January 2019 ... here we go again!

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

5 January 2019        10,294 steps            no running        weight 79.5kg
   
   Today has been the hottest day yet of this warm spell, the temperature rising to the mid-30s with the ubiquitous high levels of humidity and rendering communication between otherwise sensible, intelligent adults to little more than a sweaty grunt of indifference. The good news is that it all ended this afternoon at about 3 p.m. when a series of thunderstorms with a southerly cool change took charge and restored some sense of normality to both the climate and human communications. It has also meant some eight hours (and counting) of nearly continuous rain; not unwelcome, but making a dent in my efforts to maintain my minimum 10,000 steps program which had to be completed indoors, or else withstand a soaking. In hindsight, the soaking would probably have been rather pleasant.  
   Apart from the discomfort this weather has caused, it has also seen us tormented by an infestation of small, black, hairy caterpillars. Some weeks back we had a similar infestation of small black and orange tiger moths, which I don’t recall ever seeing in such large numbers before. We thought we had dealt with them reasonably effectively, but clearly they had laid large numbers of eggs in our wall cavities, for we’ve now seen thousands of them emerging from the air vents, especially on warm, humid nights. Rather than poison the blighters and risk the resulting smell of a squillion decaying critters inside the walls, we have painstakingly collected the blighters as they emerge and ‘dealt’ them a relatively humane death.
   The warm weather has also seemingly brought out the lunatic fringe, with far right-wing protestors – well, OK let’s call them what they are; Nazis - marching at St. Kilda beach in Melbourne. These, as in the U.S. and Europe, are growing in media coverage, if not numbers, and like plague moths and caterpillars, really ought to be exterminated by the local pest controllers. Some people and organisations, including the police force, believe these Nazis have a right to peaceful protest, but I think their beliefs are so abhorrent I’d be happy to see them simply vanish from the Earth.
   President Trump also falls into the category of things and people I’d like to see vanish from the Earth. He’s now threatening to call a state of emergency over his inability to get the funds he needs to build his colossal border wall. Interesting times, indeed.
   Along with Nazis, Trump and caterpillars, another thing not yet vanishing is my surplus weight, which shot up again overnight, but on the back of yesterday’s lunchtime indulgence, is no great surprise. At least this is one thing I can actively do something about.
   Watch this space.