Swiss tragedy

Another cold bright sunny winter's day. I benefited from getting to bed earlier, but only in the sense that I coped better with interrupted sleep, getting up half a dozen times to empty my bladder. I wake up now, eat a banana and drink water before taking my first round of pills, then I don't feel as poorly when I get up for breakfast. Clare made herself lunch early as she had an afternoon hospital appointment which requires her not to eat for several hours before the scan. When I got around to making my lunch at midday, I started to feel light headed and continued to feel poorly after l'd eaten. Then it occurred to me that I may not have drunk enough fluid to replace the amount lost overnight. I didn't feel desperately thirsty and drinking more than a litre of liquid isn't easy if swallowing muscles tend to work spasmodically.

Terrible news of a New Year's Eve fire at a party in a bar in the Swiss Valais ski resort of Crans-Montana killing over forty young people and injuring 115. Hospitals in Italy, France and Switzerland are receiving badly burned patients helicoptered from the site. Identifying victims will take time for forensic teams. Phone videos of the blaze as it spread through the bar ceiling, and attempts to extinguish it have appeared on social media. How could it happen? It's common enough to have lit candles on tables, flares, sparklers and firecrackers used at indoor parties, and if there are flammable festive decorations there's danger. In this case birthday cake sparkler candles were mounted on Champagne bottles People can take risks without realising it. Risk taking is part of the thrill of winter sports. Does this excitement extend to playing with fire indoors as well? Someone holding sparklers up, close to a wooden lattice ceiling in a warm dry environment, a moment's inattention in a crowded place could trigger a blaze with unforeseen tragic consequences. 

Text and email messages from BT arrived to say our new broadband router will be delivered at some time from today onwards. We still have to wait four days for an OpenReach engineer to come and install it. Tracking the delivery was useless. Not even an approximate time within the stated time frame was given. I had to stay in for the delivery as Clare had a hospital appointment. I didn't want to waste an hour's sunshine, so I put a note on our letter box asking that the parcel be left in the blue recycling bag in the front garden. Five minutes later as I was walking away, I had a text message informing me that delivery would take place mid morning tomorrow. 

I walked for an hour until sunset, and on my way home Rachel video called me from Kath's kitchen in Kenilworth. It was lovely to see her and Kath together again. They'll be visiting us tomorrow. She was still on line when Clare returned, slightly radioactive, she said, following a brain scan. Keep away from children for a while, she was told, while the radio isotope in her blood stream passes out of her system. Clare baked a fresh batch of delicious mince pies with her own mincemeat and puff pastry before supper. Another episode of 'Little Drummer Girl' after we'd eaten, then bed.