State of the Nineveh
Sep. 28th, 2022 06:15 pm* There are some A4 home-printed notices on the local high street promoting "RELEVANT EDUCATION for humanity's transition" and an awful lot of small print. This is obviously a cult. Nonetheless, they probably have a greater grasp on reality than the present Conservative government**. Call me naive, but I don't think borrowing etc. to the extent you crash the pound rather than tax energy companies that have even said they're willing to pay, is quite the way to run an economy. It is all too depressing for words, and that's before we even get to international politics.
* The Meeting of Doom that has occupied almost my every working minute for the past three weeks, plus some extra time and then the general tiredness, was held yesterday and went well. Phew! All I have to do now is write the report, and be very, very clear - as are a number of colleagues including senior ones - that we can never do it like this again. And I am absolutely not going to flog myself to get the report done, either. Other things are important, and I can't keep up the pace. I've been fortunate that after an unimpressive August my health more or less held up in September at a level that I could just about handle it, but it was ridiculous.
* Unfortunately, going into work twice last week - and since I had to be there on Wednesday afternoon a leaving do at which the willpower to keep my mask on failed in the face of champagne - meant I spent Sunday playing "teeth or ENT infection?" which resolved, as it always does in the latter. Happily not too bad, but I'm glad that I asked for some mometasome on repeat prescription at the GP last week. It says much that my sinus surgery while not perfect, did have an effect that I'm not on the stuff every day, and it had dropped of the repeat list. It is only a very minor sniffle, but I would prefer not to have it. There is a new an exciting leaflet with the spray that warns against it in cases of TB or nasal herpes.
* I have Friday off! Booked well in advance of the MoD as a reward. It is forecast to rain, but at the moment not until mid-afternoon, so I am planning to go to town and wander around clothes shops and have a sense of what is around at the moment. And then still have a two-day weekend to do things like write or sew or some art or fandom and have time and energy for it. I would like to be able to use my brain in my free time, please. (Also look into radiators and loft insulation, but one can't have everything.)
* We have passed the equinox. It is getting Dark.
* In advance of the Winter of Discontent, I have acquired a new flannel-and-fleece dressing gown from the Lands End sale. It looks like someone skinned a sheep, and is by far the least stylish garment I own, but it is light and warm and I would have been very glad of it on multiple occasions over the past two years. It is for wearing over clothes collapsed on the sofa in the evening, thus keeping my favourite dressing gown for when I actually have nightclothes on. Alas, I can't cosplay anyone in this.
* On a cheerful note (except for the climate change segments), Frozen Planet II is as magnificent as it should be. I am almost tempted to nominate - but not write - it for Yuletide. Last episode we had both "huddling for warmth" and "she makes a gesture of submission". I look forward to polar bears in a Canadian shack.
* I know I've done this before at some point, but it really is great. Have some cheering Magnificent Seven music.
** Except for the ones who are insider trading, of course, who know exactly what they are doing.
* The Meeting of Doom that has occupied almost my every working minute for the past three weeks, plus some extra time and then the general tiredness, was held yesterday and went well. Phew! All I have to do now is write the report, and be very, very clear - as are a number of colleagues including senior ones - that we can never do it like this again. And I am absolutely not going to flog myself to get the report done, either. Other things are important, and I can't keep up the pace. I've been fortunate that after an unimpressive August my health more or less held up in September at a level that I could just about handle it, but it was ridiculous.
* Unfortunately, going into work twice last week - and since I had to be there on Wednesday afternoon a leaving do at which the willpower to keep my mask on failed in the face of champagne - meant I spent Sunday playing "teeth or ENT infection?" which resolved, as it always does in the latter. Happily not too bad, but I'm glad that I asked for some mometasome on repeat prescription at the GP last week. It says much that my sinus surgery while not perfect, did have an effect that I'm not on the stuff every day, and it had dropped of the repeat list. It is only a very minor sniffle, but I would prefer not to have it. There is a new an exciting leaflet with the spray that warns against it in cases of TB or nasal herpes.
* I have Friday off! Booked well in advance of the MoD as a reward. It is forecast to rain, but at the moment not until mid-afternoon, so I am planning to go to town and wander around clothes shops and have a sense of what is around at the moment. And then still have a two-day weekend to do things like write or sew or some art or fandom and have time and energy for it. I would like to be able to use my brain in my free time, please. (Also look into radiators and loft insulation, but one can't have everything.)
* We have passed the equinox. It is getting Dark.
* In advance of the Winter of Discontent, I have acquired a new flannel-and-fleece dressing gown from the Lands End sale. It looks like someone skinned a sheep, and is by far the least stylish garment I own, but it is light and warm and I would have been very glad of it on multiple occasions over the past two years. It is for wearing over clothes collapsed on the sofa in the evening, thus keeping my favourite dressing gown for when I actually have nightclothes on. Alas, I can't cosplay anyone in this.
* On a cheerful note (except for the climate change segments), Frozen Planet II is as magnificent as it should be. I am almost tempted to nominate - but not write - it for Yuletide. Last episode we had both "huddling for warmth" and "she makes a gesture of submission". I look forward to polar bears in a Canadian shack.
* I know I've done this before at some point, but it really is great. Have some cheering Magnificent Seven music.
** Except for the ones who are insider trading, of course, who know exactly what they are doing.