So it turns out the UK really is the 'sick man of Europe'. While other countries come out of 'lockdown' and it is revealed that Germany never closed any stores, the British are looking a little foolish. What with Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, bragging about shaking the hands of corona virus patients - and then ending up half dead in intensive care and later praising the very immigrants he's trying to keep out of the country for saving his life - it's all looking a little tawdry. What's more, there's still not enough PPE for 'frontline' NHS staff and our care homes have been thrown to the dogs based, no doubt, on the Government's plan to rid the nation of the old and infirm. I mean, who needs a load of coffin dodgers clogging up the economy and costing us all a fortune in pensions? Not a cuntry run by the Tories! And before you ask, when it comes to the United Kingdom, there is no 'o' in cuntry!
 |
| At Botley Hill on yesterday's blustery ride... |
And yet, everybody has this misguided affection for Boris Johnson, thinking of him as not so much a lovable rogue, but a lovable, blustering old buffoon who represents the true grit spirit of a nation 'at war'. What a load of old bollocks! This country isn't at war. In fact, I found myself getting really angry the other day as I set off on a solitary bike ride into the sticks, when I heard the sound of Vera fucking Lynn singing We'll Meet Again. Who had the audacity, the stupidity, the ignorance, to put that tune on? No doubt somebody who watches Lorraine and reads Hello! magazine and please, spare me from the condescending Nick 'I'd be amazed if he owned one' Ferrari, every morning from 0630. This morning he was talking to some doctor or other and he kept addressing him as 'doctor' when he didn't need to; he was being provocatively polite and hoping somebody might challenge him, but nobody ever does. Why is my radio tuned to LBC? It's normally Radio 4's Today Programme, which is miles more civilised. I don't think I've ever referred to my GP as 'doctor'.
It's looking as if the lockdown will continue until May, although I reckon it'll go on until June and even then we won't be safe as there's no vaccine and they're claiming we'll have to wait 18 months for one, if we're lucky. Let's face it, the UK Government wants to kill us off and it's starting with the wrinklies lounging around in care home day rooms playing cards and smelling of gravy. They could turn those care homes into flats for non-EU migrants or detention centres for illegals or rehab centres for the drugged and disorderly, they don't need old people bulk buying Werther's Originals! Perhaps that's why there's a Vera Lynn revival, to coax them all out of self isolation so the Government can slip them a dose of COVID-19.
 |
| The Ridge, bank holiday Monday, looking North and ready to ride home... |
Mind you, good old Piers Morgan gave one member of the Government a right old roasting on GMTV this morning. A female MP, whose name escapes me, had no idea about anything and couldn't answer any of his questions. She was given short shrift, I can tell you, and why not? Piers asked, among other things, why the Government was charging VAT on PPE equipment for care homes, but had waived the tax for the NHS. The answer? "Well, they can claim back the VAT." But why bother charging them in the first place if they can claim it back? No answer.
 |
| Chilling after yesterday's ride... |
I went out early for a bike ride this morning, the first of my solitary 14-milers that will add up to 84 miles by the end of the week. The weather was slightly better than yesterday, not so blustery, not as cold. The sun was out, the skies were relatively clear and once I'd passed Knight's Garden Centre and rode up the hill towards the bit where the fields open out and all is well with the world, I must say I started to feel good. There was little traffic on the road, just a few joggers, the odd solo cyclist like myself and a few baby lambs grazing in the fields on either side of me. I rode to and then round the mini roundabout a few hundred yards from the Botley Hill farmhouse pub and then powered back along the 269 until I reached Waitrose where I stopped, padlocked the bike and bought some milk, a carton of hot chocolate and a Wispa bar for myself (which I ate outside the store).
The sun is still shining as I write this, it's going to be a beautiful day, in lockdown! But there are things to look forward to, like lunch and dinner and the
X Files on Prime.
