Strike a Light!

I've been thinking about light this week; and that, of course, includes lights, and more philosophical enlightenment, too.

On Monday and Tuesday I wasn't working.  Instead my attention was focussed on a hospital appointment on Tuesday afternoon, when I underwent a colonoscopy procedure.  As you may know, this involves a camera, and normally cameras don't operate without light.  There was also light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak, when the doctor announced at the end of it that he had found nothing.  Until that moment, I hadn't realised how anxious I had been about this beneath the surface, but suddenly there came a feeling of great relief, as if someone had switched on a great light!

The sky on Thursday evening was riven with more lights, as lots of fireworks were let off to mark Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights.  I was a little apprehensive, since I had to get up early yesterday morning, but fortunately my bedroom is on the opposite side from the 'noisy quarter', and I was undisturbed.

You may think it strange, but I like driving in the evening, at night, or in the early morning.  For one thing it's usually more peaceful, but often there is beauty to be seen, too.  I remember one night driving home from Scotland along the A68, where a straight road on the map is actually so up and down that at times it looked as if I were driving straight at the full moon.  On another occasion, I had set off early for a destination up the A1, and was able to delight in the sunrise over my right wing-mirror.

Yesterday's early departure was for Avonmouth and Weston-super-Mare, but the illumination wasn't provided by sunrise, but by a car on fire on the hard shoulder of the M25.  Now when I say on fire, it wasn't just a plume of smoke, although that was there as well; there were flames shooting high into the sky, and the heat was quite intense as I passed in the second lane.  It looked - thankfully - as if driver and passengers were safely standing by another vehicle some way off.

As dawn was breaking my mind was on a totally different kind of light ... or rather the lack of it.  The news bulletins reported the story of the requirement by the EU of an additional contribution of £1.7 billion from the UK, according to the headlines because of our increased productivity.  The main item revealed that this was actually the result of revised calculations under terms agreed nearly twenty years ago, but you wouldn't think so to hear some of the politicians interviewed, who were quick to make party capital out of the news.  Terms like 'an extra tax', 'an illegal tax' were heard; later bulletins reported our PM bemoaning the short notice - which I feel is valid - but then going on to grumble about being asked to pay more anyway, when in previous years we benefitted from a rebate ... which presumably was not so objectionable.  At least the interviews in this morning's news programme were more reasoned and understanding of what is going on.  However, I do wish this country would for once get a grip on the fact that it is PART OF EUROPE, instead of always belly-aching about THEM and US as two sides of a constant battle!

While controversy reigns, let's turn back to the hospital I visited at the beginning of the week, where  I couldn't have received better treatment ... as has always been the case.  What a shame that nurses and other public sector employees were taking industrial action last week about pay.  I confess to a degree of enlightenment there myself: I hadn't realised that these people earn so little that they can't afford to keep their families.  I suppose, because my income fluctuates as much as it does, I've lost any feeling for seeing the same figure week after week, knowing that it won't change until the next annual review.  Over the past quarter, for example, my highest weekly income was more than twice the lowest; and the lowest figure wouldn't have been enough to meet the monthly rent on my flat, let alone cover my business expenses - of which fuel alone is nearly £8,000 a year!  I guess it's all a matter of balance.

And having got all that off my chest, I notice it's time to change the clocks back to GMT tonight!  It sort of puts things into a greater perspective, somehow ... and gives us a bit more light in the mornings!