Happy Birthday to me!

As of today I am officially a pensioner! 66 Not Out.

At last I'll be able to start drawing my State pension - six years later than promised, after the lying shysters in Govt changed the pensionable age for women, managing rather neatly to short-change me by about £45k in the process...! Finally, they can no longer weasel out of giving back some of the extortionate amounts of tax and National Insurance I've paid over the years.

I'm not quite sure how I managed to get to this age - it seems only yesterday I left school, but there you go. Time flies when you're having fun... so they say.

And I will have fun today... for one thing, it's a Bank Holiday and for another, we'll be seeing our lovely foursome later! There'll be hugs, presents and a cake with candles (both procured from Waitrose by Mr S-V, love him); just for a little while I'll get down off my soapbox and stop raging with fury over bloody Covid and associated Govt ineptitude.

I can't believe this is the second birthday I've had since this debacle started. There'd better not be a third!

Before I get off the aforementioned soapbox, I note the overpaid suits in the NHS and assorted Govt advisers are wittering again about the NHS being "under pressure" and "overwhelmed" if the country opens up and starts behaving normally on June 21st. Strangely, they seem surprised there's a considerable number of non-Covid patients needing treatment. Well, when you slammed the doors on them 15 months ago, matey, what the hell did you expect to happen?

Were all the dodgy hips and knees, the heart conditions, the cancers, diabetes, COPD and all the other illnesses people suffer supposed to just magically get better and go away?? How very inconsiderate of people to still be ill and to expect the NHS slackers to finally do some bloody work for a change!!

This is our "wonderful" NHS, the one for which we all pay handsomely and for which we were all locked up in March 2020, in order to "protect". 

So what was the point of "protecting" our esteemed Health Service if, every time it's needed, it can't cope and comes up short?! Answers on a postcard, please.

*Gets down off soapbox and gets ready to see our lovely Troops*

Anger and resentment

Not a good week. Oh, I know we're all supposed to be grateful for having some of our freedoms restored - freedoms which the lying shysters in Govt had no bloody right to take away - but I don't think I've ever felt less grateful for anything in my life... in fact the resentment and anger at what we're having to go through has been just about choking me.

Just how much longer can these stupid restrictions go on? They're doing their best to keep people terrified by talking in hushed tones about the 'Indian variant', which is allegedly terribly dangerous. It's so dangerous, in fact, that three Covid deaths were reported on Wednesday and six deaths were reported yesterday.

Wow, nine deaths over two days. As sorry as I am for those who died, that is not a dangerous variant, it isn't even worth mentioning in the wider scheme of things. It won't stop them inventing another 'variant' as soon as this one looks like it's not having the desired effect, though.

And another thing... I'm sick of people having a go at those who've chosen not to be vaccinated, sick of being called names, sick of their "Look at me, I'm doing the right thing and you're a stupid anti-vaxxer" attitude, sick of hearing about variants dreamt up purely to frighten people into compliance... and sick to bloody death of the incessant lies emanating from Govt so they can keep this nonsense going.

Funny thing is, there isn't really anything particular I want to do but I want to feel normal again. That doesn't seem like much to ask..

I've had enough of Govt intrusion in my life. I'm big enough and ugly enough to take responsibility for my actions - I don't need nannying by people who aren't fit to clean my shoes.

Right, rant over, I'm off to do some exercise. It might help me work off some of this rage - either that or it'll finish me off completely.

Cookies and more Covid

Oh god... here we go again. Boris has been on the telly, yet again, giving another bloody briefing - god knows why, he hasn't said anything particularly useful since all this started 15 months ago. Cue serious faces, serious voices and veiled threats of what might happen. It appears he's trying to talk up the "Indian variant", mostly because he's desperate not to lower the level of restrictions next month and thereby lose his current grip on our lives. 

When this variant has run its course, we'll have the "Afghanistan variant" or maybe the "Caribbean variant" or even the "Cornwall variant" etc. etc... it's never-ending. At this rate we'll still be in some sort of lockdown when I've fallen off my perch and turned to dust. Rinse and repeat ad nauseum.

I think it must be clear to anyone, even the most adoring sheeple, that he never had any intention of opening up the country on June 21st - he's now showing that to be the case.

As well as being sick of all the Covid nonsense, I'm still sick to death of cooking - I don't mind fiddling about and making something frivolous but it's the main meals that are really getting me down; I think I'm just bored. It's been so long since we went out for lunch I won't know what to do when I'm confronted with a menu... there'll be actual choices of dishes I haven't had to make myself! I've almost forgotten what that's like!

