Reminds me of "Animal Farm".

 George Brandis ordered expensive bottles of Australian wine while dining with an undisclosed number of British arts representatives in London in April. Photograph: Alan Porritt/AAP Image

Shalailah Medhora

Monday 29 December 2014 13.35 AEST

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The attorney general, George Brandis, spent $1,100 of public money on a dinner during an official visit to London, freedom of information documents requested by Labor show.

Fairfax media reported that Brandis, who is also the arts minister, ordered expensive bottles of Australian wine while dining with an undisclosed number of British arts representatives at the Massimo restaurant on 4 April.

The dinner cost £627 ($1,119), of which £228 ($407) was spent on alcohol, the documents show.

Brandis’s office could not be contacted for comment, but earlier defended the cost of the meal to Fairfax.

“It’s usual practice for senior cabinet ministers to host dinners for important stakeholders within their portfolios,” a spokesman said. “On this occasion the attorney general and minister for arts hosted key UK senior arts representatives.”

Labor’s spokesman on waste, Pat Conroy, said on his Facebook page the amount spent was “obscene”, especially as it came just weeks before the tough federal budget in which the government introduced cuts to public spending.

 Labor’s spokesman on waste, Pat Conroy, blasted George Brandis’ meal on his Facebook page. Photograph: Facebook

“To spend over $400 of taxpayers’ money on wine is unpardonable, especially at the same time as the government is making people pay more at the doctors and petrol pump,” he told Fairfax.

Brandis paid back nearly $1,700 shortly after coming to office for claiming parliamentary expenses to travel to the 2011 wedding of radio host Michael Smith.

In February, Senate estimates revealed that Brandis spent $15,000 of taxpayers’ money on building a new bookshelf in his ministerial office.

In January 2012, London’s Daily Telegraph gave Massimo a scathing review, saying “such paeans to marble-sanitised vulgarity may be perfect for lobbyists to entertain their prey” but its “mix of the flashy and the desultory had nothing to offer the set-menu diner other than outrageous drinks prices ... confused service and sullen mediocrity”.

Magi and Civil Disobedience

"Many Christians are still unsure about Civil Disobedience," writes Craig Greenfield. "That's why this Christmas season we need to learn wisdom and discernment from some of the first people who sought to worship Jesus: a trio of spiritual gurus from Asia. They were the first of many in the New Testament to refuse to obey the ruling authorities."

Greenfield points out that the Magi (popularly but wrongly identified as three in number, because of the gifts cited), after they had paid homage to the infant Christ, were "warned in a dream not to go back to Herod" and "returned to their country by another route" (Matthew 2.8, 12).

"God told them not to obey the ruling authority", he continues. "This was during a time when disobeying the King was a capital offence, punishable by death. It is the first recorded act of civil disobedience in the New Testament.

"Take a moment to reflect on the fact that obeying the King, whose word was the law of the land, would have meant the death of an infant. Later, it meant the death of hundreds of children.

"The law is not our ultimate moral guide. … Slavery was lawful. The holocaust was legal. Segregation was legally sanctioned. Simply put, the law does not dictate our ethics. God does. So it should not surprise us that the One we follow was executed as a criminal, and that there will be times we are called to break unjust laws.

"As St Augustine said, 'An unjust law is no law at all.' Christians cannot fulfill their role in life without coming into conflict with the world system."

The god who has gone

In Infinitely Demanding, Simon Critchley says:

Anarchy should not seek to mirror the archic sovereignty that it undermines. That is, it should not seek to set itself up as the new hegemonic principle of political organisation, but remain the negation of totality and not the affirmation of a new totality…

In our terms, anarchy is the creation of interstitial distance within the state, the continual questioning from below of any attempt to establish order from above.

Replacing ‘anarchy’ with ‘Christianity,’ what we get is a community that gathers around an absence – the god who has gone – and uses this to continually critique any attempt to reestablish order from above, to reinstate some new god.

Subverting the norm - thanks Drew Sumrall

What do the powers claim to establish?

It is important to remember, that, in order for the powers to retain power there must be an implicit altruistic motive.

In other words, the powers are powerful not simply because they are powerful (holding the most weapons, etc.), as this doesn’t work, for ‘the masses’ can at any point overthrow them (or at the very least, create chaos). 

The powers are powerful precisely because they claim to bring peace and justice.

The battle is thus ideological.

