25 or 6 to 4

[pensnest]

It has been an... itchy time. For I have thrush. And I went to the pharmacist, who told me she could not supply me with the Good Stuff because of my age, and I must apply to my GP. Which I did. And they were full, and advised me to go to the Walk In Centre. Which I did. And oh, bliss, I got my medication. But, damn. Three unnecessary days of pain.

*

Lots of singing to do: my women's chorus is ramping up for Convention at the end of October, but we are also participating in a concert on October 18th. We've been sorta working on making our Convention songs look as though we're really at a festival in the 1970s, with all the, hm, flavour that might entail. If you know what I mean. And then pulling it back a bit.

I'm also going to a singing day in Ipswich (horrors!) next weekend, so have to learn a version of Here Comes the Sun. Did you know that Here Comes the Sun cannot be written out in a sane way? The sheet music starts in 4/4 time, then has four bars of 3/8, then a bar of 2/4, then back to 4/4. Further in it goes 4/4, 4 x 3/8, 1 x 2/4, 1 x 4/4, 1 x 2/4, 3 x 3/8, 1 x 5/8, 1 x 4/4, 1 x 2/4, 3 x 3/8, 1 x 5/8, 1 x 4/4, 1 x 2.4, 3 x 3/8, 1 x 5/8, then at long last (mercifully) back to 4/4 for a blissful stretch of normality. Oh my god. Fortunately there are teach tracks. When you listen to the teach track, it makes sense. I don't suppose George Harrison ever bothered to write it out.

*

I have had some decent tomatoes, which is a great relief considering the abject failure of pretty much everything else. Well, the pumpkin is alive and producing flowers, but I fear me it is a bit late in the day for it to do anything special in the way of actual pumpkins. And there are teeny tiny French beans on the two bean plants... I'm thinking of signing up for a regular veg delivery over the winter.

*

The Voters of America constantly amaze me. I mean, it ought to be, like, 80/20 for Kamala by now, but no, still too close for any kind of confidence. Not that the voters in my own country have been any kind of smart, but seriously. Donald Trump? Seriously? Mind you, when the electoral system is straight out of the 1790s I suppose it's hard to blame the voters all the way.

*

Little news on the squirrel front. Most of them seem to have moved away. I did see one sitting on top of the squirrel feeder a couple of days ago. This was spectacularly useless since (a) the squirrel feeder opens at the top, and (b) there was no feed in it. I have since stocked it with a fat ball. I wonder how long the squirrels will take to notice!

Comments

[author_by_night]

As an American, I don't get this either.

I do think many Trump voters are less pro-Trump and more pro-anyone who isn't Kamala Harris (or Joe Biden, or any Democrat). But apparently not enough that we have someone other than Trump running. I also feel like the US is divided into completely different values. In other words, unfortunately there are many, many hateful people here, more than I previously liked to believe.

[turps]

Glad you got your meds in the end.

I've had a total courgette failure this year, the first time ever. In comparison, the tomatoes are great and I've been picking raspberries for the first time. It's been a weird growing year.

[wenchpixie]

Here Comes the Sun is a NIGHTMARE to learn from score, there's no way he can have written it out surely?

Infinite sympathies re: the thrush and all the rigmarole around getting the good stuff to get rid.

[stranger]

The voters of America constantly amaze me with their stupidity, also. Sadly, I have to live with them; hopefully, Harris adding her verve and intelligence to the contest may wake up enough people to change the game.

From stuff I've read, Trump as a phenomenon can be blamed on (1) the two-party political landscape, where at the general election there's one or the other and nothing else; (2) the economic policies from Reagan onward that pushed wealth upwards, so middle and lower-middle class voters are less secure monetarily; (3) Trump's talents for promising those voters better times and being believed, despite his inability to follow through. Note that (3) is the definition of a scam artist. Trump has done it on a bigger scale than usual.

[pensnest]

I felt *exactly* like that in 2016 with our unbelievably stupid Brexit vote. I thought I lived in a reasonably tolerant, pleasant country, and it turned out I lived with a fuckload of ignorant peasants.

[pensnest]

We had an incredibly wet spring/early summer, then hot and drought-like conditions for July/August. Very odd.

