Clare was up early cooking breakfast pancakes, then returned to bed and fell soundly asleep again. So we both got up later than usual. I seem to be benefiting from an extra hour's sleep at the moment with some unexpected improvement in the condition of the wound, after a few painful instances of setback lately. I think these were a to do with how I habitually dress the wound. Minute physical changes for the better have led to the suture moving differently, almost without notice until there's a sudden sharp pain. This seem to happen when muscles relax in sleep or when I sit for too long without changing position. It's a matter of staying alert to changes for better or for worse.
I guess we're all used to living with a certain amount of discomfort in different ways, but sometimes, tolerating discomfort for too long gives rises to unnecessary pain. For pain, substitute injustice, white lies, exaggerations, deceits. There's a point at which good humoured indulgent tolerance starts to become toxic indifference - there's a lesson for life here.
There was a cold easterly wind when I walked in the park this afternoon, so cold that I thought of turning back as it drained the heat from me no matter how hard I walked. Then I remembered my lightweight rain trousers, and put them on. Just one thin layer on my legs made enough difference to enable me to keep going. That's worth remembering another time when it's three degrees but feels sub-zero.
Having previously watched the final two episodes of "Spiral / Engrenages' on iPlayer, and with nothing else on of interest, I turned to one of the Scandi-noir crimmie sets on More Four Walter Presents called 'Monster', set up in the Norwegian Arctic Circle, just like the Swedish 'Rebecka Martenson' series. More spectacular barren landscapes of plains, lakes, seashores, distant mountains, again using drone footage to give a sense of scale and emptiness. This series also features a northern girl who joins the police, goes south, breaks up with her partner and then returns to a temporary detective posting in her home town, then a string of weird murders, mostly interconnected. Just a tad bizarre this coincidence.
It's interesting is to listen to dialogue in Norwegian, which sounds differently from Swedish with which it has much in common, but seems to have more words recognisably in common with English. Norway the North East of England, Scotland and the Hebrides have a lot in common from ancient times, so it's nice to hear that in the language.
British, Irish, Ulster Republican and Unionist political leaders have shown a rare degree of unanimity in voicing concern over the threat to the Good Friday peace agreement made by the European Commission over vaccine distribution. It has led to an official withdrawal of the threat made by the Commission. It looks as if some individual or group has reacted without awareness of the bigger picture, the complexity of transnational vaccine production. Could this have happened because the upward consultation process has been subverted by journalists being briefed before a policy has been agreed, and then leaking ahead of time?
It has happened often in Britain under Boris Johnston's shambolic regime, ministers announcing drafted policies not yet vetted for feasibility by civil servants and causing chaos as front-line workers find out about changes in their organisations by press release. In a world of 24/7 news, there's no pause to reflect, too much of a tendency for everyone to rush to judgement, for lies and disinformation to creep in - all because of the perpetual competition to be first with breaking news. It's unhealthy collusion in power games, rather than measured sensible collaboration for the common good. It does no service to the truth that sets us free.
No comments:
Post a Comment