Therefore the key to undermining the powers is demanding what they claim to proffer society, taking the discourse of power more seriously than the powers.

I.e. subverting the norm means radically accepting its ideological presuppositions.

Practising Transgression (thanks Pete Rollins)

Previously I’ve written about how ideology doesn’t merely offer us an explicit set of practices that are acceptable and unacceptable, but also an implicit constellation of acceptable ways to do unacceptable practices.

Ideology doesn’t simply police the borders between the law and transgression, but also offers up ways of transgressing what is acceptable to the law. An ideology thus does not only create the distinction between the category of orthodox and heretic (or sacred and profane), but also offers up ways of being a heretic (profane) that are allowed by the authorities (the sacred).

An interesting example of this can be seen in a recent campaign by the Australian group Love Makes a Way. In protest against the imprisonment of children seeking asylum, various religious leaders in Adelaide engaged in an illegal sit-in at the electoral office of Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott. For a time this protest was allowed, but eventually the police were called in to remove them.

What we witness here is the slide from an acceptable form of transgressive protest to an unacceptable one.

Initially the act was tolerated. Indeed, if they had simply entered, made a statement, then left this would have been an acceptable transgression allowed by the authorities. It would also have been largely ineffective in making change. But there came a point when the transgression of the protestors was no longer acceptable to the authorities and the police started making arrests.

This wasn’t the first time Love Makes a Way had engaged in such activities. Previously some religious leaders who had been arrested were charged and brought to court. Yet this only caused embarrassment to the Government, for the media covered the story and citizens started to ask difficult questions concerning the unjust policy. In addition, the protestors were acquitted and the Judge commended them for their stance (another serious embarrassment to the Government).

Of course ideological systems quickly adjust to such acts. Hence, those who place themselves in the camp of resistance need to constantly adjust their strategy. In the above example the police quickly learned that they should quietly release the next batch of protestors rather than put them through the courts.

The point here is that ideological systems operate with a subterranean network of transgressive practices, practices that are needed for the smooth running of the system itself. A Government might, for example, champion human rights, freedom and justice, while implicitly engaging in torture, the creation of Black Hole prisons and imprisonment without recourse to the legal system. These subterranean activities are needed by the system to manage a crisis within that system, but the abusive practices cannot be named.

Effective protest involves bringing these unspoken truths to the surface, confronting the system with its own disavowed truth. This can only happen when dissidents refuse to play into the perverse system of acceptable protest (protest endorsed by the system it attacks) and instead find ways of bringing those things into the light of day. Yet, with each move dissidents make, the system will attempt to compensate, adjust, and normalize. Hence new ways of transgressing the norm must be found.

Believe?

Peter Rollins’ Insurrection: To Believe is Human; To Doubt, Divine. In Chapter Four, “I Don’t Have to Believe; My Pastor Does That for Me,” Rollins observes the ways in which church leaders often ‘believe on behalf of the community,’ ostensibly freeing the community to doubt and disbelieve but actually serving to shelter the community from what he calls the true ‘trauma of the Crucifixion’ (Insurrection, 65) – the loss of ‘all the supports that would protect us from a direct confrontation with the world and with ourselves’ (110). This means that, when a pastor confesses doubts and disbelief, a crisis often ensues; ‘Not because the congregation now doubts, but because the pastor’s belief provided a protective psychological dam that held back their doubt’ (66).

Excerpt from The Monthly re the carbon tax

Let’s be clear: this is the single biggest reason power prices have skyrocketed. According to the federal treasury, 51% of your electricity bill goes towards “network charges”. The carbon tax, despite relentless propaganda to the contrary, is small beer, comprising just 9%. The rest of your bill is carved up between those companies that actually generate your electricity (20%) and the retailers who package it up and sell it to you (20%). The Renewable Energy Target is such a small cost impost, the treasury’s analysis doesn’t even include it; the Australian Energy Market Commission says it makes up around 5%. 
Thanks to the networks’ infrastructure binge, we now pay some of the highest prices in the developed world. The impact has been felt most keenly in New South Wales and Queensland, where the networks are government owned and network charges have accounted for two thirds of the price increases. 
For a Coalition intent on destroying the carbon tax, the price hikes have been a gift – “proof” that the carbon tax is as ruinous as they predicted. Chris Dunstan, from the Institute for Sustainable Futures, thinks that what the networks have done over the past five years may actually be the secret to Tony Abbott’s success. “If electricity prices hadn’t doubled,” he says, “the carbon tax would not have been anything like the issue it was.” 

