Avian Spectacular

As I stroll up the garden, the hedgerows vibrate with chatter from the thronging sparrows; I inadvertently disturb the starlings squabble as they take flight from their feeding station. And suddenly, I'm on alert, a coarse croaking crow cawed duet greets my ears. One can't fail to note a hint of aggression in their strident guttural call.

The lure of the ear swiftly draws the eyes attention to an impressive aerial display; my pulse races as I observe the avian activity. The corvines frantically pursue and dive-bomb an inquisitive red kite; the kite responds to their somewhat frenetic activity with a couple of (almost relaxed) beats of its wings as it seeks and rides an appropriate thermal, gaining altitude in an apparently effortless glide. I almost hear it mutter, "you had enough then!" to the exhausted crows.

Minutes later, my pulse continues to race with the excitement of the display. I feel truly blessed to have been an observer, on my own doorstep, of such a breathtaking spectacle.

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This morning, I posted some photos, Garden Flora - Up Close, on Mal's Picturebox.

Pessimism & Despondency - The Cameron Prospect

No matter what the polls say, promises of a hung parliament etc., I approach the forthcoming election with an intense sense of foreboding. Cameron in power is the essence of nightmares, a period of social divisiveness that will make the evils of the Thatcher years seem like a picnic. It was the Tories who destroyed our industrial base,  who doubled VAT thus penalizing the poorest in society, and who started the whole process of demutualizing and deregulation that led to the current economic crisis. It is the Tories who are most eager to cut back public spending whilst at the same time pumping more resources into our Offence Forces.

Sadly, elements of Thatcherite philosophy seem to run deep in the veins of Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative leaders. All represent the interests of the middle and, in the case of the Tories, upper-middle classes. All pretend to proffer freedom of choice yet none of them offer to repeal Thatcher's anti Trade Union legislation, which denies a meaningful voice to the working class. In the end, my primary consideration before casting a vote is, who will best protect the interests of the weakest in society, both at home and overseas? All of them uphold a disreputable capitalist system, whilst attempting to ignore it's inherent contradictions, but perhaps a few of their representatives sincerely believe it is possible to redeem it!

At least the Lib Dems didn't support the Iraq war, which to me is the strongest point in their favour and, they even have the best potential Chancellor in Vince Cable, unlikely as the prospect of that coming to fruition is! Ultimately, my vote has to be cast whatever way helps to keep the Tories out of office. Fortunately our constituency has been very well represented by Phil Willis (Lib Dem), who is standing down this time, and whose successor as parliamentary candidate, Claire Kelley, has worked closely alongside Phil for a number of years. Until Phil took office a couple of elections ago, our constituency had always been solidly Tory and was noticeably unrepresented / underrepresented by our elected Tory poodle in parliament.

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P.S. the recovery, albeit fragile, is on it's way - don't let the Tories wreck it:

BBC News - UK economy set to outpace most G7 peers, says OECD

news.bbc.co.uk

The UK economy is forecast to outstrip its G7 peers in the second quarter of this year, says the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Easter Greetings

Spring Is Here

A couple of days ago, I posted four new photos ("rite of spring") on Mal's Picturebox. The frogs they would a-wooing go!

Now

Sometimes it's as if memories are more tangible than present reality. The memories I refer to, are those dating back to a time when socializing, travel, sensory overload could all be taken in my stride; the days when I could go to a concert, a gig, the theatre, cinema etc just on a whim, without first having to steel myself for the ordeal. I'm never sure whether clinging to these memories has any positive value as, they simply serve to throw into the spotlight my current more restricted existence. I suspect it's best to simply live in the present, maximise the opportunities afforded by spending time in the garden, dipping into a book as and when the necessary emotional stamina and concentration is available, listening to a CD, watching a DVD and, especially any time spent in the company of my beloved.

Today we went over to the garden centre at Otley, and I thoroughly enjoyed the journey, approx 15 - 20 mins either way, just about my ideal distance these days. A couple of garden vouchers, that we'd received for our wedding anniversary, went towards a pair of good quality shears, and although  tempted by many items, I only yielded to the temptation to buy a couple of alpine / perennial plants to refresh a rather outworn display in one of the stone planters. Inspired by the excursion, I got down to the necessary transplanting operation within a couple of minutes of arriving back home. Meanwhile ma belle set about a little more tidying up of one of the garden borders.

As we worked, a blackbird provided a beautifully mellifluous background melody; what more could one ask for! Yet there was more. My attention was constantly drawn to the pond, where the piscine inhabitants seemed to gleam in the newly clarified water, the underwater filter having been re-installed (by yours truly) a couple of days ago. Come to think of it, there's nothing more real than now! What's more, ignoring troublesome afflictions, I've never known a time of more contentment.

bipartisan politics!

On one side we have the Labour Party, funded to a considerable extent from the voluntary contributions paid by trade unionists. Opposing them we have the Tories, the Conservative Party, primarily funded by the bosses which, indirectly, means the involuntary contribution of those who are in the bosses workforce or paying customers of the boss. I don't believe that the workforce or the customers, who make the profits for the bosses, have ever been balloted to see if they would like the fruit of their efforts to be used to payroll the Tories.

