I just realized that I managed to avoid any mention of Trump yesterday. Bit tricky to have worked him in when I was talking about my personal friends and an 81 year old playing Hamlet, I suppose. But, you can’t keep a good man ( or a bad man ) down so let’s get him into the room today and then out again as swiftly as possible.
“ America First “ he says. And to show he means it, he’s bought up the entire world supply of the only vaccine that looks like it might work anytime soon. As for the rest of us, well, not to worry, there is another truckload arriving some time in October. Unless Trump has an option on that too. The fact is, that he might argue he needs it more than anybody else as his policy has led to his country virtually being the only one in the world where the numbers of the Big V and deaths from the Big V keep on rising. As he keeps saying he wants to be the biggest and the best. Well in terms of the Big V he’s certainly done that.
Mind you, I happened to get a glimpse of Joe Biden on breakfast tv this morning. Don’t worry, I wasn’t watching. My wife had it on and I was just leaving the room. It’s my knee-jerk reaction whenever there is a hint of news on the telly ( or anything medical, for that matter… so when the tv involves both news and medical stuff I am heading for the roof and preparing to jump)
I have to say, Joe wasn’t inspiring. I even began to understand why Trump calls him, “ Sleepy Joe. “ He only looked half-awake, though, mind you, it was breakfast television so I cut him some slack. He doesn’t look the sort of guy to be too worried about whatever dirty tactics Trump might use on him. And I am sure he will. We finished watching “ Hillary “ on Sky Documentaries and the vision of this over-weight, threatening figure, prowling behind poor Hillary in the last Presidential Debate, moving into her space, moving across her sight-line, will live long in my nightmares. Come on Joe. Wake up and go get him.
During the excellent recent series “ The Salisbury Poisonings “ there was one scene you might easily have missed if you looked away. There was a cut to an American newscaster describing the event as a “ terrorist “ attack. Now, it was many things. An assassination gone wrong being the most likely. But, the Russians who brought the poison in and tried to kill the former agent with it, were almost certainly not terrorists. I doubt they thought that the repercussions of their clumsy attempt to bump off another Russian ( and by default his daughter ) would have shut down a whole city. Mind you, I doubt that we thought an itsy bitsy virus could have closed down a whole country.
Then, there was the dear old Trumpster claiming that the protestors pulling down statues left, right and centre were also terrorists. The fact is Donald, the guys who flew into the Twin Towers etc were real terrorists and it’s a tad worrying that the President of the USA and a major news station find it hard to distinguish between, on the one hand assassins and on the other protestors, from died in the wool terrorists. Donald a word of advice, You will know one when you actually meet him when you visit Guantanamo Bay if there are any still left there.
Speaking of statues ( again ) when you visit the Deep South you can’t help but notice that all the statues are of Confederacy Generals. There are also Confederate flags flying from roof-tops and in front gardens. Now, when I was at school the American Civil War was my specialist subject. There were ‘O’Levels and ‘A’ Levels and there was also an ‘S’ Level which you could choose to take if you were so minded. I hated all lessons at school except for English and History so when I discovered I just needed to pass those subject to get into King’s College ( I interviewed well ! ) I dropped everything else and volunteered to take an ‘S‘ level paper…. On the subject of the American Civil War. My opening line was “ The American Civil War was one of the bloodiest of the nineteenth century “ . At that point I sneezed and had a nose bleed and entered the only illustrated exam paper in the history of ‘S’ Levels. I actually got a Grade 1 with a top mark in London.
I started off having some sympathy with the boys in grey ( Confederates ) Yes, they were defending slavery, but they seemed to be doing it in a more noble way than the Union mob fighting for emancipation. Their generals seemed more gentlemanly and better educated. I mean, when all was lost they would wrap themselves in a handy Confederate flag and blow their own brains out.
And then I read about Andersonville Prison Camp where they created their very own concentration camp and imprisoned 45,000 Union soldiers in such unspeakable conditions that the Swiss-born Commandant of the camp, Henry Wirz was tried and executed for war crimes after the war. No mention of that from The Trumpster when he seems to defend the values of the Confederacy.
But, let’s turn to more pleasant subjects. Like, my grand-daughter, Cara and teddy bears. There is a long history of adoration of teddies in my family. Not that I was a Teddy Boy, you understand, but I’ve always been a big fan of Winnie the Pooh ( hence the diaries I have mentioned… been scouring the web for a 2021 Winnie the Pooh diary without success ) and Paul slept on his Winnie every night until the poor creature was flat. Sam was more of a Bunny person, but Cara is into bears big time. When she came for lunch last Sunday we couldn’t separate her from the old bear we gave her to play with and she took it home with her.
Now we have a venue for her to visit. For us all to visit. There is a café in Paris which has placed a giant bear on every other seat to ensure social distancing. What a great idea at any time. Can you imagine going to a football match and instead of sitting next to a sweaty, tattooed, foul-mouthed fan with an ear-ring, you find yourself next to a giant teddy bear, maybe even in your own team colours. Love the idea so much, that I can’t top it in today’s blog so am calling it a day here and now.
Stay safe and will see you all tomorrow if we are spared.