Were Tony Abbott to praise Indigenous fighting skill, what would it mean?

When Tony Abbott praised the skill and honour of Japanese soldiers, he was licensing Japan's domestic politics. That's why he won't say the same about the frontier wars

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Tony Abbott and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe watch traditional dancers at a Pilbara iron ore mine. Photograph: Newspix

"The past is never dead. It’s not even past."

William Faulkner’s words came to mind when Tony Abbott admired the "skill and the sense of honour that [Japanese soldiers] brought to their task" during the second world war.

In the abstract, Abbott’s comments might sound innocent but, of course, they were uttered, as the prime minister understands quite well, in a particular context.

For Japan’s rightwing, the second world war still matters immensely. Japanese nationalists – such as Shinzo Abe, the current prime minister – have made the nation’s military history a cause célèbre, part of a campaign to reshape the nation today.

Abe has, for instance, visited the graves of executed war criminals, denied that Japan maintained a puppet state in Manchuria, and belittled the army’s sexual slaves, the so-called comfort women.

If Japan’s past can be rehabilitated, it’s much easier to argue for a militarised future – and so revisionism about the crimes of imperial Japan has gone hand in hand with the reinterpretation of Japan’s "pacifist" constitution, so as to allow Japanese troops to participate in military actions abroad.

That’s why the Chinese media responded so angrily to Abbott’s remarks. But there’s another, less obvious, question raised by Abbott’s praise of Japanese military prowess, one relating to domestic rather than international politics.

How is it that a prime minister can praise Japanese soldiers when the skill and honour of those Indigenous people who resisted white settlement receive no official acknowledgement at all?

In his book Forgotten War, Henry Reynolds notes the clear consensus among military historians: the frontier conflicts between colonists and Indigenous Australians – during which tens of thousands died – constituted a war.

John Connor from the Australian Defence Force Academy says bluntly there can be no doubt "that from the 1790s to the 1920, Australian Aborigines fought British soldiers, police and British-born and Australian-born settlers for the control of the continent".

Yet that war – one of the most profound events in the nation’s history – remains entirely uncommemorated. By contrast, we venerate wars of little, if any, national significance.

In 1885, amidst a wave of jingoism, the NSW government hastily sent 700 men to assist the British cause in Sudan – a bizarre and blundering adventure in which the troops made no real military contribution and probably never even fired a shot in anger. Nevertheless, the Australian War Memorial records on its wall the names of casualties suffered in the expedition, all of whom succumbed to disease rather than enemy action.

During the 1880s, more than 2,000 people were killed in Australia by frontier clashes between settlers and Aborigines. As it happens, the conflict probably reached its crescendo at the same time as the Sudan crisis.

"Australians were engaged in two wars during 1885," Reynolds says. "One was serious and deadly. The other was neither. One was fought in Australia, the other on the far side of the world. The fact that the nation commemorates one while ignoring the other is an anomalous situation that demands explanation."

Tony Abbott’s comments hint at what that explanation might be.

Japan boasts one of the largest militaries in the world, and the US has long wanted it deployed to various security operations. That’s why Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel called the reinterpretation of the "peace constitution" "an important step for Japan as it seeks to make a greater contribution to regional and global peace and security".

Australia, inevitably, agrees. Hence Abbott’s remarks.

Equally, a recognition of Indigenous resistance has obvious implications. Last week, Tony Abbott explained that the nation was "unsettled" or "scarcely settled" before the British arrived.

If you accept that, it’s a lot easier to minimise the government’s responsibilities to Indigenous people, and to downplay their rights over (say) valuable mining leases.

Alternatively, if Abbott were to acknowledge that Indigenous Australians fought with skill and with honour, before being militarily defeated by white colonists, they would be given an agency denied them by traditional histories. Such a statement would also highlight the violence inherent in the settlement project, naturally raising questions about land rights.

These are debates about the past but the issues they raise are not dead. On the contrary, they’re vital for shaping our future.

OK - I got the message

I've been told not to put news items of interest, to me, on Facebook. So I might begin to put items of interest to me in this place.

