A week to forget!

 And what a week it has been. I am not too sure where to begin but wherever I start, my ire knows no bounds. My right heel that was operated on on February 4th is perfectly - almost perfectly good. This is wonderful news and well ahead of schedule. I am proud of my right heel. It is giving me a new lease of life. However, the more I move around on my feet, the more my left heel gives me grief. I had an MRI on it on April 4th. I am still awaiting an appointment to see the outcome of that scan. 

The NHS cancelled my appointment once again and now my new appointment is on January 6th, 2026. Surely the results of the scan won't mean much if I have to wait that long. I know this is not personal. It is symptomatic of a failed system. Meanwhile the government has caved in over disability payments that are bankrupting the country. Surely, if the NHS was more effective, fewer people would need financial support to keep them moving. I am not saying that people shouldn't get the benefits, I just think that their lives have been reduced through poor health care. 

Added to the low level of care, the police aren't doing much of a job either. As you know I volunteer at a Community Orchard. It is a lovely haven and much appreciated by the town community. Each year we put on three events to raise money to keep the orchard ticking over. Our upcoming event on July 12th won't be going ahead as our new gazebos and generator have been stolen. It is taking almost as much time cancelling everything as it would have done had we gone ahead and we won't be getting any income from our efforts.

All this has come at a time when we are sorting an application for a grant for another shed that has been broken into, damaged, and the contents of that shed also stolen. We need surveillance and we need the police to give a bit more support. This is the country I came back to because it is my home. I don't feel proud of my country. It is truly third rate and third world. I am disappointed. I do have a manifesto for when I take over in a peaceful coup. I promise a universal basic income, community initiatives and for people who steal stuff the orchard, I'd lock them up and throw away the key!

Life isn't all bad. I tried my new wetsuit out in the swimming pool in preparation for the open water race next weekend. I looked a bit like a beached whale but I didn't buy it to enhance my good looks so I am not too worried on that front. I realise that other swimmers must have thought me eccentric wearing a wetsuit in an indoor pool. Luckily, I think I got away with it. 

Not everything in my world is bad. My home in the sunshine!