My piss boiled somewhat as I watched an episode of "Shameless"
this morning. The entire plot hinged on a character being held prisoner in a
hospital ward by the machinations of one crooked member of staff. This was
clearly just not possible in real life, and was pure laziness on the part of
the writers. Fiction only works if it is plausible, and sadly this morning's
episode wasn't.
I had a quick look at the Internet. It turned out there had
been a geo-meet yesterday lunchtime not a mile from work. That had been either
a well-kept secret, or a warning that I should really pay more attention to
what is going on. Bearing in mind the thing was publicised and that I'd had an email about it, I suspect
the latter. It's amazing what you miss if you don't stay alert, as Zaphod
Beeblebrox once remarked.
I set off to work. As I drove up the motorway there was a
mile or so of lorries being held as part of "Operation Brock" as
part of the government's plan to pogger all
cross-channel traffic. I'm not saying the pre-Brexit arrangements
were perfect, but they were certainly streets ahead of what happens these days.
As I drove the pundits on the radio were interviewing
several Israeli citizens about what their government did over the weekend.
Details on what it actually did were rather sparse. Some new laws were brought
in, or some old laws repealed... I don't know. But the attitudes of those being
interviewed spoke volumes. Some didn't like what the government had done and
were furious that they felt that they now lived in a dictatorship rather than a
democracy. Others who were in favour of whatever had happened were furious
about how an anti-democratic fraction were trying to oppose the government.
As the argument went on it became clear that for everyone
being interviewed "democracy" was synonymous with "what I
want", and that electing a government is only a democratic act all the
time that government is doing that which the specific individual in question
wants (and nothing else).
Can't beat "the will of the people", eh?
And then there was an interview with a Labour MP and a (trans)
Lib-Dem councillor about the changes in the Labour Party's official position of
what actually constitutes being a "trans woman". Details about
the official position were sadly lacking, but the general feeling was that in
order to be legally recognised as a woman one should do more than put on a
dress and demand to be called "Brenda". The Labour MP made a
rather good and reasoned case about how easy it is to invade women-only safe
spaces, but sadly the (trans) Lib-Dem councillor wittered on at great
length not really making much sense to me, and then shot herself (?) in
the foot by saying that none of her constituents have the slightest interest in
trans issues.
Don't these two incidents sum up today's world, though? Two
separate and unrelated things about which the specific details are vague (at
best) but still there was no shortage of people willing to go on national
radio to argue about them.
I got to work and had something of a "platelet
clumping" sort of day. I get those; quite possibly more than most.
In between clumps I carried on filling out forms for my
semi-retirement which is now (hopefully) less than seven months away.
And with work worked I came home, and had a little look at
the monthly accounts. They have been a whole lot worse; but (as always)
am I wrong in wanting to have far too much money? I'm hoping that this relative
affluence will continue in seven months' time when the planned semi-retirement
comes. The idea is that retirement will put me on half-wages, but still working
two and a half days each week will leave me on the same money. The trouble is
that being at work stops me squandering. Being away from work for half the week
will (quite probably) give me far too much opportunity to squander.
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