Charity

The genuinely charitable person gives generously from a sense that they too stand in need of charity. Not right now, not over this, but in some other area. They know that self-righteousness is merely the result of a faulty memory, an inability to hold in mind – at moments when one is totally right – how often one has been deeply and definitively in the wrong.

Charity remembers how there might still be goodness amidst a lot of evil. Charity keeps in mind that if someone is tired and stressed, they are liable to behave appallingly. Charity is aware that when someone shouts an insult they are not usually revealing the secret truth about their feelings. They are trying to wound the other because they feel they have been hurt – usually by someone else, whom they don’t have the authority to injure back.

Charity is interested in mitigating circumstances; in bits of the truth that can cast a less catastrophic light on our follies.

In financial matters, charity tends always to flow in one direction. The philanthropist may be very generous, but usually they stay rich; they are habitually the giver rather than the recipient. But in life as a whole, and especially in relationships, charity is unlikely ever to end up being one-sided: who is weak and who is powerful changes rapidly and frequently. You are likely to be, as it were, a patron in one area and a beggar in another. So we must be kind not only because we are touched by the suffering of others but because we properly understand that we too will soon be in urgent need of an equally vital dose of charity in some other part of life.

Growing social inequality in Australia

Growing social inequality in Australia

By Richard Phillips 
20 June 2014

The gap between rich and poor in Australia is widening, according to Oxfam Australia research released this week. The Oxfam data punctures Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey’s claims last week at the right-wing Sydney Institute that those pointing to growing social inequality were “misguided” (see: “Australian treasurer defends austerity budget as ‘fair’”).

Entitled Still the Lucky Country? the Oxfam report reveals that the richest 1 percent owns the same wealth as the bottom 60 percent of the population. It also shows that the country’s nine richest individuals have a combined net worth of $58.6 billion, which is more than the combined wealth of the bottom 20 percent, or 4.5 million people. Australia’s wealthiest individual owns more than the bottom 10 percent, or about 2 million people.

“Income inequality in Australia has been on the rise since the mid-1990s,” Oxfam states. “In 1995, Australia had an average level in inequality compared to other wealthy OECD member countries. Today, we are below average, having become less equal than our peers despite having a better performing economy than most.”

The report includes a survey indicating that 79 percent of those polled believe that the gap between the richest and poorest Australians widened over the past decade, with over 60 percent believing that this made Australia “a worse place to live.”

The Oxfam poll also found that 76 percent thought the very wealthy did not pay enough tax; 75 percent wanted the government to take action to close the gap between the rich and poor; and 79 percent believed that the rich had “too much influence.”

The Oxfam report is backed up by a document released last week by Australia21, a non-profit research company, in collaboration with the Australia Institute. Entitled Advance Australia Fair? What to do about growing inequality in Australia, the document states: “In recent decades, the income share of the top 1 percent has doubled, the wealth share of the top 0.001 percent has more than tripled, and the share of the top 0.0001 (the richest one-millionth) has quintupled.”

On the other end of the scale, the bottom 20 percent of people relied on government payments for three-quarters of their income, with more than 35 percent of those on welfare living below the poverty line. Australia’s Newstart unemployment benefit is the lowest of all the OECD countries. Currently over 570,000 children in Australia—or one in six—are living in poverty.

Government tax cuts have disproportionally favoured the wealthy, the report notes, with $71 billion in savings for the top 10 percent of income earners in the past seven years.

As the report states: “The top tax rates have been reduced from 60 cents in the dollar in 1983–84 to 45 cents in the dollar today. Personal income can be disguised as company or superannuation income where it is taxed at only 30 and 15 (or zero) percent respectively.”

Advance Australia Fair ? shows that superannuation tax concessions, which largely benefit the wealthy, cost the government about $35 billion a year and will soon overtake the annual budget for the aged pension and its 2.4 million recipients.

The report also highlights the debilitating impact of social inequality on the health, education and well-being of the poorest sections of society.

“Greater income inequality,” it states, “leads to more unequal access to quality housing, education, nutritious food, and healthcare. Low income groups are less likely to be able to afford to live in neighborhoods that are conducive to better physical and mental health … They are more likely to hold jobs that are precarious and low paid, thereby creating a greater risk of cardiovascular disease and mental ill health.”

Figures cited showed “a consistent correlation between low level of income and high level of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and depression.”

