Pears

Can you believe it's Thursday already?  Wait.  Let me look at my calendar.  Nope.  I'm wrong.  It's just another work day.  There, isn't that easier?  Just calling today another workday?  I work tomorrow, too, but then I have 2 days off.  Yippee!
Oh, my.  I'm getting a lot of steps in at the store.  We've got our Christmas shoppers, who are looking for deals, and that's about it.  Contractor's work load slows during the holidays because no one wants their house torn up over the holidays.  And then there is the weather.  While they're forecasting a high of around 50 (F) tomorrow, usually you can find them hanging around the upper 30's to mid 40's.  So now is the time when people begin planning their spring events.
"The Body in the Well" is moving along nicely.  The tentative title for the chapter I'm working on right now is 'In Nancy's Notch.'  I'm sure that will change.  My cover artist says that sounds too much like porn.  She's right.  What's funny is that Nancy's notch is not really what you think.  It isn't really Nancy's notch isn't really a notch at all.  It's a saloon, in a town which was once known as Bartlett... as in the pear.  Of course, that was before Jack Nancy came to town.

Anyway, I guess everybody now knows BoJo's Conservatives won.  Brexit is going to be a done deal on January 31st.  There goes the NHS.  A lot of people are going to be upset when they start gettting bills for their healthcare.  The foreigners are going to move back to the continent and take their jobs with them, but that's okay.  Lower paying jobs are going to save the day... right? As long as some believe they have their sovereign rights back things are going to be just jack dandy.

I saw that in this country consumer prices just edged up a little... well, that's not totally accurate. Food and gasoline prices climb more than a little bit.  Their increase was offset by lower priced cars and trucks.  Prices in my neighborhood Giant have gone up a lot.  But that's okay, right?  This is how you make America great.  Oh, and when January rolls around, prepare for a less than glowing jobs report.  All those temp jobs are going to go away until next Christmas.  Part-timers in my store will find their schedules cut, many will only get 5 hours a week.  Part-timers are supplementing their income, they're not working for the fun of it.  Five hours a week just doesn't cut it.  Do you really think the Idiot Jerk in the White House cares?  or Republicans?  or Conservatives?  Hell no.

Scot-Free

Well, it's Monday and I don't go back to work today, unlike some of you.  That will happen tomorrow.  My schedule is not bad for the next couple of weeks.  What will be interesting will the the one for the week of the new year.  That's a 32 hour work week with 8 hours holiday pay.  I could work for 5 days in a row, or for as many as 9.  I have a scheduled 4 days off starting on 1/4, so we shall have to wait and see.
I have mounted my clock.  I know some will find that sentence amusing.  Here it is.

Not only will I now know what the time is, I'll also know the temperature.  Heat rises.  I always knew my upstairs was warmer than the first floor (ground floor for everyone living outside the United States).  The variance is 4 degrees.  It will be interesting to see how warm the room gets when I start pedaling.
I downloaded another route in Greece, however I won't be riding it today.  This afternoon I'm going to try and climb a 6 mile hill in Italy that's part of my challenge.  If I can get to the top of that I will move up to the next level in Rouvy Cycling.
Oh, and I saw the Russians were banned from the next Olympics.  Doping.  Now, I don't know if the directive is coming from the top, but I wouldn't be surprised.  We have our Idiot Jerk, the Russians have their Putsy Putin.  Both are trying to be Emperors.   I understand Putsy Putin is losing his popularity.  Our Idiot Jerk was never really popular... except among of small-minded individuals.
There was an interesting article in Reuters in regard to jobs and America.  Jobs are going to coastal cities, not cities in the heart of the country.   There doesn't seem to be much potential in cities like Indianapolis, and St. Louis, and Kansas City for future job growth, which runs completely contrary to  the Idiot Jerk's "Make America First" campaign.  The voters in those cities who turned out for the Idiot Jerk might just as well have sat home on their toilets and flushed their votes away.  The only way jobs will return to those areas is if we give corporations big tax breaks and incentives, and that doesn't guarantee those jobs they bring will be high paying.  We should never started giving them tax breaks in the first place.  Of course, isn't that what the GOP has always planned, for the American people to bear the burden of taxes while corporations go Scot-Free?  They call it Trickle Down Economics.