minutes early, I assisted the convenor in putting out some tables and chairs so that we could have a good round table discussion. As well as myself there were four other members  in the group. One of these was a teacher of French and Spanish who had been teaching the subjects in schools for about 30 years so she was light years ahead of the rest of us. Then there were two other female members of the group who were very much at a basic level but were trying very hard to understand and to keep up, Finally, there was a quietly spoken physicist whose level of Spanish was about the same as mine. I know my own grammatical constructions leaves quite a lot to be desired not ever having been formally taught the language but the conversation flowed easily enough as the occasion demanded. I had the feeling, tough, that my accent and intonation might have been a tad better than that of the school teacher but it is very early days yet. This time around, we were mainly introducing ourselves but next time we are going to have a more thematic chat about holiday experiences in Spain. The village hall we were in was a bit cavernous and one of the heaters had failed so we rather huddled in our coats but we may try and find a venue, preferably for free, which is a bit more conducive to the needs and budgets of a small group (as we need to raise the cost pf the hire of the hall between us at each session) It could well be that we finish up around the table in the refreshment area of one of our local garden centres where we know there is plenty of parking and it is easy to find. After this meeting had finished, I needed to find my way cross-country for a routine audiology check in our local district hospital and this was fairly routine with nothing much to report. Nonetheless, I was very glad to get this busy day behind me and the U3A groups are small then it is important that the group manages to develop and sustain its own momentum so that everybody will be encouraged to continue to participate. Evidently, even if one or two members drop out then the group may not be able to sustain itself so I suppose it is important that each group member tries to give advice, support, assistance and encouragement to each other.