Adipose

Have you noticed, that cars are getting bigger as years go by.  Even the Mini and the Fiat 500 have increased in size and engine capacity. A possible reason is that people have increased in size and that many need a pretty large vehicle to get into.

Hospitals struggle with beds, wheelchairs and operating tables, and I am sure that many dentists have difficulties accommodating  larger patients in their chairs.

The stigma of being fat is diminishing as more and more people, choose to allow themselves to become outsize. Some say that it is not a choice and that it is a hormonal thing or that it is genetic, or because of any other possible causes.  The real reason though, despite possible help from those factors, is that people eat too much. Food that is surplus to the needs of the body is converted into fat and stored in huge reserves all over the body.  Many people seem obsessed with eating, and are rarely seen without a supply of junk food to keep them going.  It is sad that junk, high calorie food, is cheaper than healthy alternatives, but there it is.

We are getting fatter, of that there is no doubt. There is a much greater risk of having to sit next to an obese person in all sorts of situations; how often do we wait in an airport boarding lounge, hoping and praying that the real fatty will not be sitting next to us, overflowing into our own personal space?

Perhaps the increase in obesity is a good thing. For one thing, obese people do not live as long as they might, thus relieving some of the pressure on populations. Another thing is that the fatter a person is, the more carbon they store, thereby reducing the greenhouse effect. Maybe in years to come, fat bodies will be preserved post mortem and utilised as an energy source; crematoria are already having to adapt to accommodate the larger person.

It is all about choice of course. Lifestyles have changed a great deal in my lifetime as have attitudes towards body shapes and sizes. It is a shame though to see primary kids already obese or on their way to becoming so. Not being taught about the health issues associated with obesity is a form of child abuse.

I carry a lot more flesh than I once did. I make no excuse, I eat more than I should and probably consume too much alcohol. I also do not exercise enough, though for that I have some excuses. I will make a promise though, that is not to wear very tight clothes and especially skin tight black leggings.

Carpets

We just had much of the house re-carpeted. It is over now and I admit to feeling quite tired. Rooms have to be emptied as far as possible, so that the fitters can do their job, and that involves putting other rooms out of use and a great deal of humping furniture and other items about.  This morning I returned the CDs and DVDs to their shelves. They were in some sort of order before the disruption and now they are not. It has made me wonder whether sorting them again is worth the effort. There are hundreds of them, most of which are there just to fill the shelves.

I remember when the children were young, having a house carpeted and showing them that if you scuffed your feet over the carpet, you could become electrostatically charged. That was a mistake as all too often afterwards, I became the object for discharges, especially if taking a nap.

Because everything in the front room had been disconnected, I was unable to watch the debate between our would be Prime Ministers. By all accounts it was the usual embarrassing display of self aggrandisement and I am rather glad to have missed it. It would appear that we need some sort of super hero to get us  out of the mess that we are in right now. Whatever happens in the next few months, there will be a population that is split, acrimoniously down the middle, in a way that we have not been split before, largely thanks to social media.

With everything being disconnected, there was no access to any of that for a few glorious hours. Maybe we need more carpets.

Open wide

It is a warm day and in forty five minutes I have an appointment at the dentist. Nobody enjoys going to the dentist I am sure, but I guess that it is worse than the alternative. My parents generation had all their teeth extracted in their twenties. It saved money in the long run I suppose but it meant that their entire adult life was accompanied by plastic teeth that were soaked overnight in a glass by the bedside.

I am mindful of this when I go  and even the pain of the bill, makes me thankful that the teeth I have are my own.  This is just a check up and I hope that nothing needs doing. She will poke and prod while talking to me very quietly in a voice that I cannot hear while her nurse hovers about looking busy.  I vanish into a sort of trance in which I dissociate myself from whatever is going on.

I am reminded of an awful joke about dentists.  A woman is sitting in a dentists chair, terrified. She says to the dentist "Id rather have a baby than a filling."  The dentist replies "Well make up your mind and I'll adjust the chair."

There, that took my mind away for a few moments and now I must change into something more respectable before we go.

Interesting times

We live in interesting times.  At a point in history when we should be forming unions, we are instead seeking division.  Trump's America is in a parlous state, and thanks to Nigel Farage, so is the UK. There has always been a split between the right and the left, but the current division has gone much deeper and the wound is much more serious.  Both of the main political parties are divided on the one issue and are in danger of imploding, allowing clueless parties to fill the gap.

We have a ludicrous battle for the leadership of a party that is on its last legs, each candidate determined to deliver a policy that was voted for by a small majority and which is now supported by a minority, because if they don't, they will be seen as betraying democracy.  They are like headless chickens, flapping around trying to win support.  One of these less than honourable gentlemen will assume the leadership of the Tory party and thereby become Prime Minister. Immediately there will be proposed a vote of no confidence which could lead to the fall of the government and the precipitation of a general election. Then what?

We have a bunch of idiots representing our interests in Europe, and they will of course do no such thing. They are there only to sabotage  and should not be paid or entitled to any financial claims. If they are going to screw things up, it should be at their own expense.

Childish protest

I remember when I was at school in the 1960s, being involved in a protest against the obligatory school cross country run. For many it was an annual humiliation and for others it was just something to rail against. They were turbulent times; massive cultural shifts were taking place and the world was changing rapidly. Authority was being questioned and challenged wherever you looked and it felt good to be part of that.

Our protest was harmless and got a few of us into more trouble than it was worth.  The start of the race involved the whole year group, apart from those who were excused on medical grounds, lining up across a starting line dressed in white PE kit.  A not very large group of us chose to wear red socks, which made us easily identifiable, and when the starting pistol fired, instead of racing off, we walked; in fact we walked all the way and of course came in as a group in last place.  It was a futile, adolescent exercise of course and achieved absolutely nothing.

Today was the opening of the European Parliament. It begins with the European anthem, which is Beethoven's Ode to Joy from the ninth symphony.  A large group of our MEPs, the Brexit party chose to turn their backs in a token gesture. Childish and pathetic in the eyes of the world of course, but that is the Brexit party.

I am sure that each of them will be drawing their salaries and claiming huge expenses despite doing nothing to enhance the organisation.