electricland

Jun. 9th, 2005

I got up this morning and washed dishes and baked muffins before showering and catching the 8:10 express bus. My announcement of these facts caused

crankygrrl, not unnaturally, to look sharply at me and ask "Who are you and what have you done with ELL?"

Yes, we'll see how long this lasts, but I'm thinking it's time I tried out efficiency and tidiness instead of complaining under the weight of my untidy apartment and unwashed dishes. I've gone on for too long in the apparent belief that incompetence is somehow cute and people won't like me any more if my life is under control, but all that gets me is a panicky feeling of Not Getting Things Done. To hell with it, I say!

Book club was great. Everyone made a bee-line out my back door the moment they arrived and stood around on the balcony drinking sangria (simplest possible recipe -- red wine and orange juice -- I used a Pelee Island Merlot which claimed to have blackberry and cherry notes in it, and chopped up some fruit). So that was nice; the balcony has been properly baptized, and everybody made approving noises about my apartment. Made tortellini with asparagus and red peppers, which was yummy. J and K brought appetizers courtesy President's Choice, T brought dessert courtesy Laura Secord, and we forgot all about S's salad, which is a shame, because she brought her own tomatoes.

Oh yeah, and the book discussion was good too. ;)

Just to prove that I haven't moved all the way over to grace and competence yet, I managed to spill sangria on the (beige) rug and on the cuff of my (white) pants. Poured soda water on the rug, which has now shrunk in that spot. Pants seem OK following instant application of soap and cold water. Oh well.

Everyone headed out around 10, and I corralled the dishes and stood out on the balcony for a while listening to Ella Fitzgerald. It was lovely.

Top court strikes down law forbidding private clinics

I'm not sure how I feel about this.

On the one hand, I don't think that allowing private clinics is going to spell The Grisly End Of Public Health Care As We Know It. (As the product of a private high school who believes passionately in public education, it would be fairly hypocritical of me to claim this, anyway.) I think there's a finite market for private care, and I don't think that it will necessarily siphon all the best doctors out of the public system. Nor do I think it's inherently wrong for people who can afford it to take themselves off the waiting list and get faster care. (If they were paying to go to the head of the line and bumping everyone else down, that would definitely be wrong.) That said, I don't know as much about the parallel public/private health care system in, say, Britain as I would like (blame the obsessive U.S.-Canada mutual navel-gazing tunnel vision that our media and commentators seem to suffer from on this issue). Can any Brits enlighten me? Has the NHS gone to hell in a handbasket because of private health care?

On the other hand, I am depressed that it's come to this. I don't believe that there are any inherent problems with the public system that make it unworkable and doomed to failure and years-long waiting lists. I believe that it should be possible to fix the system and shorten the waiting lists and get everybody the care they need without having to resort to private clinics. Lots of people have studied the issue and made recommendations; I wish the powers that be would lighten up a little and try some of them.