Update 26
Question of the day - why can’t the House of Commons put on a nativity play ? Because they can’t find three wise men…… discuss?
I had a conversation with a different GP today (Wednesday) he’s keen for me to smooth out my painkiller consumption. I’ve been taking Paracetamol or Zapain as and when I have a headache. He‘s proposed that I take painkillers regularly every four hours to maintain some sort of steady platform of control. I currently also take a slow release 5mg Morphine dose when I go to bed - this may soon be joined by a similar slow release dose when I wake - 24 hour painkilling. No doubt the tumour is finally making its presence felt.
I had a bad experience on Wednesday night - going upstairs while staying with friends, my legs gave way and I was on unable to hoist myself back up. It was frightening, and my first such incident. After stopping to review the situation, I moved on up shuffling along on my bottom and made it up onto the bed so I could change and prepare for sleep. Happily when I woke later I was able to walk to the loo, but it was all a bit of a shock and a notable change in my condition. Thursday and Friday have been okay, but I’m aware that my legs are losing strength and I’m also aware that I will eventually become immobile. Still as nurse Gillian said to me all those weeks ago: “We’re not there yet Tim” but we are now demonstrably a little bit closer to “there”.
The fact that so many of our political clowns have chosen to stay quiet for the moment, means that there’s not a lot on which I am inspired to comment. Rishi is turning left and right unable decide in which direction he should be facing, our health secretary Steve Barclay appears to be barely awake as the nhs slides into its own death watch and Jacob Rees-Mogg is still trying to remember what he’s done with his new found sovereignty. It’s all a bit non-eventish. I accept that Starmer is now biding his time whilst letting the Tories keep firing the shots into their own feet and digging ever deeper the hole in which they will finally bury what was once the most efficient election winning machine in the country.
In the USA, the Georgia re-run has improved the Democrats’ standing in the Senate so that they no longer need to count on the casting vote of the Vice President - in the House, the GOP’s lead is very thin and therefore vulnerable to the whims of indiosyncratic Republicans. All is not yet lost. Trump may well be the GOP candidate but not a single poll or pundit believes he can win the 2024 election. If he fails again, then the Republican Party may be broken for decades, which can only be good news for the rest of the world.
Two of Santa’s 2022 elves are getting ready for the Christmas rush. Not so much of a rush in fact, we’ve decided to keep it simple and stay at home together with a larder that’s overflowing with goodies, and a cellar that has been filled with carefully chosen juices of the vine that will complement whatever combinations of foodstuffs that we finally settle on. I didn’t expect to still be here, so Christmas 2022 is definitely going to be a bonus for us
BH ©️2021 Susan Brown
Last year I did something I’d always wanted to do. I commissioned Susan Brown, one of my favourite artists, to paint a setting of one of the most symbolic buildings in my life - Broadcasting House, alongside new BH and all Souls. It now hangs in our Cheltenham living room and with Susan’s permission I used it as the front cover of our 2021 Christmas card. As some of you on this distribution will not have seen it, here it is second time around, wishing you a very happy Christmas from us both. I regret to say that I have not got around to designing a new card for Christmas 2022.
