Cold and violence

Today, the start of an extended weekend, Saturday to Tuesday, was an ideal day for a walk. Cold yet clear and bright with not a  cloud in sight. Admittedly I set out late. Not having bathed the night before (I don't have a shower and can't afford to have one installed) I had to do so in the morning. And since my hot water comes from an immersion heater, and I can't run a bath in one go, it took some time to complete my bath. But eventually at half past 11 I was able to leave the house. 

By that time the news of America's attack on Caracas was already known, and the first claims of Nicolás Maduro and his wife being kidnapped (most of the media used the term 'captured', legitimising the American actions) were being made. 

Setting out so late, with sunset only a little after 16:00, my walking options were limited if I wanted a longer walk. I settled on walking to Astley, or at least nearby, then home. Usually I would set out through Salford, past Salford Crescent, onto the A580 (the East Lancs Road), then a long schlep to Higher Green, down to the Bridgewater Canal, back along the towpath to Worsley, and from there, home. But that would mean some of the walk along the canal might be in the dark, or dusk at best. So I decided to do the walk in reverse. It meant a lot of time on roads at the end of the day, but I'm used to it.

American military interventions punctuate my memories. I was very young when they withdrew from Vietnam, but photos and stories still continued in the weekend newspapers my parents took. Later there were actions in Grenada and Nicaragua, both dwarfed by the first and second Gulf Wars. Then came Afghanistan. All of this missing out the country's numerous covert and smaller scale adventures. 

The walk was lovely except for the excessive number of people out and about. My autism makes encountering too many people, even if only to pass them without interaction, acutely uncomfortable. Many of them may have done their obligatory Boxing Day and New Year's Day walks, and for the moment remain motivated to walk on the weekend until other obligations override it until next Christmas. The sky was blue and unblemished, the temperature cold, the ground hard, white with unmelted frost and ice, the sun low and in my eyes much of the way. The canal was mostly frozen, broken up in places. 

Throughout 2025 Donald Trump made noises about making Canada a US state, taking over Greenland, and latterly increasingly talking about action against both Venezuela and Iran. Despite Trump having said the interest in Venezuela is to do with oil, his regime has also attempted to claim that it's about drugs particularly fentanyl, even though it largely originates in China via Mexico. 

A little before Astley Green there's a bridge over the canal which skirts what I think is a western edge of Boothstown. The footpath then swings towards Astley Green and Higher Green. I might have continued that far, but again the sheer number of people with and without dogs drove me north up an earlier footpath than intended, and shortly onto the East Lancs. I turned right, to the east, and set out for Salford as the sun got progressively lower.

During his press conference, Trump sounded tired and ill. He also made more or less explicit threats against Colombia and Cuba. The news coverage I heard was poor. Almost all of the interviewees were more or less positive about events, and I don't recall hearing any direct opposition or criticism from the opponents or critics themselves. Beyond that, the general tenor of reporting was barely concealed excitement about the 'elite Delta Force', the military operation, the 'capture' (read kidnapping) of Maduro, and some unquestioning glazing of Venezuelan opposition figures. There was no mention of casualties, though it has now been reported that at least 40 people were killed. With a lot of bombs detonated surely you'd expect some fatalities. 

There isn't a great deal more to say about the walk home. After dusk the temperature (according to the Met Office, who I find the most accurate) dropped from 2 °C to 0 °C. There was a full moon, but the roads were in any case well lit. I listened to a few episodes of Blood Work, in particular and appropriately on Dick Cheney following the old monster's death after much too long a life, and on Carl Schmitt, another person whose survival to extreme old age feels like a calculated cosmic insult.