Westminstenders: Competitive Stupidity

[RedToothBrush]

A week of wondering which MP is going to be the most dumb.

There is stiff competition between parties and remain / leave.

Expect incredible bids of ignorance and incompetence to curl your toes, with a bit of constitutional craziness thrown in for good measure.

Valentine's Day beckons...

... And so does the No Deal Divorce.

Yes reading for pleasure... I miss that. DP's Dr keeps expecting me to formulate an education opinion on treatment options. So far this year I've read about drugs, DWP and brexit...I procrastinate on one when the other is to much.

This was not how I expected to be spending my early 30s...

Urgh it's grim.

ThanksRed I’m going to email my MP again tomorrow, not sure what else I can do really, was also going to make an appointment to see my GP & see if she will agree to giving me maybe two or three months supply of my medication, I have a heart condition & am now really starting to be concerned what would happen if I couldn’t get the meds I need.

((((Hazards))))
I admit that gardening is my utter escape from it all.
Communing with weeds (when I hold the trowel) keeps me sane
and planning the veg beds and the propagator and the polytunnel gives me a reason to think forwards beyond the insanity.
Next weekend I finish pruning the apples to get the best crop in October and the grape vine for September
I'll start the seeds to get squash next autumn and aubergines next summer
growing veg makes you plan long term and forces you to let the short term wash past
and pulling up bindweed is deeply satisfying

Hmm yes, I must start planning my 2019 crop (though, however hard I try, what works and what doesn't seems to depend purely on the weather).

Thanks for the veg thread TiP!
I can totally see how therapeutic gardening can be. The planning ahead and the sheer wonder of it. Also enforces an element of steadiness and consistency i imagine. I tend to veer from one extreme to the other. Rigid discipline to total apathy!

My advice for reading material - look for an easy reading series you can get in to. Then you have the next book to look forward to.
My recommendations (in no particular order or genre)
Sue Grafton’s Alphabet mysteries
Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin naval novels (frighteningly close to very good literature)
The Poldark books (Winston Graham) - so much better than the TV series
The Jalna series by Mazo de la Roche - oldies but goodies
Game of Thrones - just skip all the dragon bits
All of Jonathan Kellerman’s Alex Delaware mysteries
CJ Box’s Joe Pickett stories

I’m sure there are lots of others.

I'm assuming my premium bonds are safe otherwise it really is every man/woman for themselves :(

Thanks Red. 🐟🇫🇲👑

Was reading about Horticultural Therapy and they made the point about how our lifestyles now are very new in evolutionary terms and we’ve become very disconnected from our surrounding environment as can so easily access food causing what the article termed a ‘Nature Disconnect’

Lots of great things about gardening but the one I love the most is the feeling of connection to the seasons through it, feeling connected to the rhythm of the growing year so that term struck a chord with me and I think at times of uncertainty such as now, it’s more important than ever. It imposes some semblance of order in a chaotic world.

My light reads recommendations are anything by Georgette Heyer and the Ladies Detective Agency books by McCall Smith. I am trying to read some of these again to blot out my anxiety surrounding Brexit.
Is life really going to become so terrible and is there any hope???

I'm becoming increasingly despondent with our elected representatives. Piss up in a brewery springs to mind. I've never come across a body of people who are so utterly self-serving, disregarding the hideous consequences which the vast majority of the electorate will suffer in the event of no deal. My MP is a total twat (Tory, beating the long-standing LD party's candidate), so there's no point appealing to him (he's called Damien. It suits him).

How can the so-called party of business sit back and watch large numbers of businesses up and leave the UK without trying to resolve the problem? Utterly, disconcertingly, baffling.

Anyway, we took on an allotment last year and I've been digging away at it to prepare for this year's crops. I have a notebook with a list of what I'm sowing and when (both there and the small veg patch / 4 poly greenhouses in the garden). I sowed leeks for germinating indoors today and put some chitted first earlies into a growing bag (they came with long chits, so I've got them in a tiny bit earlier than planned; they'll be fine though).

I agreeing that gardening is an escape, and digging yesterday in 35mph winds cleared the cobwebs nicely! It helps to be able to channel my concerns elsewhere.

PMK, thanks @RedToothBrush

Lots of great things about gardening but the one I love the most is the feeling of connection to the seasons through it, feeling connected to the rhythm of the growing year Postnot you've put this beautifully. I spend as much time as I can in my garden and lasat year kept two of us and visitors supplied with vegetables for three or four months from what really is a very small plot - - about 20' x 4', including a little polytunnel. It's very therapeutic, fun, productive - and good for the planet. The best antidote to Brexit short of cancelling the whole thing.

Place marking

PMK. Thanks Red!

I recommend wodehouse and the flashman series for escapism and a good chuckle.

Good point from Jessica Simor on twitter tonight that May, in running down the clock, is not just 'focusing minds' but actually, actively, attempting to scare the public.

I have started crocheting a blanket. Sounds ridiculous, I know. But I don't know what else to do. My own government is actually trying to make me feel scared, so I'm going to make myself a fucking comfort blanket, the utter fucking mendacious miserable fucking arseholes.

Maud this is when I really wish I had paid attention to my Dm when she tried sooo many times to teach me to knit, because I can’t think of any thing nicer than making a blanket at the moment.

I have black fingers, instead of green fingers like clever Westministenders. so I have learned not to grow things myself.
However, German prepping does not involve worries about food supplies.

In case of No Deal, I ordered a box of 32 x pkts Marmite crisps from England
and I haven't eaten them
Well not all of them yet
I'm not sure it would be wise to order a box of McVities choc digestives

I try to eat locally produced food as much as possible, supporting local farmers & family bakers
My fav restaurants here use local produce and I only choose a glass of locally produced wine / cider

I used to live by the Thames path and now I live by the Rhine path, so I feel at home
I always try to live by rivers, so I can take regular walks and soothe my soul with the boats, trees & swans
That maximises my exposure to daylight, which really helps my mood - anyone else find this ?
I go to the gym most days for more vigorous exercise, but I definitely need a lot of daylight

bigchoc thank you for the reassurance re premium bonds - relieved to find I was just was getting my knickers in a twist about that one...

Now just the hyperinflation to stress about 😜 😝 😜

I also live by a river. Very soothing. Saw 9 swans do a long take off today. Beautiful. It's a comfort in these worrying times.

bigchoc I have McVities chocolate digestives in my forward purchasing stash. If supply to Germany becomes an issue I shall post you a pack.

will we have post..?

PS. They are plain, not milk.

What is stopping May from having a meaning vote on the 28th March and just telling HoC it's my deal or no-deal?

There seems to be nothing at all stopping her.