Odds and ends, fury and trivia.

I am still not well, a month after I first came down with that stinking cold. I’m really NOT asking for sympathy, I’m just reporting. 

So, because I woke up still not well I decided I was going to treat myself and do the puzzles first before I looked at the news.  I went to the NYT puzzles page for their free puzzles. I am currently addicted to Connections and Strands, but today I even did Wordle ( which I got bored with and gave up last year.)  After that I turned to a puzzle called Typeshift which I’ve been doing for years. 

Then I read the news, and I wish I hadn't, as it’s bad across the board - domestic and international. First Gaza. Hell has been unleashed again courtesy of the Israelis, and it was reported earlier this week that our esteemed ( 😂 ) leader Starmer is hosting the Israeli foreign minister in Parliament this week. 

On the home front he is going to cut disability benefits, not just to save money but in some sort of moral crusade. These cuts will hit the poorest families hardest, sending yet more children into poverty.  70% of families containing someone with a disability are already going without food, heating and hot showers. And Labour wonders why people in deprived areas are turning to Reform. 

I am thankful every day that I voted Green and not for this cruel Tory government masquerading as a socialist one. Not that my lack of culpability makes anything better.

I have written to my new “Labour” MP who never writes back, unlike his Tory predecessor, and I have signed petitions and I have donated money. I am currently selling the greetings cards from my paintings to raise money for Medical Aid for Palestinians. If postage wasn’t so horrendous I’d be advertising them on here. This is the latest most popular one:

Hey ho, let’s get back to musing about trivia. 

With reference to names and roles in the last post:

After I wrote this I thought of something else which might be relevant. Dave and I have never used the terms sister or brother when talking to our children, by which I mean, we have never said things like “Tell your brother it’s teatime.” I would say “Tell Isaac it’s teatime.” I have heard other parents do the former, but we have always used names not roles. What’s the significance of this? Any suggestions?

(I do sometimes use the word ‘daughter’ on the blog, but that’s because she doesn’t want to be named.)

I’m going to find more puzzles now.