TACO

I woke up at eight to the sound of Owain, first up this morning, was getting ready to go to work at the HMRC office in the city centre. I listened to the news until it was time to take my meds at nine. Despite a relatively good night's sleep I felt unwell, half asleep with a slow brain impairing my memory for most of the morning. Taking the statin at bed time instead of in the morning has made no difference at all. The new clot dispersal meds are having an impact on my digestion and maybe my head too. Although there's been no brain fog, my mental processes are unnaturally slow. I even forgot to say the daily Office this morning It might be fatigue, or a low level response to the combination of meds. 

I wrote a letter to the GP asking for a referral to  the consultant, Dr Tom Hughes describing how I'd been affected by the resumption of the statin, and delivered it to the surgery, on my way to walk for an hour in Llandaff Fields. I went out after a change of trousers and forgot to transfer spare change and keys to the clean ones. Clare was out, but fortunately I was able to retrieve a spare one from our next door neighbour. The day started dry with clouds lifting. Rain returned and persisted until evening. Clean trousers and shoes were soaked by the time I got home.

At Davos, Trump has started to moderate his aggressive coercive tone pressurising NATO allies over Greenland. He's dropped the threat of tariffs and agreed to work in partnership with allies to defend the Arctic circle region from Russian and Chinese challenges. NATO allies are coming to terms with having to increase defence spending under pressure from him. Diplomatic determination by allied nations pushing back against his threats has enabled a compromise to be reached and Trump has changed his tone. He's tagged with the acronym TACO  in social media  - Trump Always Chickens Out.  There really was no need to reach a resolution of this issue so publicly, but he is determined to make himself the centre of attention any way he can. Like the game show host he once was. 

Trump's Board of Peace initiative launched at Davos with World Leaders accepting his invitation to his alternative international agency to the UN. Britain holds back from joining, partly because Putin has accepted and because the government is reviewing the legal ramifications of membership. As one UN official commented, Board members aren't elected or appointed as delegates to represent their country. This is Trump acting as if he's King of the World. No matter how well intended are his stated aims, his attempt at coercive control with American might behind him his recourse to lies and incorrect facts to achieve his objectives sows confusion and division not harmony in the community of nations. 

Since writing the GP letter this morning, I have been unable to find my everyday working specs. I've looked in every room in the house, and found an assortment of specs, mostly driving glasses, no longer suitable for reading and middle distance use. I have just one set left, my 'best' set that needed repairing a few months back as I used them so much that they lost a vital screw, causing a lens to fall out. I've looked everywhere I've been in the house since last using them, but so far no result.

This has not been a good day for me. Is it exhaustion? Is it new and existing meds interacting in a way that leaves me feeling worse not better? It's hard not to feel pessimism about my condition and that of the world. Maybe an early night will help.