A bed of roses

Had a horrible day on Thursday.  I was supposed to meet up with a friend for coffee but they could only do after 3pm and I pushed it back to 3.30pm because a meeting landed.  So, I went on a coffee fast for the whole day - only for them to not turn up AND forget to tell me because they were exhausted from trying to do too much.  The coffee shop on the ground floor of our building closes at 3.30pm, so I went on a hike across town to one of their other shops - then remembered they have ANOTHER shop much nearer to us.  Doh!  Although I have no idea what time THAT shop closes, so I might still have needed to do the longer walk.  But I don't know if the forgetfulness was caused more by menopause-brain or caffeine-deprivation :D

We also have a contractor working with us who has an extremely monotone voice and talks for hours at a time (it feels like hours) about I don't know what because I can't quite catch the actual words.  I have no idea if they're talking about work but if he's not, we're paying them to inflict anguish on my brain!

Wednesday was a good day, though.  I met up with my favourite colleague for coffee and a total geek-out about Doctor Who <3  We're both suspending our scepticism about the new Doctor.  We don't know Ncuti Gatwa at all but we're worried he might be a bit young.  I found I took a little while to warm to Matt Smith and always put it down to his age.  But then I watched a '7 facts about Ncuti Gatwa' video and he has had quite a life already, so he has that to bring to the role.  So, watch this space because I will have Opinions :D  I am quite reassured by RTD coming back to the show.  I feel so sorry for Jodie Whittaker because she has just had really poor material to work with.  The only thing I really remember about the Easter episode is the cringey scene between her and Yas, which was totally unnecessary.

OK, DW rant over :D

Today is the Champion's League Final between LFC and Real Madrid.  Expectations are high in our house - just hope the Reds live up to them!  Whatever the outcome, we have the homecoming parade tomorrow.  The bus is expected to reach our end of the route at about 8pm - the boys want to be out of the house at about 10am :D :D  The grandson is coming down today for the final and will stay overnight.  Daughter might join us tomorrow.

And I've decided that if I ever do a PhD it will be on the 'theology of place'.  So much to unpack in that - holy places, being 'called' to a place, thresholds, buildings, etc, etc.  It's kind of grown out of my preparations for a service I'm doing in a couple of weeks on being called to stay in a single place.  Of course, a PhD is supposed to be about something quite narrow and, at the moment, my ideas are VERY broad.  But it's closer to a thing I feel I could research than I've had before!

OK, time to get going.  This morning's plan is exercise, bath, shopping for tomorrow's picnic :D

Theresa May said she'd resign as PM if MPs backed her deal.  They still rejected it.  The encouraging thing, for me, in this was that it showed the MPs were voting against the deal rather than against her - because a bad deal is always a bad deal regardless of who the PM is.  But what does it mean for her position, now?  I honestly think she's only held on as long as she has because nobody else wants to be responsible for this shitstorm.

I do think that whoever was in charge of negotiating for Britain would have had a tough ride but there were so many missed opportunities.  First of all, after the referendum, take a step back and lay out the various options in broad terms.  Give everyone some breathing space.  A 'cooling off period' if you will.  I know there are people who voted 'leave' as a protest because nobody - literally NOBODY - thought leave would win.

Even without that, a good step would have been to gather together a group of MPs from across the House that represented the various viewpoints.  Because people voted 'leave' for different reasons and 'remain' for different reasons.  To say all Brexiteers are like X and all Remainers are like Y is false.  This group could have reached a consensus on what 'Brexit' actually means.  Because 'Brexit means Brexit' is as stupid a statement as 'strong and stable'.

THEN, with a consensus established, we could have gone to the negotiating table with the EU.  And the Brexit Secretary could have done the negotiating because, you know, that's their job.

The shambles that we are in is due to Theresa May who has put her own political career ahead of everything else, and her party ahead of the country.  And in 'opposition' we have Brexiteer Corbyn who is now whipping his MPs to vote for a second referendum!  If you believe in a Socialist Brexit then say so!  Show us what that could look like!  Give us an alternative!!!

Final rant - Brexiteers like to say that to remain in the EU would be a betrayal of the 17.4 million who voted 'leave'.  But this shambles betrays everyone, and not just the very similar number of people who voted 'remain'.

I am currently annoyed by the marketing for 'Pet Semetary'.  "Based on a book by the writer of 'IT'".  Can we not use the words 'novel' and 'Stephen King'?  Are people really so clueless and/or unable to look stuff up?!

And I also had something of a revelation.  I mentioned to a colleague that I'd been sleeping badly due to getting too hot at night and she said, 'I used HRT - couldn't have coped without it'.  Doh!  Now, I'm not usually a fan of managing health issues through medication but a bit of research has suggested that this could go on for 4-8 years.  A year or two and I might be willing to live with it, but 8 years?!  No thank you.  Of course, it might depend on when you start counting.  The hot flushes and night sweats have only been going on for 6 months or so, but the shortening of my periods and their increasing frequency has been going on much longer.  Anyway, I'm going to make an appointment with my doctor and see what we can sort out.