[pensnest]

I suspect the barbershop arranger wrought with the score for a very long time. Although I suppose someone else might have done the wrestling! Frightening. I'm personally pretty sure the song was just written the way he wanted it, probably recorded rather than written down.

The good stuff is working, *multiple yays*.

[pensnest]

I surely hope so. But it's hard for me, from afar, to see the progress of this campaign—it must be hellish when it is something that is going to have a direct effect on your life. I had so hoped Hillary Clinton would win i 2016, a small compensation for the infuriating Brexit referendum. I'm crossing my fingers for you all.

[author_by_night]

Totally.

I look back at some of our attitudes back then, towards Brexit types and Trump types (before they gained any real traction), and it seems we never really took them as seriously as we should have. Not that we didn't know they were still causing problems, but I think we were optimistic that they were on their way out and bitter about losing. Which I actually think is true, I just think that's why they banded together to appoint Trump and Brexit.

[jacieleigh]

I'm sorry you had to go without the medication you needed for so long! Glad you got it eventually.

As near as I can tell, the Beatles generally wrote out their lyrics and occasionally jotted down the chords, but no, they never wrote out timing or anything like that. It's partially in their heads and partially what their engineers and producer did to match things up. I've known way too many musicians in Beatles tribute bands and they've talked about how portions of some recordings were slightly sped up or slowed down. In some cases, they took a bit from one take and matched it up with a bit from a different take.

I know T-rumpus has a deeply devoted cult base. You'd think that would be about 5% of the country, but no. Apparently, it's more like 40-45%, which is unbelievable. But the issue is, he's a con man. He's been on television. Too many dumbasses think he's great because he was on TV. There have been articles about the way he repeats lies over and over being the same way hostages are "conditioned". His former employees have noted that he often says that if he repeats lies often enough, his followers will believe anything he says. And sadly, they do! They're either too stupid, too lazy, or too controlled to bother to research the real truth of anything.

They've also said that HE has a low IQ and speaks at a 5th-grade level. Unfortunately, our school system is terrible. It's hard to believe how many truly STUPID people are in the US.

I see a HUGE problem these days, with the internet, is that people are searching for sites that agree with what they WANT the truth to be, rather than what the actual truth is. For instance, this Realtor I know doesn't believe in climate change, so he is always posting this quote from a Nobel winner stating that climate change isn't really a problem. But if you research it, his statement has been widely debunked by a ton of other people. He also likes to post pictures of the Statue of Liberty taken years apart with the water line in the same place. The thing is, there is no telling if they were taken at low tide or high tide. Probably, the older one was at high tide and the newer one is at low tide. It's like these people are all living in a state of denial and refuse to pull their heads out of the sand and face the truth.

I am baffled that Harris seems to have (and should have) the women voters, the Black voters, the Hispanic voters, really most of the non-White voters, the Pro-Choice group, the Dems, and a fair amount of Reps who HATE T-rumpus and understand what a danger he is. It's frightening how many stupid people, gullible people, hateful people and White supremacists there still are in this country. I'm truly baffled that it's close to 50/50 when it seems like it should be 75/25 in Harris' favor.

Hard to believe that the Reps COULD HAVE impeached him and this wouldn't be a problem. If they had any backbone, they would have done it and he'd be out of the picture. But no, they enable him and support him even though they KNOW what a danger he is and that he lies about everything. He tells people what they want to hear. All he cares about is himself and getting elected to keep his ass out of jail. I'm baffled that anyone would vote for a felon over a prosecutor. Unbelievable!

Not only that, but T-rumpus is going downhill fast. He truly seems to be suffering from a mental breakdown of sorts or the early stages of dementia. He sounds like a raving lunatic. And I'll bet anything, if someone took his speeches and used AI to put them in Joe B's voice, Donnie's followers would be pointing out how crazy they sound! One of the news stations put up bits from his 2016 debate against his latest debate and he's very clearly diminished... A LOT.

