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Well as I write this I
have made it to the three score years and ten so turned 70 on
the 31st of January.
Health wise I'm not bad
at all but still having some challenges with my diabetic lifestyle since
the doctor changed my medicines. As I no longer get the short acting
insulin I feel I've lost some of the control I had.
The Vaccine roll out is
gathering pace and I note a lot of challenges around the world on
vaccine supply. The UK seems to have a lead in that they have tied
up some 400 million doses of a mix of four vaccines with no supply
problems. The EU are way behind and have tried to impose special
export conditions on the UK but as the UK is now out of the EU they are
having some problems with this and have recently reversed their
decision. In fact the EU is in a real state of chaos due to their
very late ordering of the vaccines which has put them behind the queue
when it comes to delivery. Canada also is behind in the queue and
not enough is getting into the country at time of writing.
There is some talk in
the UK on what to do with all the extra vaccine it has once everyone has
received it. There is some suggestion that it should go to
Commonwealth countries including Canada.
Donald Trump lost the
Presidential race and so Biden is now the President and I suspect won't
do nearly as well as Trump did but of course time will tell. There is
some talk about a rigged election and I do give some credence to that
from all the information coming out of the US.
The UK is now totally
out of the EU although have managed to coble together a free trade deal
of sorts with them. They are doing very well in getting free trade
deals around the world and they have now applied to join the Pacific
Trade Partnership which currently includes Canada, Australia and New
Zealand which
are of course 3 of the 4 members of CANZUK.
The news these days is
all about the Covid virus which totally dominates the news which means I don't watch the news much as it's just too depressing.
I find I am now watching YouTube quite a bit as I can get up to date
news but also get to follow some of the homesteader and self sufficient
households to see how they are fairing.
In Scotland things are
heating up on the Independence issue with some weakness showing in the
SNP thanks in part to a poor role out of the vaccine which is well
behind England. There is also a bit of a break up of the SNP with
different factions fighting for control. And of course the Alex Salmond
v Nicola Sturgeon public enquiry going on.
So all in all a lot of
flux in the markets right now with the world order changing. It
does look like there might be an election this year in Canada as the
liberals are not fairing that well and of course in a minority situation
in parliament. The fact that on Biden's first day he stopped the XL
pipeline did not go down well in Canada.
More countries are also
taking China to task for genocide due to their handling of their Muslim
population. As you may know Canada has not faired very well with China
over the past couple of years so perhaps this is a time for them to grow
business elsewhere in the world.
The one major problem
Canada has had is their lack of action on the oil pipeline to get
Alberta oil to the coasts of Canada. In fact it's also harmed
Canada in that they are now finding it hard to get any inward investment
on large capital projects as the country is seen as weak when it comes
to standing up for the investing companies.
Weather wise it's not
been a bad start to the year and while we have had several falls of snow
its not been much over 3 inches although just sufficient to need the
steps and drives cleared which is to the delight of my snow clearer!!!
Just completed my tax
calculations for both my American company and also my Canadian taxes.
The American company figures are now with my American accountant and he
always gets them back to me in time to do my Canadian filing.
So as I await my
vaccine injection I guess having now got to 70 that means it will a bit
sooner than expected but reckon into March before I get seen but we'll
see how that goes.
STOP PRESS: Got my first vaccine
injection on 1st April 2021...
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