It is Sunday morning and so as usual I’ll tell you what’s been on my mind this week. It was a quiet week and I enjoyed the recent warm weather. It is a little changeable though. I’m back to wearing a sweater today but that’s normal. This is England! I was actually quite cold when I woke up this morning and had to pull a thick quilt onto my bed.
Roe v Wade
There was a sad day this week for the women of the United States of America as Roe v Wade was overturned by Trump’s puppets on the Supreme Court. There was a sad announcement in our House of Commons too when a minister said that the house had the final say on human rights in the UK and not the European Court of Human Rights. Which is better? When citizens complain and ask a court to ensure their rights, should the court be a supreme court of judges politically appointed or a Court of Human Rights with judges from many developed nations like the European Court of Human Rights? The Tories are just like Trump, they want to party on and bulldoze the rights of ordinary people. That particular Minister even had the gall to mention subsidiarity. Subsidiarity means under normal circumstances decisions are taken as close to the people as possible. It is localisation, not centralisation. The Tories talk about levelling up and devolution but centralise power and money in London. Human rights are the exception to subsidiarity. When we put Putin on trial for war crimes do we use a diverse bench of international judges or a Russian court, appointed by him and his cronies?
Energy
A meter reader came to read my smart meter this week. I got the impression the smart meter isn’t as smart as we all thought. Then I had an email, despite rising and extortionate energy bills they are going to lower my direct debit, in fact, nearly halve it in August. It so happens, that is when my fixed tariff runs out. I know what will happen, they will lower it and then increase it by 200% days later. You just can’t make this stuff up!
Petrol
I paid £1.75 a litre for petrol two weeks ago and noticed it was £1.95 last week. I’m not going out much so it isn’t really a problem. My car has a gauge that estimates how much I am using in MPG and always seems to say 99MPG. Why doesn’t it say miles per litre? On average I think it actually does about 10 miles on a litre which is much better than my old car which only did 5 or 6. I drive much slower these days, so I might even squeeze 12 miles or more from a litre on a good run. I actually booked it in for its service and MOT yesterday. My last car was 20 years old when I parted company with it. I hope this car will last as long. The way things are going I’ll probably end up on an electric bike or in an electric wheelchair!
In the summertime
The temperature has struggled up to 17C this morning from a decided chill at 7am when I woke up. I shall go out and look for photo opportunities this afternoon. Sandwell Valley Countryside Park is a favoured place to go. I might venture down there and have a little walk and photograph that bit of countryside. I’ve got a bad leg so I won’t walk far. I’m not even sure if I can walk from the hospital car park to the outpatients’ department next month to get it looked at. Apparently, I don’t need to wear a mask any longer at the hospital, despite the immunity I acquired from vaccination declining and covid infections rising. I’ll employ the usual social distancing, 2 metres for normal people and 3 or 4 for those coughing and sneezing…
A Zillion Ideas 
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