Author: David

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Wow! A political blast about Little England

What is it about the English that we somehow continue to hold to our “pink view” of the world (remember your old school atlas) where we provided civilisation and leadership to those unable to provide it for themselves. It really gets to me that there are still so many people clinging to the belief that Britain is still Great! We undoubtedly have some things that we could call Good, but please don’t delude yourselves – we’re no longer a world power.

Hence, I found this post both alarming and amusing. In a few words it confirmed my prejudices as it displayed the writers own. Ask yourself the question – why are we so involved in Iraq/Afghanistan when our fellow EU members are not? Is our role as a vassal to the US one that really brings any real value any more? Couldn’t wholehearted commitment to our nearby neighbours be more useful? Couldn’t concerted European action on many global affairs be more effective than the divided view that is portayed as the UK tries to ride two horses at the same time.

Now is the time for pro-Europeans to begin to speak out. Any dilution in our support for Europe will see an even greater weakening of what is laughingly described as our economy as the City moves from London to a true European capital. We have little industry, we have huge debts … but we do have talent! Please don’t sell out on this talent in the name of some misguided view of what statehood should be in the 21st century.

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A few words about Jenny

Jenny does not find my twittering, blogging and other engagements with social networking easy to accept. She does however recognise it’s important to me, and that it’s helping my recovery and my coming to terms with what’s happened to me.

Because of her reluctance to engage with this media, I’ve kept references to her to a minimum as she’s essentially a very private person and this is NOT a private mode of communication. She doesn’t like to be referred to directly – hence my earlier use of MrsDIH to refer to her. Recently however she assertively stated that she was not MrsDIH – hence s/MrsDIH/MrsJKH/. However, for a complete record of the happenings of the past few weeks it’s essential for me to acknowledge how much she’s been part of my recovery, so I’m sorry Jenny – you have to step into the limelight.

I’ve been flippant at times about her constant and dedicated caring and looking out for me. If she hadn’t done that, I would have been like a bull charging a gate – confident that the more I battered it, the more likely I would be to get through. So she’s reigned me back, reminded me almost constantly to “take it easy”, reminding me not to stretch, not to lift, to take a rest, and more!

I also want to record a correction to an earlier post where I suggested that she’d “been on my case” about lifting  a heavy book. That of course was only a very minor part of the visits she made to me in The Heath. She brought me in sandwiches, drinks, clean towels daily. Often the weight of these were far more than she should have been lifting given her own condition, but she did it all without complaint and I’ll be always grateful for her support and help in getting me through the hospitalization part of the journey.

Now I’m home, she’s there to do what she can for me, never complaining and always willing. Taking on huge amounts of washing to ensure we have good infection control in operation. To say that I couldn’t have done this without her is a vast understatement of all I owe her, but it’s true and I do owe her big time. I love you Jenny.