Thursday - Monday, December 1 - 5 2011 (diary)

Every Friday I am invited for lunch with Betty. Together we first do the bridge scores of the previous night, then have lunch with a bottle of red from Betty's respectable wine cellar. Almost too good for me, as I am a quantity drinker not a quality drinker.
Although 5 years my senior, Betty is still very active with various activities and a committed bridge teacher and player.
But this Friday lunch she told to me that she is loosing patients with her students. This confession pleased me no end, for I have become much more impatient too recently. Not with my beginner students, as they are still on a steep learning curve (and are therefore excused), but with those who have played for several years and still seem to have no clue what this game is all about.

Perhaps as we get older, and acquaintances of the same age or even younger than us, are dropping away from life like flies, we are becoming tired of all the forced politeness and restraints we have tried to maintain throughout our lives, and say "To Hell with that! It is irrelevant now!" (Mind you, I have never been an easy person to get on with, but it is definitely getting worse these days.)

But perhaps this year in particular, as the whole world is violently agitating and protesting around us, it has created (or reflects) an all pervading mood which seems to touch every human being on this planet. A restlessness, growing impatience, annoyance, even hostility with some or all of our fellow men.
I believe I may have been affected by this, and as a result have upset or annoyed some people around me this year. Will this mood subside and will things get better next year? We'll see.

Tuesday - Saturday, December 6 - 10 2011 (diary, European politics)

Or is it a new beginning ?
The beginning of a truly unified Europe, without England, which never really was or wanted to be part of it.
During the latest Euro summit, which is proceeding right now as I write this, England has been sidelined (I believe deliberately) by Germany and France.
Placing David Cameron (England's political leader) for the choice to agree to a new European treaty, where the UK's financial institutions would be heavily penalised, Cameron could do nothing else but refuse.
The world at large considers this a "step backwards", "a disaster", but I personally am convinced that this was a deliberate ploy by Germany and France, and their preferred outcome.

In the long run Europe will be much better of without England (which as a result, I believe, will now descend down a lonely path of continued decline) and in years to come a more united and productive Europe will rise from the ashes of the present financial disaster.
The meeting is continuing this weekend, and I believe that the 17 Euro zone countries, plus a few of the 10 "outsider" countries, will agree to a firm new treaty which will set the basis for financial recovery and ultimate progress.