Treasurer Hockey told the Sydney Institute last week that the government faced a budget emergency because too many people were receiving welfare. Contrary to this claim, Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) data released this week by the Melbourne Institute shows that working-age Australians are less reliant on welfare than they were a decade ago.

The HILDA survey, which has tracked a sample of households since 2001, indicated that those relying on welfare aged between 18 and 64 declined from 23 percent of people in 2001 to 18.6 percent in 2011. Those deriving half their income from welfare dropped from 12 to 10.1 percent during the same period.

In HILDA’s sample there was a sharp decline in those reliant on single-parent payments, from 43.8 percent in 2001 down to 32.6 percent in 2011. Fewer were also dependent on the age pension, with the proportion of income coming from the pension declining from 67.8 percent in 2001 to 59.9 percent in 2011.

HILDA report editor, Associate Professor Roger Wilkins, told ABC News’ “Breakfast” on Monday that welfare reliance had been declining for about two decades. “It is hard to reconcile that trend with the current public discourse, particularly coming from the Coalition government. You certainly couldn’t argue that there is a welfare emergency or welfare dependency emergency that’s recently emerged,” he said.

The basic political question facing the working class is not whether more or less people are dependent on welfare or pensions payments, but that adequate social welfare should be provided to all those who require it as a basic democratic right.

The fact that declining numbers of people are reliant on welfare and pensions, under conditions of growing social inequality, increasing poverty and widespread job destruction, is an indictment of successive Labor and Liberal-National governments. During the past decade, in line with the demands of big business, governments have introduced welfare cutbacks and measures that are condemning millions to a life of poverty.

The author also recommends:

The Australian budget and the fight for social equality[11 June 2014]

A sort of ending

We are just about ready to leave for Gaynor's last radiotherapy session. Nearly 10 months since diagnosis. The journey - discovery, diagnosis, chemotherapy, surgery, radiotherapy. One hell of a journey for Gaynor. Now, what might the future hold?

Gaynor in extreme pain

The Dr says "sorry" but the pain from radiotherapy is going to get worse in the next week or so. Gaynor is weeping because of the pain.

Burning

Radiotherapy is burning Gaynor. Skin around wound area has gone black and blisters have started to appear. She is in a lot of pain. Dr says next couple of weeks will be very painful.

Pulling a few things together

1. Gaynor continues daily sessions of radiotherapy. Nearly half way through and should be concluded by end of May.
2. She is tired, one of the side effects of the radiotherapy.
3. We've had a couple of little outings, especially for a meal to celebrate our birthdays.
I have finished a truly great supply ministry with the folk at Morialta UCA. The people have been so warm, supportive, caring and sharing in ministry with them over 11 months has been a joy. (lots of adjectives there!)
4. I have 6-8 weeks helping out at Argent, a congregation of a dozen elderly souls (youngest in early 80's?) with their old church located on the edge of a cemetery. It is about 7 hours per week, so not much chance of doing more than preach and a little pastoral care. I helped out over Easter in 2013 so do know the folk, although a few members less now.
Now I've got to do some serious thinking, etc. to find things to do each day lest the days become unbearably depressing with so little to occupy my time. Can't spend most of the day reading! Suggestions welcome.

End of Morialta supply

I've finished 11 months ministry supply at Morialta. Now what new task before me?

Radiotherapy

Half  way through radiotherapy and Gaynor is coping OK.

Radiotherapy

Today Gaynor had her first radiotherapy session. The beginning of daily sessions for 5 weeks.

Very determined

Gaynor has had a very determined morning.
A walk up and back to the local shopping centre.
A walk to and from  the nearby postbox.
Now she is puffing.
I try to tell her not to do too much, but she wants to prove she can.
Oh well ....

The days have flown

Gosh a couple weeks have passed since last blog post.
They have been 2 difficult weeks for Gaynor. This has been mostly related to fluid loss from her surgery wound necessitating a number of visits to hospital to have it drained. As a result the proposed radiotherapy has had to be postponed, hopefully commencing from 7 April. The radiotherapy will be 5 weeks of daily treatments. This will involve me in a significant amount of driving as because of her ongoing peripheral neuropathy Gaynor still has trouble using her fingers and does not have full feeling in her feet. A fall a couple of days ago has led to further bruising of the wound area. Still we make every effort to continue with good heart.

A tough couple of days

Gaynor has struggled a bit the last few days. Ver weary, finding it hard to move. Obviously in some pain. Unable to sleep - both of us!

