Tuesday January 17th 2023

06:30 I scramble out of bed at this unearthly hour to make Lois and me a cup of tea to enjoy in bed - it's madness but Lois has an appointment with the nurse at our local doctor's surgery at 8:40 am, to discuss her blood pressure readings. And just our luck, the temperature fell to 25F / -4C last night so I'm going to have to clear all the ice off the car windows before we can set off. Damn!

the building that houses our new doctor's surgery

we wait inside in the waiting area for Lois's appointment with the nurse

and our trendy tiger-print masks are off, or at least down, which is a relief!

We're the only people in the waiting area when we arrive, so we are able to dispense with our COVID masks, which is nice! And Lois's blood pressure readings are fine, the nurse says, so that's all good too.

09:00 We drive over to the local B&Q DIY store to get some fixings and fittings, with the idea of making our new-build home a bit more convenient and civilised: things like hooks on the back of bathroom doors so we don't have to just throw our dressing-gowns on the floor when we're taking a shower, i.e. the floor where of course they just get wet etc. It's been madness these last two and a half months!!!! But at least we've survived to tell the tale haha!

we drive over to the local B&Q DIY superstore to buy some

fixtures and fittings - yes, no more wet dressing-gowns for us haha!

It'll be nice to have our bathrobes dry and at least 5 ft above the wet floor when we want to put them on, that's for sure. 

Except when we have guests, of course, when we'll have to hide those bathrobes! Everybody was shocked, about 5 years ago, when Tara Muirsky made world headlines after drying her hands on her host's bathrobe in an effort to avoid the potential germs on the hand-towels - my goodness, what a scare that created after the influential American news web-site Onion News broke the story in 2017 !

INDIO, CA—Noting several distinct patches of damp, matted fibres, houseguest Tara Muirsky scoured her host’s lone bathroom towel for a low-traffic area with which to dry her hands, sources confirmed Monday. According to sources, after thoroughly studying the towel’s front all the way down to the area by the tag, Muirsky explored the reverse side only to find that it too had been moistened by one or more previous bathroom users.

Hopeful that no one had thought to venture beyond the towel’s exposed surfaces, Muirsky then reportedly peered within its inner flaps but discovered to her dismay that, even in that typically unexplored area, there was not a usable portion of dry cloth. At press time, Muirsky had given up and used the sleeve of her host’s bathrobe.

You see what can happen? 

What a crazy world we live in !!!!!!

11:00 We come home with lots of hooks and mirrors, and warm up with a hot cup of coffee.

15:00 A much-needed nap upstairs and we forget all about putting up the all lampshades we bought this morning - damn! Well, there's always tomorrow, isn't there!

19:00 Apart from some lighter stuff we also have a heavy diet of holocaust-related TV  to get through tonight - but then we did have a lazy afternoon, so fair enough! Luckily we just see bits of the hard stuff and then go to bed on something lighter, which is a relief! Never do it the other way round, that's my advice!

Yes, as the blurb states FDR was stymied by the majority isolationist opinion, both in Congress and among the public. Krystallnacht in November 1938 sparked widespread outrage, and Roosevelt withdrew the US's ambassador in Berlin - something no other Western nation did. He could take this step by "executive action", but only Congress could relax the strict quota system that severely limited entry of Jewish refugees. 

FDR had high hopes of a bill in Congress to allow 10,000 Jewish children to enter the country annually, but the bill met stiff opposition and was withdrawn amid fears that it would lead to moves to stop all immigration. Lois and I didn't know that FDR's priority at this time was to work for repeal of the Neutrality Acts, rather than deal with the humanitarian crisis. He foresaw that a repeal of these acts would permit the US eventually to aid countries fighting the Nazis. 

Don't think that Britain was much different, by the way. Although 10,000 Jewish children were admitted (the "Kindertransport" operation) before the declaration of war, Britain still refused to admit the children's parents, so that the poor little mites suddenly found themselves bereft of their families.

Later we watch the start of a documentary about a modern-day Hitler, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, who has turned a blind eye to the killing of, and persecution of, large numbers of the country's Muslims in the name of purging India of as many as possible non-believers in the Hindu pantheon, Shiva and all the rest. Yeah, right, let's all do something horrific, it'll please Shiva ! That makes a lot of sense doesn't it!

It's interesting to me to hear somebody on this programme tonight say that "no country is going to break off relations with India, are they" - I suppose because it's a big country with lots of trading and other relations etc with the rest of the world. It made me think of Hitler's Germany, and how difficult it was for the West to isolate, or take action against, the Nazis.

Nothing changes does it !!!! Still, Shiva must be happy, so I guess it must be all right!

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzz!!!!!