The Labour party when in government, contrary to what the Tories would have us believe, not infrequently sides with the bosses against the unions. Somehow, presumably for historical reasons, the unions remain their loyal paymasters. These paymasters get short shrift.

The Conservatives retain total loyalty to their paymasters, the bosses, and given the chance do everything in their power to emasculate the unions. Sadly, Labour never seems to have any intention to repeal the Tories anti trade union legislation. The Conservatives, as their name suggests, are there to maintain the status quo, whereas Labour do at least attempt to rectify some of the gross inequalities in society.

Labour, under the Blairite banner of 'New Labour', inherited (and pursued further) Tory Thatcherite economic policies, which on a global scale led to the financial collapse.

The Tories now ask us to believe that under the banner of 'change' they can rectify the problems. Conservative = Change, a paradox if ever there was one!

Too tired to relax

After a couple of almost sleepless nights I have now managed, with the aid of pre-emptive painkillers, to get two successive relatively comfortable sleep enriched nights. Perhaps the "enriched" word is putting it a bit strong, even though theoretically it should prove a blessing.

Although that should have compensated for the preceding sleep-deprived nights, exhaustion seems to be the persistent companion to my waking hours. Ten minutes of magazine or web browsing, in fact anything other than idle inattentiveness, induces a state of heavily lidded eyes, and the consequent decision; do I allow myself to drift off into full snooze mode or do I resist the bodies apparent yearning?

I know that if I allow myself to catnap it will outstay its welcome, then there's a fair chance it will interfere with the later attempt to get a decent nights sleep. If I resist, I'll spend the next half-hour or more in a kind of shuddering wakefulness; it's so strange that the very flesh which so frequently overheats in cooler conditions now seems to shiver whilst the ambient temperature is considerably warmer.

Somehow, it seems as if tiredness militates against relaxation!

an unsought for exercise in sleep-deprivation

Well, I did manage to catch nearly an hours kip between 10.30pm and 2.30am, followed by briefly intermittent snatches of zzzzz before 4.00am. From that time onwards I lay abed, struggling to turn myself over now and again, accompanied by a selection of sounds emanating from the bedside radio. At approximately ten minute intervals, I found myself checking the clock assuming at least one and a half hours had passed. It seemed like a productive training course for anyone wishing to take up the post of full-time insomniac.

Whenever I moved the position of my arms, attempted to clear the mucus from my throat, or even tried some breathing exercises to aid relaxation, I was acutely reminded of the pain in my ribs. Between 7.30 and 10.15am, I almost caught myself napping, on one or two occasions, before becoming finally able to cast off the delusion that sleep was imminent.

By mid-afternoon, following a relaxing visit to Cafe Culture, sleep deprivation caught up with me. Stiff neck, bloated tum, wearily aching limbs (both upper and lower variety) and a general inability to cope with any sensory information whatsoever, eventually yielded to a relaxing snooze. I somehow suspect that it was my bodies unsubtle way of informing me that, in spite of my advancing years, I really do require more than three hours sleep in any 48 hour period. But, if that is the case, why is it currently so reluctant to grant me that luxury?

A Pain In The ...

Last night, as I sat relaxing with my beloved, I was suddenly struck by a sharply acute pain in the lower part of my chest on the right hand side. The pain was still there an hour later, although by this stage somewhat intermittently and feeling rather like a sharp bruise. it was certainly a quite unfamiliar sensation and I couldn't put it down to indigestion but, I'd have been far more worried had it been on the left side of the chest.

Checked my pulse and, that was fine and, unusually for me when I'm in any marked degree of discomfort, or even without that prompt, there was no hint of pallor. So far, so good but my beloved was quite concerned (I had to admit to her that I was too) so, I contacted the out of hours doctor who recommended I should take some of my usual pain-killers (tramadol) and, if I felt any worse at all he would come out to visit me. That provided a welcome degree of re-assurance but, he did also suggest I made an appointment with my own G.P.

There followed a night of intermittently discomforted sleep; although I've learned to cope with my regular aches and pain, any change, to the old familiar dis-ease, plays havoc with my already erratic sleep pattern. I made an appointment with my G.P., although it was a locum I actually saw, for this afternoon. As the day went on, I found at times that the action of swallowing, and even moving in certain ways, renewed the pains intensity.

The first thing the doctor asked was whether I had any pain in my legs, I had to laugh as I explained that I'd not noticed any change to their regular discomfort. She felt around the calf muscle, checking for any hint of DVT and whether a clot had travelled to my lungs. She thoroughly examined me, checking blood pressure, listening to my heart and lungs and, quite expertly (albeit inadvertently) applying light pressure to the most tender area of the rib cage. When I tried to breathe deeply, as she listened to my lungs, the pain recurred with an excruciating sharpness. The diagnosis turned out to be something to do with the intercostal muscles and, I'd already begun to wonder whether my pondly exertions (at the weekend) had maybe put a strain on the muscle. I readily admit that lifting out the planters, from the pond's murky depths, wasn't one of the easiest gardening chores.

On the positive side, somewhat like the herniated disc last year, it makes a change to have a specific pain whose cause is definable, alongside those sundry aches and discomforts the flesh is so regularly heir to!

Malcolm Evison - "Squirrel In The Rain"