Wintery Weather At The Old Folk’s Home

While some of this has been covered, it merits repeating now that winter’s over to a great extent.  One sad fact of life among people who live in “snow-prone” areas is that there’s an inattention to difficult conditions when it comes to some people.  To put that in plainer English, some people don’t shovel the snow. Most any community that is subject to snowfall is likely to have a city ordinance about snow removal; but, that is ignored by some residents (that’s why it was written into the code).  It’s not just private citizens that overlook clearing the sidewalk. There are respected businesses like banks and restaurants that may let it go. 

Now, snow tales there are a-plenty. There is room here for one, just one, which is the choicest ever encountered. Covington doesn’t get a lot of snow, except at times.  It can be a foot deep maybe thirty miles to the north, but a combination of two degrees of temperature and a slightly different angle of wind leaves the area maybe a bit damp from cold rain.  Sometimes, however, it does snow.  One year it did, and yours truly managed to pick a way out of the apartment house to hike a few places.  At the post office, which was enroute, the entire sidewalk was properly shoveled and dumped at the end of the walk, three feet high. 

Old folks are often tottery all of the time.  Snow and ice are no place for trying to walk.  And, there are old folks apartment house managers who do not make snow shoveling a high priority.  In an old folks’ home one has to expect to be a little snowbound for no good reason.  And, furthermore, there may be serious objection to taking matters into one’s own hands.  If there’s maintenance staff and some elderly person should have an accident doing what maintenance is supposed to do, the management can have big trouble on it’s hands.  One must shut up and hibernate or maybe lose one’s digs. 

There are angles to everything. 

Egypt And Such Places

It’s hard not to sit in astonishment at what’s happening in North Africa. Protests are not rare things in the United States; but, apart, from the first one more than than two hundred years ago, they do not topple the government or change the form by writing a new constitution or the like.  Of course, those places along the northern coast of Africa (and the like) have histories of ancient existence, which may easily make a difference in the outlook of the people with ancestry in those ancient times.  And, it can indeed be said that some of the people running those nations have been in office for decades, but so has the Queen of England. 

One of the first places really noticed by yours truly was the Ivory Coast.  While it was known it was a tiny nation, nothing else in particular was known about it, and it seemed strange that the media kept news about it on top.  Why it was a thing for top news still isn’t known, but one story mentioned that the place was a source of chocolate and coffee.  Most serious attention was firmly established to a spot on the map of Africa, with visions of sky-rocketing prices for coffee and chocolate.  From there the attention expanded (as did news reports), especially when it became centered on the Land of the Nile river. 

Political scientists and historians will probably be chewing over the events for a good long time.  The why and the how not to mention the suddenness already are matters of extensive curiosity.  A quick look might make someone concerned about what it will have to do with oil; but, as has already been mentioned, also in the works there is chocolate, coffee and the ancient history along the Nile for tourists to consider.  A more important consideration is how far will upheaval go and to where?  Some reports are speaking of the likes of a hundred thousand people moving from one place to another. 

Tomorrow’s world will be different.