America should have done away with the electorate system decades ago. It's racist. If that was gone, Hillary would have won in 2016. She had the popular vote. The electorate system was created because the slave owners wanted their slaves to count as population, but didn't want them to vote. It's an outdated system and should go away. People should have the right to vote or not. But if they don't vote, then they shouldn't count. With the electorate system, the weight of the population is counted even if many people refrain from voting. I hope the Dems win everything so they can push through things like eliminating the electorate system, and add something to the Constitution that a felon cannot hold any political office! /end rant

[pensnest]

I remember my blithe assumption that *nobody* could be so stupid as to vote to leave the EU. And my incredulous disbelief at the polling data coming from the USA. Truly, people are fathomless.

[pensnest]

I think I'd heard that about the Beatles, now you mention it. It makes sense. A few decades earlier, songs were sold in sheet music form, but by then we had records, so there did not have to be a written version.

I can't help but feel that *if* Trump wins, he won't be president for long. He'll be examined by a competent doctor and found not to be able to do the very demanding job, and the repellent Vance creature will take over and set about dismantling all the rights women and minorities have acquired. The Trump voters mostly don't want that, but they'll have done their job and will no longer be relevant.

Ignorance is almost like a drug. I suppose we all consider ourselves to be the standard human being, so we assume most other people think the way we do. And it is hard to acknowledge that other people may have a 'better' point of view.

Really, you need a solid, solid Blue vote so that the new Madam President has the wherewithal to make serious changes. I will have my fingers crossed *hard*.

It does strike me as interesting, and a smart tactic, that so very little is being made of the fact that if elected, KH would be the first woman president. It's in keeping with her "it's about YOU" attitude.

[jacieleigh]

When I was three years old, my favorite things were cats, horses and The Beatles. Decades later, they're still my favorite things (not counting family, etc.). I find it interesting to take a look at the Beatles' original lyric sheets, which occasionally make it to an auction. And I always remember that the song "Badge" was titled because Eric Clapton misread George Harrison's handwriting of "Bridge". LOL

One problem is that during his first term, he had some people who would tell him "no, you can't do that". This time, he's already said he's going to fire everyone and replace them with his loyalists... people who will do anything he says. He'll get a doctor who will say he's fine and we'll have a raving madman in charge until it's far too late. I don't think either JB or DT is fit to serve another term, but I do find Joe more coherent at this point. Hard to believe the Reps don't see how bad Old Don has gotten.

JD is such a weasel. Not long ago he called DT "America's Hitler", then suddenly he's in step with him? What? They probably have some deal that JD will let Don Jr call the shots if anything happens to his dad.

My hope is, that either he's paid people off to rig the polls, which he at least tried to do last time, or that a LOT of people are telling friends and family (and polls) they'll vote for him, but will secretly cast their votes blue.

KH has said that she does not want this to be about her race or that she's a woman, which I agree, it's a smart move for her to push that it's about the people not about her. I just can't believe people don't heed the warnings about HIM. If he gets in charge and takes away everyone's rights and the Constitution like he wants to, nothing else will matter. He'll funnel everything to himself. This will likely be the most important election of our time in the States. All we can do is hold on tight and hope it swings blue.

[minoanmiss]

*sends soothing vibes*

I am not a prophetess but as soon as I saw DT throw his MAGA hat into the ring in 2016 I knew he'd win. Many many Americans really love to hate. I am currently torn between hope and prudent fear.

[pensnest]

My assumption is that if Trump gets re-elected, it won't be long before they bring in someone to diagnose him as incompetent, and JD Vance gets to be President and to implement the Project 2025 plan as his billionaire masters wish. Which is nightmarish.

Let's hope they never get the chance.

[pensnest]

The good stuff is *working*, yay! But soothing vibes always welcome.

The 'love to hate' thing is probably the most terrifying of all. I will keep all possible digits firmly crossed.

[jacieleigh]

If he wins, we'll have to hope Congress goes blue. If they have him declared incompetent, and impeach #2, it will fall to the leader of the house. If both the House and Senate go blue, he may have a lot of issues trying to push his 2025 agenda anyway. But yeah, hopefully, we won't go there.

[turlough]

Good luck with the singing!

Sad that your veggies have been so uncooperative this year. Signing up for regular delivers over the winter sounds like an excellent idea.

The voting system in the US gives me hives!

How long did it take the squirrels to notice the fatball?

[watervole]

We've had to move our feeder twice. We have a rat that is nearly as smart as your squirrels...