1st September, 2021. 536th day since our 1st lockdown date (15th March, 2020).

I have been fascinated by the paralympics which, to me, are the pinnacle of human achievement over adversity. After watching any paralympic sport, you realise that it would be a great achievement to get to their standards. Table tennis. canoeing, running, cycling, botcha are just some of the sports that have enthralled us all. Money is put into the various sports although some events miss out. Most of the funding comes from the National lottery but I think that much more should come from central government.The lift that UK success has given us all in this horrible period in our lives is immeasurable and worth more than the millions spent on vanity projects. For those who have not been immersed in the paralympics, then they have missed something wonderful.

What has been emphasised, more than once, is the commitment of parents and friends to support them, in more ways than one, including taking them to their training facilities, sometimes great distances away. Able bodied athletes get the same support but it must be much more of a challenge for the disabled who will need specialist equipment also. Congratulations to them all who will no doubt share the excitement of winning Olympic Medals.

Some more Karma today as Weatherspoons announce difficulties in getting beer stocks to their pubs. Bud Light, Carling and Coors are actually unavailable in some branches. They will try to deflect the blame to Covid related problems but Covid did not create the HGV driver shortage. Brexit did. The driver shortage arose BEFORE the pandemic. Tim Martin, the Australian owner and fervent Brexiteer, must be dead chuffed. Especially after printing 200,000 beer mats in 2016, urging people to “take back control”. Yeh, right!! In the meantime, McDonald’s have run out of Milkshake, Nando’s are complaining about a lack of chicken and the boss of the Co-op said that shortages are at a worse level than ever seen before. Thank you Brexit!!

Watched Ronnie play football tonight. Not at his best but they won 6-2. Met David there and had a good long chat. Went toThe Fair Maid for a meal but would have had to wait at least 45 minutes. So we went home and had toast.