Spaced Out Saturday

How the hacks must be happy tonight.  Tim Peake the 'Brit' in space has returned safe.  This means they can move on from the tale of the shot MP and talk about something different.  The caring media love a new story as yesterdays news does not sell, especially when the story has been told and you are merely filling space in both print and sound and vision rather than acting like a journalist.  A new story, and this man has been a news story since he went up six months ago, a new story is a delight to the media.
For me it means nothing.  Certainly he has had fun in space, certainly he has done decent experiments and taught children from up above live into their classroom or school hall, certainly it is a difficult thing to be weightless for six months.  However as a woman 'Brit' has already been up in the shuttle some time ago I fail to see the adventure here.   Add to this the fact that the 'Brit' had to take US citizenship before he could go means that he is now a 'US, Brit' and not a 'Brit!'  Add also the fact that a Russian and an American were also up there with him and they were almost never mentioned at any time and I see the union flag waving as a wee bit of rampant English imperialist xenophobia.  That at least is something they are good at.  I suppose it would be tedious to point out that such flights into space have gone on for years and this man is not therefore that special, so I will not point this out in case it upsets someone.
He knows a great deal, he has done his job, he has had fun but spare us the rest please.

At a few minutes before seven this morning I stopped to allow the defibrillator to be used on me at the top of the slope and cogitated at the sky above.  It may interest you to know that according to some Monday the 20th of June will be the longest day this year, that is the Summer solstice!  Today is the 18th day and the weather is not yet very Summery.  I may have burnt myself on one of the two days hot weather we have so far noted but I wish summer to be more of a length than this.
It's just no fair so it's no!

 
Sad for the relatives and especially the husband of Jo Cox the lass who was gunned down.  The man accused when asked his name in the dock did not answer "Thomas Mair" as he ought but "Death to traitors, freedom for Britain."  One suspects he will be locked up under a law which regards him as mentally insane and unfit for prison but given a kind of life sentence in a secure unit.  
This is hard for some and a friend of mine today notes a year since his wife passed on.  How hard this has been for him even allowing for the many friends praying for him.  In the end he goes home alone and still has that empty space beside him.   Jo Cox's husband is young enough to remarry, and indeed with two young children ought to, but many others are alone and no-one can comfort them.

 
One more football game tonight.  From tomorrow the games will be played at a more social time, five in the evening and eight for the last game.  How glad am I to be able to get some sleep at last!  All this action has been ruining my social life.  Social life in this context is not to be confused with actually having a social life!  My life has however been out of context, I have missed many radio programmes I would otherwise have heard, missed much sleep and trips to far off towns to buy cheap meat and other requirements.  Little has been done in the abode either, not that this makes much difference as you know.  Roll on tomorrow.