Rally round the flag

Angie's father's health which has been preoccupying us of late, took another turn for the worse last night. While waiting for the latest news due mid-morning, she took off early on foot with Luna for a walk in the very frosty countryside, the first this season. When the news came it was worse than expected "Come in a.s.a.p., it  may be the last opportunity."
We were not prepared for this. Angie immediately setting off while I drove over to our GP (top left) to get a referral note for the afternoon quarterly appointment at my specialist Internist in Memmingen. As I book the appointments myself, getting the referral note ensures the GP is kept in the loop. The reverse of how it should work! We Brits like driving on the wrong side.


Then on the back roads, drove past the site of my 4th ever Blip of the flags flying on the “BauFritz” property, a medium size company and major employer in our area, manufacturing high quality (expensive), ecological wooden houses and with a UK office. At least there was one pre-Brexit! The same photo has appeared regularly on my journal and kind of reflects the downfall of a Nation from that first “Patriotic” blip where the UK was coming out of the 2008 recession and daily hitting new heights of wealth and prosperity. And then ….
24th February 2011 – All good. The UK says it is the #1 economy in EU.
31st January 2013 – First stormclouds and Ukip destroying the country
5th January 2016 – First referendum salvos (and Blip fighting to survive)
1st October 2016 – The rot is well set in.
Patriotism has gone, Nationalism prevails
 
Feeling even more depressed, I took Luna for a quick walk close by along the river so that I could get some fresh air and try to regain my composure.
 
After lunch set off to Memmingen with Luna and the appointment happened on time and as usual with the doctor shaking his head but smiling. I refuse to take the pills and potions he prescribes which are anyway not “medical drugs” but things like Calcium which are actually recommended by my Urologist and connected to kidney stones. So we agreed I would get my GP to give me an iron infusion and some Vitamin B12 jabs and in return, he gave me a prescription for 24 days worth of “Power Energy Drink”, something the German NHS don’t like to prescribe as it costs so much. He couldn’t though prescribe my suggestion of an even better cheaper health drink - a case of Bavarian Wheat Beer.  As I said to him alternative medicine may be looked down at by the classical medical world but just a week or two ago the Alternative Nobel Prize award for medicine was given to a US doctor who realised that taking rides on the funfair at Disney World had cured his patient of chronic kidney stones. So at my next Urologist appointment, I will be asking for a prescription of an annual pass to our local Fun Park!
 
Just around the corner, took Luna for her 3rd walk of the day by the Memmingen Animal Rescue property. When we had almost got to the entrance, she sat down and refused to move an inch closer to the entrance. No amount of tugging on the lead would help. I had to force her past and so didn’t even try to see friend Michael who runs the place and who will be visiting us with his Mum in a few weeks. On the walk, the first messages came in from Angie at her father’s bedside which were not good but at least not worse.
 
Back home did a bit of tidying up and general bits and pieces before taking Luna for her 4th walk of the day. Not sure who got the most benefit from these walks.
 
In the evening after hearing all the news in person from Angie, settled down to hear the UN speech by that evil toupe’ed joke of a being. And that grey haired female version, lauding her hero.
 
The US is not the joke of the world, the UK is. And the US never was, only Trump. Many may not agree with US policy over the decades but most respect it for being in a position to make the world a better place. And certainly, before Trump arrived, the US under Obama had repaired the damage done by Bush Jnr. Trump will be gone soon hopefully, the Old Grey Haired Whistle Theresa too but sadly Brexit will live on for generations …………….



And naturally, we will fight to get Angie’s Dad fit just as we will to get the UK people the right to rethink their views now that they are slowly being given the facts. This week another heap of "No deal" papers issued by the Government, over 50 months late. Has anyone read them? I have looked at a few . I certainly wouldn't like to be planning a car journey from the UK to Spain at Easter - Two different International Driving Licences and potentially two Green Cards if the insurance is up for renewal on 1st April. The one good thing is the enormous number of civil service bodies that will have to be created to design an implement all the logos and laws and issuing bodies for all those things like "Protected Cornish Pasty" manufacturers to Space Agencies to shoot the UK past the Moon and probably into a Black Hole.