Monday 8th January 2018 - Great War & Despair

I continue to read the Woolf diaries for relief and stimulation.

We have moved on to January 2018 now & the war has become much more of a preoccupation. Resources of all sorts are scarce, much is rationed & inflation is obviously rife.

I suspect that propaganda induced 'madness of crowds' euphoria has a natural shelf-life no matter how great the machinations of government & interested parties. The reality of casualties, hardship & bombings can only be withstood or glossed over for a definite period & the population becomes increasingly war-weary. I'm no historian and very aware of the horrendous troop attrition but my instinct is that it is this physical & mental debilitation of the populous on all sides, as much as who is 'winning' , that eventually prompts the pursuit of some kind of peace accord in most conflicts. There are those far more knowledgeable than I who will no doubt be able to put me straight on this matter.

Wife is using a  cheap return train ticket provided by a friend and is travelling to London for the day, so all is quiet. This ought to have been conducive to work but it's so damned cold in the house I'm sticking to the lounge. Brought a couple of boxes of what I thought would be good, saleable stock downstairs but was disappointed on opening them - would be a lot of effort for very little reward so here I am again. Would anyone hire a bright but flawed 53 year old with a patchy employment record to do something useful & constructive? Despair again.

I've noticed that nobody is alighting on my ramblings as the constant refresh of the stats page shows. Research suggests that WordPress is the best place for bloggers to inhabit but unfortunately I'm unable to pay even the modest fees on there. Maybe, I need to sex-up the content a bit. I'll try adding some sexy labels - 'XXX', 'Hardcore' and the like. Pretty sure any visits would be brief but it would be some respite from the loneliness. Let's give it a try!