I began the day with glancing at The National, my new Go To newspaper to find some alarming news – my sympathies go to Queen Elizabeth II for the following reason.” Queen Elizabeth has held her first in-person talks since recovering from Covid-19, as she met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at Windsor Castle. Mr Trudeau is in the UK for talks on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and he will speak with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte.” Can you imagine anything worse – to recover from Covid-19 and your first visitor is Justin (formerly of the blackface) Trudeau? She is definitely a resilient woman, she had not however, seen Yuri’s magnificent cartoon. I suppose my blog is not required reading for Her Majesty. We, of the theatre persuasion, are familiar with her famed meetings with her Prime Ministers. She should skip meetings with Boris and instead read my blog – she would be entertained and get a better idea about what is going on in the world. I do laugh.
‘The article went on to say. “Canada has been the country she has visited most — more than 20 times, including a trip as a princess. As a young boy in the 1970s, Mr Trudeau met Queen Elizabeth through his father, Pierre Trudeau, the-then Canadian Prime Minister.” This is truly unbelievable, farfetched, and unimaginable. But when Queen Elizabeth was a Princess she visited Edmonton, Alberta Canada and opened Queen Elizabeth Park. I was a Brownie, and I was sitting on the dais with her and Prince Phillip. Well, not just me, obviously. I will never ever forget that moment and her skin, difficult to explain but it was perfect, like fine porcelain. At one time, in my recent life, I thought of interceding on a person’s behalf. That person had fallen from favor in her eyes and thought I could ask her to look at him in different eyes perhaps, telling her of my memories of her. She, perhaps, would open her heart and mind to him. But, for many reasons, a billion and one perhaps – that is a task not to be undertaken by Alexis (aka Fatimah) McBride.
Yesterday received the most glorious, the most exciting news of all. It was, actually, sparked by my name in the sand. My old friend (in every sense of the word) Mary Grace saw this blog, with my name in the sand it apparently inspired her to attempt to reach out to me. She did through the blog and fortunately, so magnificently, Chris,, my dear computer guru sent it to me. It is impossible to reach me on the blog but he was so intuitively discerning that he passed this request on. I immediately fired off an email to her – different time zones and all meant that she was probably sleeping upon its receipt. I am SO excited – we first became friends fifty years ago. We had lost touch, I actually feared that she was dead. But she is not. I will definitely have to go and see her – she lives in Washington State. I informed Rashid, the sand writer.
Me: A dear dear friend Mary whom I had lost touch with reached out to me through the blog attaching your picture in the sand. My Blog Master forwarded it to me! I have missed her so. She lives in Washington State, West Coast of USA. I emailed back. I am SO happy!
He: I am so glad and happy for that. Hope you can recall your memories. That is my aim to make you the happiest woman on earth. Greetings to Mary!
I just could not believe my good fortune. All Praise to Allah!! I am constantly rewarded with the greatest of presents, rewards, gratifications – always. It is amazing which is also ! beyond belief, difficult to believe, scarcely credible, inconceivable, unthinkable, unimaginable; unconvincing, far-fetched, implausible, improbable, impossible; hard to swallow, mind-boggling, and mind-blowing.
My goodness my dearest friend in touch and an understanding man who writes my name in the sand and somehow has decided to make me the happiest woman on earth.
Me: But Rashid I already am the happiest woman on earth.
He: Then it is my duty to keep you in that state of bliss.
But back to the mundane world in which we all live. Met’ a woman through Instagram who had the cleverest of posts which I remarked upon. One was a cartoon, not possible to duplicate but perhaps shall try to put it into words. Two waves crashing on the shore, a man in the foreground with a microphone, clearly a media guy. The small wave said Covid, his microphone aimed toward that. But a bigger wave was rolling in – a huge wave that said POVERTY. Is that not so true? All the attention paid to Covid over these long months (or years perhaps). But poverty is the issue and no attention is paid to that.
But here I go. From an article in the New York Times which speaks of the what is going on in the land of my citizenship the USA.
• In the country’s most liberal cities, many people are still avoiding restaurants. The number of seated diners last month was at least 40 percent below prepandemic levels in New York, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Portland, Ore., and Cambridge, Mass., according to OpenTable. By contrast, the number of diners has fully recovered in Las Vegas, Miami, Nashville, Phoenix, Charlotte, N.C., and Austin, Texas, as well as in Oklahoma, Nebraska and New Hampshire.
• Residents of liberal cities like New York, Washington and San Jose, Calif., are still spending significantly more time at home and less at the office than before the pandemic began, according to Opportunity Insights, a Harvard-based research group. In more conservative places, the rhythms of daily life have returned nearly to normal.
• During the Omicron wave, schools in heavily Democratic areas were more likely to close some classrooms or require that students stay home for extended periods.
• Mask wearing remains far more common in liberal communities than conservative ones.
Have often wondered about the lasting effects of the pandemic on society as a whole. The rich got rich and the poor got poorer – this we know for sure. Googled it for good measure.
“The rich have become richer, and the poor have become poorer; and the vessel of the State is driven between the Scylla and Charybdis of anarchy and despotism.” “To him that hath” etc. is a reference to Matthew 25:29 (the parable of the talents, see also Matthew effect).
From this we can see that it is nothing new in this troubled world. “”The rich get richer and the poor get poorer” is an aphorism due to Percy Bysshe Shelley.”
The phrase occurs in literature, said by the Great Gatsby. One thing’s sure and nothing’s surer The rich get richer and the poor get children. – F. Scott Fitzgerald. One could go on and on about this, for example,” Socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor is a classical political-economic argument asserting that, in advanced capitalist societies, state policies assure that more resources flow to the rich than to the poor, for example in the form of transfer payments.”
Wikipedia covers the topic extensively and must be read.”The rich get richer and the poor get poorer” is an aphorism due to Percy Bysshe Shelley. In A Defence of Poetry (1821, not published until 1840) Shelley remarked that the promoters of utility had exemplified the saying, “To him that hath, more shall be given; and from him that hath not, the little that he hath shall be taken away. The rich have become richer, and the poor have become poorer; and the vessel of the State is driven between the Scylla and Charybdis of anarchy and despotism.
The Table of Contents directs the reader to a discourse which is brief and rather catchy. But more is promised for the strong of heart. “This article is about the catchphrase. For the theoretical process, see wealth concentration and capital accumulation. For a full discussion of the social, economic, and political phenomena to which the phrase refers, see economic inequality. “Rich get richer” redirects here. For the generative model, see Scale-free network § Generative models. “
The photographs that accompany this blog were taken yesterday at the Grand Mosque. More shall be written about the experience when I am ready. The photographs depict the light hearted moments of the trip. I was in a wheelchair, there are seperate lines and special accommodation for those in wheelchairs. We are called People of Determination.
Me: That is me. I am a Person of Determination, that is for sure!!!
Well I am and always have been it seems. I am thinking it Is time for a rest. Someone is offering to provide me with protection and care. It is awfully tempting. More later.