Cauliflower and broccoli cheese with glazed carrots and green beans for dinner today - it doesn't require any thought, I can do it almost with my eyes closed. I could try that... it might make cooking a bit less boring!

Despite my ongoing apathy in the kitchen I had a bit of fun and made Nigella's Chocolate Mint Cookies yesterday. My advice is... do not make these, they are dangerously addictive! 

I made the glaze without adding peppermint - Mr S-V isn't keen on minty flavours - but, apart from that, I followed the recipe exactly. They came out perfectly. It occurred to me about a minute after I'd finished drizzling the glaze over them (typical - too late!) that I could have used orange extract instead of peppermint. An idea for next time and there will definitely be a next time!

Hugs... and Baked Peppers

Boris was on TV yesterday, once again telling us what we'll be 'allowed' to do from next Monday when restrictions change. My anger level went up several notches. To be honest the level hasn't really abated for the last 15 months or so... I didn't know it was possible to feel this angry, for this long.

Apparently, we'll be legally 'allowed' to hug again, it'll be our own choice and we should use "personal judgement" BUT we must continue to be cautious. Always the caveat, just to keep the frightened, frightened. I can see straight through them and their lies - they're so transparent.

It's the authoritarian nature of being 'allowed' by the Govt to do something as innocuous as hugging your friends or having your family round for lunch that gets me. How on earth did we become a country where something like that has to be 'allowed'?

Restaurants, pubs and other indoor hospitality venues will open as of next Monday, but there's still an awful lot of "Oooh, it's still very dangerous" and "We must all still be vigilant" and "Meeting outdoors is safer, if you're indoors you must keep the windows open". Jesus wept...!!

Rules on masks stay the same, but they "haven't ruled out" abandoning the mask rule in June... which really means we'll be masked for the foreseeable and certainly past next winter when the next wave of the usual respiratory viruses occurs. They need the rule on masks to keep the populace living in fear (see above!). Mustn't risk people thinking for themselves.

All of this is just another chapter in his "We're in control and you will do as we say" book. He's loosening the reins so reluctantly - you can see how much he's enjoyed having the power to control everything we do, even in our own homes; never in his wildest dreams did he think he'd get people to kowtow to this level of micromanagement. He's been getting off on this for months; he was never going to give it up without a fight... and he isn't.

He now has a stick with which to beat us for years to come. The threat of restrictions.

I'll move onto something infinitely more appealing before I burst into flames of fury... food! I saw this Nigel Slater recipe for Baked Peppers - it looked easy and tasty so I gave it a go for lunch today; he did it with tofu, but also suggested using feta which is what I did. I also scaled it down so that it just served the two of us.

It comes highly recommended by Mr S-V who said "You can definitely do this again"! My version may have been a little more caramelised (charred?) than Nigel's, but I think I just about got away with it.

All you need is a chunk of decent bread for mopping up all the lovely juices.

May the fourth (be with you!)

We've just had a Bank Holiday weekend and our four lovely Troops came here on Sunday. Under the restrictions we were supposed to be outside and socially distanced. Were we? Well, what do you think? I've said it before, I'll say it again... My house, my rules.

The news is full of what we'll be 'allowed' to do when the restrictions change on May 17th. Even after more than a year, I'm still gobsmacked by the notion that a British Govt can tell people what they are 'allowed' to do when they see their friends and family in their own home. It is so far removed from the role of Govt as to be unbelievable. Maybe Boris and his henchmen would be happier in North Korea?

Assorted MPs are laying the ground for some of the restrictions to continue. It doesn't matter how many people have the so-called vaccine, or how low cases and deaths go (just one yesterday and three today), they'll keep us under the State thumb for as long as possible... with dire warnings of what 'could' happen if we behave like normal human beings. I despise him.

Went for a walk yesterday morning; the lotties are a hive of activity as everything is waking up after the winter. Plenty of digging and seed-sowing going on. Weather's still not great but at least we had some much-needed rain later in the day, the garden has been desperate for it. The weather woman on TV said April had been the driest ever recorded, and from the look of our grass I can well believe it!

Wild excitement here - we've booked a table for lunch at our favourite restaurant for the end of June! There's only one caveat... I'm not going if any of the restrictions are still in place. So that's no masks, no social distancing, no taking our temperature before entry and no Track and Trace. That's a lot to ask, but Boris said it would all come to an end on June 21st. Yes, I know he was probably lying but, just in case he wasn't, the table is booked. 

Should I have a bet on whether we actually go...?

Just think... if all restrictions are lifted and we can get back to our old lives, I can stop sitting here talking to myself!