In Bed

And not in a good way

I’m sitting next to a Covid test. So far it’s resolutely negative - though we’re still within the time limit. If I stays that way, then: yay! I just feel like hell.

Woot.

I mean clearly it is good news; I really don’t want Covid again. At the same time, how can I feel this terrible for no good virological reason whatsoever?

Actually by the time I finish this I’ll know for sure. Cross your fingers.

What’s happening?

Let me see: Putin declared a partial mobilisation, referendums (that is the plural - see also “octopuses”) and nuclear readiness. Although broadly speaking “this is not a bluff” is globally considered to be code for “hold me back, Bobby, before I ‘ave ‘im, I’m - Bobby, are you f*cking listening?” so I’m not sure what’s going on there.

Liz Truss relegalised fracking in the UK while the founding fracker announced it was pointless because we’ve got the wrong kind of rocks. Kwasi Kwarteng abolished the top tax bracket, and JRM did something too, but it was so depressingly obvious and ghastly I’ve forgotten what. Announced summary flogging for long Covid sufferers? Sounds right, but I know it’s not.

To my eye, this administration is composed of capitalism fan accounts. They’re pointing at stuff with a magic budget wand and expecting pumpkins to turn into carriages - it isn’t government so much as roleplay. Alas, not a uniquely Tory vice this week, as the head of the GMB demands that Labour abandon ‘bourgeois environmentalism’ and embrace… fracking.

In the US, Donald Trump (and diverse others) are being sued for stuff. More stuff is rumoured.

What else?

I’m still enjoying She-Hulk, but I’m starting to want a bit more from it. I had a moment in Rings of Power where I suddenly wasn’t sure if two or three of the storylines were in different time periods (I blame S1 of Witcher). I find the Elrond/Durin relationship simultaneously aggravating and not - they’re bordering on rude mechanicals and yet they’re among the most sensible characters, presumably with a serious role to play. Although I’m slightly in love with Ismael Cruz Cordova’s performance. I suspect the whole cast is actually very good, but they’re not all getting the chance to show it.

I’m still editing Like Neon and still happy with it. Hope to finish in the next fortnight; then I’ll have books lined up through to 2025, if that’s how we do it. Which would be cool.

Satsumas

I’m eating lots of them.

Oh, and my Covid test is negative. So at least one thing is right with the world.