Today is a work day, but at last I have got away from paid work for a few months. I've taken unpaid leave from my hospital secretary job in Leeds to help the family here in Shropshire.
A lot has happened since 2012. Both of our mothers passed away last spring after a long hard couple of years - both had dementia and both had to be managed with carers and eventually into care homes as residents, one at a distance of 200 miles. More happily we have also acquired two grandchildren, a boy born in Oxford last December and a girl born at the end of November this year.
Mr Lunnunis now works from home part time, with the odd trip into Manchester. So our income is rather paltry; we'll get a little rent from our son who is living in our house in Yorkshire while we're away. I am on a career break, so not allowed to work for money.
Moving house, Christmas, rental home with low cupboards,plus weight gain and no opportunities for the gym mean I have got a minor back injury which is a lot better today thanks (else I wouldn't be typing this).
My son in law the vicar wonders if I will be doing more writing now that I'm away from work. I left the sequel to my novel Genuine Bargains aside when the problems with mum became too much added to the pressures at work (no one in the NHS is exempt from the grinding pressure created by the system which only ever increases). Instead I became active in a trade union, acting as an advocate for other workers and trying to improve my own position at the same time. When I go back I will have a year and a half minimum left before I can retire and, I hope, wish the NHS farewell for good.
My serious writing began when I was away from employment last, over ten years ago. Since giving up the struggle I have not written anything, except for the Monday short pieces set by the writing group I belonged to in Yorkshire.
Sometimes it feels as though I have 'done it' by writing Genuine Bargains and it is all downhill from here, That's certainly been true for many successful artists, that their first work was definitive and they were never able to recapture those heights.
The Political
The movement of our society into a new phase of oppression has pushed me much further to the left than I have ever been. I do not feel represented by our elected politicians, none of whom are left wing enough to get this country back on track, Once I was an enthusiastic Blairite but I feel that for all his achievements (and they were considerable) his plans ultimately failed on a basic level because he did not see how evil the commercial sector actually is. He valiantly tried to work with business and business just ripped off our society. Unlike many I do not see his foreign adventures as some sort of criminal activity. I believe he acted in good faith at all times and is essentially a good person.
I have not found a real home among the existing left parties because they are not realistic about foreign policy and immigration.
We should
Renationalise our railways and utilities
Encourage public transport, discourage private cars
Repeal anti union legislation
Have a points system for immigration, make immigration difficult but at the same time -
Give genuine help to poorer countries at home (ie not trade linked bonuses for the rich classes that don't do anything for the poor, or similarly what amount to bribes in return for political leverage)
Do not support either side in the Middle East, Be strictly neutral.
Support English regions, not London
I leave the Welsh and Scots to their own politics. I am English. There may be times when we should all pull together as 'Great Britain' but I don't think this needs to be a formal union.
