As I sit down to write, the promised blue skies and sunshine have been and gone. It was nice while it lasted. I was going to tell you what time of day it was, but when I looked at my wrist I realised that I didn’t have a watch on. In fact, now I come to think about it, I haven’t worn my watch for nearly two weeks. There is no need to wear a watch when you can check a clock, and I haven’t been far from a clock in the last two weeks.
It’s 13.15 according to the computer, and time, I think, to post. Once the posting is done I can get on with…er…
There isn’t much to do. I know I should be cleaning and organising and writing but it’s hard to motivate myself when I’m enjoying the loafing so much. Normally when I’m on holiday I end up more tired than I would if I was working, having tried to cram in a full week of activity, but this “holiday”, being longer than normal, is giving me time to relax.
I spoke to Number Two Son last night on something called WhatsApp. It’s not very grammatical, but it is, I’m told, free, and it allows voice calls via the Internet. It is a miracle of modern technology and is very much like the old international phone calls we used to make using satellites. You may remember them. They were generally crystal clear, suffered from lag and cost quite a lot. WhatsApp is muffled, breaks up and suffers from lag, but it is free.
He tells me that he is planning on staying in Canada. He still has just over a year left on his visa and is enjoying it, plus he has unemployment pay in Canada, which would not be the case if he returned to the UK. It’s a worry to have him 3,000 miles away at this time, but nice to know he’s enjoying himself.
One interesting bit of news is that the USA seems to be cornering the world market in surgical masks. Reports indicate that the President has banned the export of masks to Mexico and Canada, that the US government intercepted a consignment of masks on its way to Germany and that unidentified Americans bought a consignment of masks destined for France by offering the suppliers more money.
Dig a bit deeper it becomes more interesting. The Germans, it seems, intercepted a cargo of masks that was on its way to Switzerland a couple of weeks ago. And the French government requisitioned an export order of millions of masks being made in France for an NHS.
This seems to be a clear case of pots and kettles, particularly when you read that Germany banned exports of masks before America did, though they now seem to have modified this to allow export to EU countries. It’s a shame we left, isn’t it?
What is strange here is that none of the news is fake, but the way the facts are presented gives a very misleading picture.
Photo by Gustavo Fring on Pexels.com
I just used the free photo function on WP. Do you mean I’ve been taking my own when there are loads out there I can just use? What an idiot…