Omar's Diary to mid March 2021

There has been much to trouble me lately.

"Patience is the best remedy for every trouble" - Plautus (254BC - 184BC)

HEALTH WORRIES - FELINE

Mitzi has been to my private medical centre at least twice since Christmas. Nothing too serious, just a bit out of sorts with a seasonal infection. I think what really brought matters to a head was that one morning Man Servant was working in my office while Lady Servant was having a lie in. Apparently, Mitzi got her face as close as she could to that of Lady Servant and sneezed. It was quite a vigorous sneeze and the translucent nasal excretions woke Lady Servant quite abruptly.

Under the current COVID restrictions felines do not have to wear face masks but it might be a good idea if not for the disease but for general hygiene reasons.

Mitzi was bundled into her transport pod and taken to the medical centre later that day. Whatever ailed her seems to have been cured, thankfully. A measure of her recovery is the frequency with which she now jumps from the windowsill on to Man Servant lying in bed using his bladder area as an effective trampoline. It never fails to get him out of bed.

HEALTH WORRIES - SERVANTS

Man Servant had his first of two vaccinations for COVID in early March late on a Monday afternoon.

He was very impressed with the way the centre was organised where he had to go. He was on his way home before his allocated time; that is how efficiently the system was working. On Monday evening he said, quite proudly, that he was not suffering from any side effects apart from a little tiredness. To be honest he always suffers from that. Anyway, I felt a hubristic fall was about to happen from which I would gain a higher feline sense of schadenfreude.

On Tuesday morning he suffered. Oh, how he suffered. He was up at four very thirsty and with a headache without Mitzi's help. This did not stop me getting under his feet in the kitchen demanding breakfast unsympathetically. Then, an hour later it started. The high temperature, continuing headache and an all over aching. Just after three that same afternoon it was like a miracle. All the symptoms vanished, and he was back to normal as if nothing had happened.

He had the Oxford Astra Zeneca inoculation. Naively in my opinion, he believed that as it was associated with “Oxford” he would gain some intellectual advancement. Sadly, this did not happen. He forgot where he had left the keys to the other “red thing” and wasted an hour looking for them.

At least the servants’ health service appears to be achieving the same standards as Mitzi and I benefit from with ours as far as convenience is concerned.

Lady Servant has her first COVID inoculation during the third week of March.

MY CARBON FOOTPRINT

This has been a very serious concern of mine, especially since the servant species in this country went into lock down.

Instead of going shopping for mine and Mitzi’s food the Servants have been shopping online. My concern is that whatever they order for us comes from the Amazon. Now, I know from the postcards I received last year from Paddington Bear that the Amazon is in South America on the other side of the world. What is worse is that I suspect that whatever is ordered is delivered to this country by airfreight. It always arrives two or three days after Lady Servant has placed the order which could not be done via a ship. Marvellous service but at what cost both financially and to the environment. I do hope my Servants try to source our food locally.

I also have a moral issue with imports coming into our country. They may not be produced in environments achieving as high standards as are the normal here. That is in terms of pay and conditions for those employed and the quality of what we buy. Regarding the concerns about pay and conditions this is, to use a cliche, a double-edged sword. When buying from these places it is probably best to continue rather than change habits. However bad those pay and conditions are there are jobs involved and if we stopped buying their products what would happen to those jobs. To paraphrase Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize winner for economics, we should be aware but not change our habits.

Mitzi and I insist on quality fish-based comestibles.

OMARNOMICS

There should not be a problem getting fish-based products in this country. Since its departure from the EU has through the terms and conditions of the agreement signed on Christmas Eve been able to close its borders to British fish.

Many in that industry have lost their jobs. So, here is my solution. All the fish that would have been caught and sold to Europe can still be caught but kept in this country. It could be used to make food for the likes of Mitzi and me rather than having to import from as far away as the Amazon That way damage to the environment is reduced and some employment in the domestic fishing industry is maintained. And we will be assured of the quality of the fish used, British fish.

“There can be economy only where there is efficiency” – Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1891)

I am sure "Omarnomics" could work if only it was given a chance.

PROLONGED ABSENCE FROM OWN DESK

The following image will help explain why I have been absent from my desk for this most recent prolonged period:

I have been very patient.