Church this morning

Gaynor attended worship at Morialta this morning. She had a wonderful catch up with friends, thanking those who are supporting and praying for her. This afternoon it has sort of caught up with her and she has been quite tired.

One week on

Well, tired, a bit sore but determined to be and do as much as she can as her 'old self'. Gaynor is committed to not letting the surgery and her recovery diminish her daily life. Perhaps she is trying to do too much - but ... she is determined.

48 hours home. Flowers, food, phonecalls and visits

Family, close and extended have contacted and visited. Phone calls have followed one after another. Today flowers have been delivered, and visits with food. Such a great caring community at Morialta UCA and beyond. So much support, love and care for Gaynor. Thank you all.

Gaynor through surgery but "rough" journey.

Gaynor currently undergoing surgery - waiting for phonecall on result

Just wonderful!

On Monday 4 ladies from Morialta Uniting Church visited Gaynor. So uplifting, so encouraging - so .. Gaynor has been talking on and on about 'them coming to visit ME!' It has been so wonderful for her. Deep and grateful thanks to Margaret, Margaret, Barbara and Dawn - you have so lifted Gaynor's heart!

Deep trepidation and fear about surgery tomorrow

Gaynor is going through a most worrying time as the surgery draws near.

Surgery today week

It is confirmed that Gaynor will have surgery in one week. Emotions are running a bit high. Gaynor's sister Judy & husband Paul called in with food and wine on Tuesday evening to share dinner with us. A great and loving gesture.

Peripheral Neuropathy

The reason for tingling and difficulty with respect to feeling, using and moving in Gaynor's fingers, feet and walking. A result of the chemo. She may regain full or part use in some months. Or she may find use, especially walking, a difficult thing for the rest of her life.

3 days on

No real change for Gaynor as yet. Because of tingling in fingers is having trouble picking up and holding items.

So that's why

Visited oncologist yesterday very concerned about Gaynor's pains in legs, very dark skin pigmentation and general suffering. Answer - too much chemotherapy. So, all chemo halted. Review next week with oncologist, surgeon, etc to decide on next step. At least we have an answer to Gaynor's general debilitating condition - "cooked" by the chemo! Oncologist was visibly upset by the outcome, and apologetic. Can't blame him. Chemo is a toxic and uncertain process. Hopefully Gaynor can recover a little.

Gaynor's toughest week yet.

And no let up from pain in legs and great tiredness.

Last few days

Gaynor has really been suffering these last few days. She is the worst she has been since she began with chemo many months ago. I hope and pray there is some relief for her soon.

Pain again

The now regular cycle of leg and other pain commencing a couple of days after chemo has hit Gaynor again. Not a good night and in some anguish this morning.

Conclude and face more

So some hurdles are met and got over. Only to be advised of further hurdles and challenges anew. Second to last is a prelude to a new set of medical interventions to be faced. There are months of 'scary things' still to come. Things that Gaynor keeps quiet about, and in private moments brings her to anguish and tears. And me? I just hang around being helpfully unhelpfull as usual.

Second to last

Yesterday second to last chemo. Then in March decision re surgery, radiotherapy, etc. Mixed emotions.

All over the place

Gaynor continues to find things difficult. Disappearance of eyelashes leads to tears, inability to read, even watch TV. My surgery, successful, has left me with horrible scaring on my head. Large cricket ball sized crater. Place where graft taken from right thigh continues to weep and bleed, running down my leg. Gaynor finding it hard to support me. Headaches for both of us don't help much either. We are definitely not going to retire, ever again.

Friday

Gaynor is really struggling today. Legs hurt, body hurts. I think it is floe to the worst she has been. And I'm uncomfortable in not knowing what to do to alleviate the discomfort.

A bit uphill

Gaynor finding things a bit "uphill" at the moment. Very painful legs & not easy to walk. She is also feeling 'tired'. I'm continuing to bumble around trying to be helpful.

Wrong of me

I was grumpy, and grumpy with Gaynor this morning. Not good. Hope it was just a lapse by me, but not helpful anyway.

Over half way

Yesterday's chemo for Gaynor meant that she has passed the half way mark in her treatment. I continue to try to be supportive in my usual bumbling way.

Another wedding anniversary

Yesterday we celebrated our 43rd. wedding anniversary. Incredible, but there we are. This has been a challenging celebration, but on to the 44th!