Another topic overlooked whilst I was AWOL was the story of the American woman who was said to be in vegetative state. Anyone who might complain about the election coverage here in UK as being excessive, thronged by the ignorant, complicated by the expert, should look at the internet coverage of this incident. The religious element ranging from the fervid – almost rabid – to the total flat-earth non-believers were all involved. There were allegations that her parents were secretly giving her life-bolstering injections. The total break between her parents and the husband led to all sorts of further allegations.

My own opinion on this is not fully set in stone. I cannot imagine how things took some 13 years between the accident and the application to withhold nutrition. The parents would seem to have regarded their daughter as some sort of pet that they could not let go to the vet. At the beginning my suspicion was that the husband had decided to act now as he had a new squeeze. Yes, he had but not a new one. The whole saga has reinforced my conviction that my Do Not Resuscitate order is a right and proper precaution against the prospect that I might end my days plugged into the electricity like some condom-vending machine.

Ok – time for some uplift as the old film star said. We took delivery last evening of the new car. The new Picasso is a neat little thing. In terms of interior space it seems as large as the old C5 but is most certainly nowhere as big overall. It has all the toys we had before except the rain sensing wipers. Seems that Citroen are having trouble with the software related to this. How ‘if raining = on’ can be difficult, I do not know. Still, that’s what makes money for programmers. The bits are all there waiting to be switched to go when the computer decides it can accommodate them. Sable is happy with her space in the load area so the main objection that I feared is withheld. Cannot afford to have a moaning dog.

Small joke brought on by news that Tesco supermarket has enjoyed record profit and will now extend even more into Tesco convenience stores within towns rather than large out of town shops. Lady is in spice aisle of small Tesco. Asks spotty faced youth in Tesco tabard, “Do you have any cloves?” SFY replies, “Not many – just some t-shirts over there” Boom Boom

I’ve embarked on a small piece of annoyance. I have been looking at the (new) Freedom of Information legislation. My mind then turned to what it could do for me. What I set in train is a demand to the Army Records people to see any and all documents that might be in my personal file that I did not see at the time the item was created. Don’t know even if there are any but it might dredge up something from some back-stabbing bar steward in my past. First hurdle seems to have been cleared; they have admitted that I was in the Army so that is a start. I had to give them further and better instructions which I have now done. I was tempted to raise things by replying that I would get my solicitor to answer but decided to leave that arrow in the quiver until it may be better fired.