An overcast day with periods of fine drizzling rain. Although I slept well I woke up again with back pain, as bad as yesterday. I think the mattress on my bed isn't supporting my weight properly when I get out to empty my bladder. The strain of repeating an awkward movement takes its toll on my right buttock and hip joint. I needed a rub with ibuprofen gel to suppress the pain and get mobile. Clare went to town after breakfast in search of a duvet cover for Rachel while I cooked a seafood paella, managing my complaining back as best as I could on my feet, moving about the kitchen. In the end I took an ibuprofen pill as the gel was starting to wear off. I found it hard concentrating on the detail of cooking while moving carefully to avoid making a move that would make things worse. The paella turned out quite well. For dessert we had experimental chocolate ice cream Clare made from the flesh of a Hallowe'en pumpkin with honey, cocoa powder and yogurt.
I sat in my arm chair writing for most of the afternoon, feeling the need to rest my back. I didn't go out and walk until tea time. I exchanged messages with Sara whose parents are celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary this month. She spoke about their reticence to remember growing up in post-war Sweden, having Norwegian relatives. Sweden supplied iron ore to Germany and let Nazi troops transit the country to invade Norway, the price paid for remaining neutral and retaining independence. As well as being a time of hardship it was difficult in other ways, though Sweden's neutrality enabled it to play an important part in saving Scandinavian Jews from extermination and stranded allied servicemen from capture. Her questions about my family's wartime history prompted me to remember stories my mother told me about her experience of life in the mining valleys. It occurred to me that my grandchildren know nothing of this. Perhaps I should share these recollections with them too.
Trump has reacted to criticism about allowing live streaming the firing squad execution of mass murderer Nidal Hassan by reversing his decision. Relations between Trump and Zelensky have deteriorated further with Trump accusing him of destroying Ukraine, a nonsensical idea when Russian ballistic missiles and drones rain down on Kyiv. Zelensky speaks of being betrayed by Trump. Ukraine has resumed striking Russian oil refineries, and Yandex a key Russian search data processing centre, disrupting internet traffic.
Ukraine's innovative use of drone technology and AI in countering Russian aggression reveals an ability to inflict strategic damage to Russia's economy and its war machine. Between four hundred and four hundred and fifty Russian soldiers have died since Ukraine was invaded four and a half years ago with up to one and a half million soldiers wounded or missing. As well as stopping Ukraine from being overwhelmed by Russia's invasion, success in developing military technology makes Ukraine an attractive prospect for future investment in defence industries. Trump's attempts to broker a cease fire and start peace talks have been as unfruitful in North Eastern Europe as they have been in the Middle East.
This afternoon, I took advantage of feeling less painfully stiff to go for a walk in Llandaff Fields as the sun was setting. I needed another rub with ibuprofen gel after supper. Then I watched the last two episodes of 'Black Sands', the content of which could have been compressed into a single episode, as the slow pace of portraying the end of the story, with a lengthy twilight search on a black volcanic sandy beach with dunes added little apart from impatience to get it over with and get to bed.
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