The week took an unexpectedly sombre turn, with the weather echoing the grimness of it all. I think I have filed the disgust with it all in a place in my brain where I keep my other major traumas like my two horrible childbirth stories or Brexit or the times when my heart was broken or coping with a demented parent. That sort of thing.
I was reminded of this post, that I wrote in the wake of the Brexit referendum, and I think many of the same factors apply and many of the consequences will be similar.
Wilful ignorance, apathy, bigotry and billionaires have won this battle. The disgusting, racist, convicted felon in the US won decisively, gaining more than half of all votes. Everyone else has had their say. I have nothing new to add. I only feel sorry for the people who thought they had rights that kept them safe and are now vulnerable to his whims and the fascist, “Christian” ethno-nationalist, misogynist agendas of the people standing at his shoulders.
We fight on, however, because we must. I found myself wondering whether I’d just been lucky to live the first half century of my life in a blip of enlightenment and that we’ve been defaulting to an atavistic dark ages in the last ten years. I am so sad for my children and their mates and who can blame them for not wanting to bring a next generation into this world? Bleak as things may seem right now, we simply can’t, mustn’t, give up hope because that would be letting evil win without much of a fight.
We must move forward. We can’t afford to go back. So here’s a picture of me yesterday, out talking to Bromley residents this time about their problems and priorities, ready to feed that back to my Councillor comrades.
Indeed I’ve done LibDem things for five out of the last seven days, canvassing and delivering, and representing. This morning I found myself in the middle of Croydon Road directing the traffic away from Beckenham War Memorial’s Remembrance Day service. I wasn’t originally scheduled to do this but I found that I rather enjoyed the authority bestowed upon me by a hi viz vest and it was quite pleasant to be pushed forward for a change by two prominent local Conservatives, one of whom burbled around and through the two minutes’ silence. *eyeroll emoji*
Now, I am a big fan of Apple Fitness+, which cleverly gets you to push yourself within your limits so that you feel that you’ve had a good workout but you still want to go back for more.
A happy additional discovery is the music playlists that the trainers use as their workout background music. On Monday I did a treadmill workout with trainer Jamie-Ray, who had curated a Latin playlist. I’m fond of the complexity of Afro-Cuban rhythms and, in solidarity with the Latin artists who, having been called trash by a Trumper, endorsed Kamala, I happily explored Gotan Project. I had never heard Gotan Project before. What can I say? I’m old. I’ve been listening to them all week. Sadly it turns out that 47% of Latino men voted against Kamala, but I’m still hooked on the music, especially in the car.
Here’s Mi Confession.
Wednesday started badly with news that USians had voted for the worst man in their country. It got worse. Taking Fergus training on a Kent farm, I managed to lock him in the car for over three hours. I fell out bigly with my husband during my frantic calls to get someone to come and help. 10C probably did mean that we were unlikely to find a dead dog in the car after three hours, but I could see the windows steaming up and I didn’t care to have a debate on the matter at that point.
Finally this week, I’ve been pondering whether to feed my Christmas cake tonight or to wait another week. Someone told me that it depended how boozy I wanted the cake to be and that’s made up my mind for me. Very.
Until next week, take care, have fun if you can and Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.
G x
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