Tuesday, March 23, 2021

 

I felt excessively feeble today, and didn’t walk. Archie came. We got outside the door, with our coats on. But it was chill and windy and I turned back. As a result I have done only 799 steps today – I might as well have stayed in bed.

 

Nor have I done any knitting, or reading worthy of report.

 

Two things, however: I’ve got a polling card.

 

As I hope I’ve mentioned, Scotland has extended the franchise to all permanent residents (is that legal?), and I have signed up. The card is for the Scottish Parliament election in early May. For the first time in nearly nine decades of life, I will go to a polling station and cast my ballot. (I’ve been exercising the franchise in the US from time to time over the years, including voting for Biden just now. It’s not quite the same.)

 

And it’s all the better for offering real choice. (I voted for Biden in New Jersey, which was going to vote for him anyway without waiting to hear from Mrs Miles in Edinburgh. I could scarcely have voted for Trump.) I am passionately in favour of the union, so that rules out the Scottish Nationalists and the Greens, leaving me with the Conservatives and Labour and the Liberal Democrats. The Conservatives had a wonderful Scottish leader in Ruth Davidson, but she has recently had a baby and stepped down. There is a new Labour leader, young and energetic and rather good looking. I don’t know what the Lib Dems offer. But I shall study them all with care.

 

The other thing is, is it interesting that volcanos have erupted more or less simultaneously in Iceland and Sicily (Mount Etna)? How is Vesuvius looking these days?

4 comments:

  1. Of course, if one were superstitious, those volcanoes erupting on top of the pandemic would be seen as a sign. But of what?

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  2. For all the years I lived in Ireland I never had a vote there. But I always voted absentee from California, my last residence in the U.S.

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  3. =Tamar12:39 PM

    Everyone has a down day once in a while. I would say that 799 steps is a great deal better than none.

    If the Scottish government says you can vote, you can vote.

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  4. I wonder if Archie is more likely to be lenient in the walking department. Both of your other walkers know how important it is to keep active while Archie seems to agree that it's too much for you.

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