What have I been doing?
I'm currently just about to enter the third week of three weeks' holiday. As I've been off work, I've been working on my fictional novel(s) - plural, it's two books. Yes, this is the novel that I began long, long ago, sometime in between the Brexit vote and the Corona pandemic. It's the never-ending story of the story. I've actually done a lot in the last two weeks, so I'm ahead of schedule. It's coming along nicely, though when the end date will be is anyone's guess.
I've also been saving. A few years back I started posting on here about my foray into buying stocks on eToro. Stupidly I was buying Russian stocks back then. Those, minus the Polymetal ones, are still sitting in my account - like cryogenically frozen heads that are destined never to be reanimated. The Russian stocks aside though, I've done alright. I've saved and saved and saved. Opened ISAs. Been quite sensible. So that's became a little hobby of mine. I'm worried I'm getting a little too invested though, no pun intended. A few months ago I ordered a Tesco Club Card and a Sainsbury's Nectar Card in the hope of saving more money. So I'm beginning to feel like Scrooge McDuck.
I do have to continually remind myself though that I'm in my early 40s and still living at home with my parents. So I really do need to get my act together. I spent the entirety of my 20s and 30s idealistically eschewing money in all its forms, so I need to get my hands dirty and have one foot in the dark side now. The pragmatism that comes with age. Very belatedly in my case. A few posts back I was being all lovesick. I actually thought I'd grown out of getting smitten. So getting caught by one of the poisoned arrows from Cupid's quiver upset my applecart a little. It's amazing how much more 'living at home with your parents' stings the pride when there's a woman on the scene. Suddenly competitive urges kick back into gear. The pattern of my life has tended to be that women act as catalysts. I don't get my own way, but I get the lightning jolt of inspiration. So I suspect the pattern will continue here. It's a positive experience, whatever the outcome. Perhaps it's my cryogenically frozen body that's been reanimated.
Politics UK
A little less of me..
I've stepped back from politics a fair bit. I still follow things, but in a much more passive way. I'm detached ..or you could say distracted. The big thing at the moment is the coming budget. I've never known a budget get talked about so much. The amount of foreshadowing has been incredible. It's also fitting that I mentioned Scrooge McDuck earlier, as Rachel Reeves always reminds me of Magica de Spell. It's not that I think she's especially villainous - in truth, I think she's a 'safe pair of hands' vehicle for whoever's actually running the Labour Party. It's more that I think she genuinely looks like her - I think it's the raven hair. That might just be me though, and my strange cartoon-world brain.
(Rachel Reeves)
Obviously, I'm on the other side of the fence to Labour. I preferred the Liz Truss economics. In hindsight it was quite fitting that the mainstream compared her to a lettuce, as her policies felt light, like a salad. Whereas now we have the heavy syrup of the state, glooping over everything. With my new found love of money I'll be paying attention to the details of the budget. Lamenting the intrusions. However, I can't help but have a touch of sympathy. I get what Keir Starmer was saying when he was trying to articulate the difference between people who rely on money made through work and people who rely on money made through money. Having spent the last few years playing the stock market - albeit in my tiny way - I know only too well that I'm making profit sat on my arse doing nothing. That I'm just taking advantage of inflation and the upward flow Ponzi scheme we live in. And that if I had millions in the bank, not thousands, it would be very easy to make a living just buying the S&P 500.
The £12 p/h I make doing my normal job is much more hard-earned than the £12 dividend I may get from holding stock in Aviva or the National Grid. So, though I think the lurch towards more anti-business statism will be bad, I'm not especially annoyed by it. I did say after Labour won the election that I was going to show some goodwill towards them. So far, overall, I've been true to this, and I've just been happy to let them have their go at running the country. We'll see where we are in 12 months' time.
Politics USA
Of course, the big thing at the moment in the US is the election.
(..I've just took some Linda McCartney sausage rolls out the oven. This fact, and what I've just written above about Labour, reminds me that I'm still quite left wing after all.)
Today the Trump/Joe Rogan interview dropped. I listened to the first half in the early hours of this morning, before falling back to sleep. I like Trump, and I hope (and expect) that he'll win. What struck me most about the interview however was Trump's age. I was listening rather than watching, and the juxtaposition of Rogan's zesty voice against Trump's more hushed and raspy voice was noticeable. To be fair to Trump he's been campaigning non-stop. It's truly incredible, and actually quite inspiring, to see a 78 year old man have so much energy and clarity. Still, you can't escape the age factor.
I was thinking maybe this would be a good thing. We'll have a mellower Trump. People fear (some people hope) that he'll be more aggressive in office this time round. But he looks more mellow, and I expect that he'll delegate more. It's hard to make predictions, but I feel hopeful. My expectations aren't high, but I'm hoping things will get a little less crazy and a little more competent.
