2020++ - smiling and waving and looking so fine

EssexHebridean

There is a huge amount to be said for voting in the local interest where the alternative is to end up with councillors or an MP who will do nothing for the community. We currently have a majority Tory council  - but have just had a Labour councillor elected to one seat in our ward last week. My view is that it will be good for the local area as she will shake up the complacency that occurs when there is too much of a majority. She was also  a Councilllor for us previously a few years back and was really good then.  As for our MP - I don't care what party he is from as he is incredibly good, never seems to stop working, claims seemingly a bare minimum of expenses, and really puts himself out for local people and on a wider scale as well. I don't see eye to eye on all his positions on things - but do have a lot of respect for the way he represents the constituency (Br3xit being a good example - he was "Pro remain" the constituency voted otherwise in the referendum, and he subsequently voted in support of leave on every further vote in the commons, in spite of it being against his personal views. To me, that's what ALL MP's should be doing. 

Mark - you've got me wondering now whether I can see my steps total for the year anywhere - I'm intrigued as to where I'm at! 

mark55man

if you are on Fitbit, hten you can log in on a web browser (after syncing to your phone) and you get a tiled dashboard thingy.  Then on the steps tile you click "show more" and if you click on the date it lets you enter a range.  

I think you can do it on the phone but I can never remember - I may have said I hate apple software it disagrees with my Bill Gates microchip although I hated it before the anti vaxx conspiracy started off

EssexHebridean

I binned Sh*tb*t a while ago after they basically told me they could no longer provide support in any meaningful form to my faulty 4 month old device because it was a superceded model. They replaced, the same fault appeared on the replacement, and they still weren't prepared to do anything apart from offer more replacements, so I jumped ship to G@rmin. The best bit is that because I originally bought the faulty Ch@rge3 from the big river shop, I keep getting requests to answer questions from potential customers - I think you can guess how THAT is going for Sh*tb*t!    I've dug into the G@rmin app and it lets me see monthly totals which is interesting though, and also gives me a daily average too so thank you for prompting me to look - that's interesting stats! 

mark55man

Hello - firstly OSHDTH - please don't worry this is a broad church here, but I think your team is in for a bad few years as the consequences of the last 12 years and since 2016/2019 in particular.  EH - its long been a truism round here that if you want anything done vote for or ask a Labour councillor, but if you want the status quo vote blue, and I agree a healthy balance helps democracy.  In our area at district level since 2010 the Tories have gone from an overwhelming majority to only just being the largest party - they are super worried about next year and they are trying to recover by being more active but it all feels too little too late 

But enough of that - 14 days into March and still averaging over 10000 steps (although not doing that every day) - Thursday was in London and I did a super lunchtime walk from the city to big ben plus walking to the station and back gave me 22000.  Like @savingholmes in her diary I have been getting out a bit more, and last night bumped into a group of friends doing the same which was lovely - especially as it was half price night on the procsecco  (yes I am a champagne socialist)

savingholmes

Well done on the steps and getting out and about more Mark. I find it amazing how my imagination and dreams are becoming more vibrant now that I am exposing myself to different social situations and getting out more.

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Glad I've not been disowned  
I think I'm a bit apathetic about politics and probably need to research more.  In my late teens and 20s I used to vote labour, but as I've got older it didn't really fit tbh.  When I look at policies etc I probably err more towards lib dem but always seems pointless to vote for them.  And then I really didn't like JC (he seemed decidedly shifty) and KS doesn't seem much better.  BJ is pretty dodge too, so goodness knows.
Well done on the steps, I aim for 10K and hit it most days.  My kids all have smart watches and regularly hit 20K without tryin, the exuberence of youth I guess.

mark55man

20K without trying - OMG - I did 22K in London last week and came home a wreck

I agree with you about JC but you must remember the hostile press and Labour leader gets.  At least we agree about the LDs (sorry to any yellow team members), although they are strong in the shires

f0xh0les

Team Yellow Bird is not offended! 

It is a shame that, as the only party to ever go back on an electoral commitment after not actually winning an election, Gold Team are still seen not to be trusted. 

Having said that, the present Foreign Secretary Liz 'the brain' Truss left Gold for Blue, and I can only apologise to team Blue for that....  she definitely should not be trusted to run a bath, let alone a NI trade negotiation.  She is no Mo Mowlam -  she was bonkers with the LD's, but never hurt anyone, with the Blue team she is a dangerous lunatic. 

But, back on track, your step count puts mine to shame! I will try harder on that, you are both inspiring me.

savingholmes

I am a floating voter. We used to have a really good local MP but not now

mark55man

So I am a little sad - a very good friend passed away earlier in the week

Those who follow other diaries will know I misspoke on EH diary (entirely my bad) but I cannot bring myself to blame the NHS for my friend although there were challenges - but (my diary my rules) I do blame the government with a passion:
* Making a dogs dinner of the CovID since day 1, culminating in over stretched resources and delays in treatment over the last 12 months but especially in 2022
* Making a mockery of youth mental health services which because of "issues" in the family meant years of strain which took its toll through lack of care support
* Making a disarray of health provision in general so that care and transport had to be negotiated on a trust by trust basis and not on a NHS basis

So I don't really want a debate - I can't and won't separate politics from its day to day consequences.  I'm just heading into a busy period at work so I am going to take a little break from this diary and will come back in a few weeks  when I am less sad