FutureDiary : 04 January 2030 - US President in hospital, Vice President on standby

Big news today is that the US President is in hospital.

I heard it on the radio on the way back from Oswestry.

They haven't released full details yet but the word on Twitter is that the Vice President is being rushed back to Washington to be sworn in as Acting President.

That might just be the Twitter rumour mill, there's been nothing on the BBC yet.

But I am guessing it could be serious. Trump is well in his eighties now and he's had a pretty heavy schedule since he got back into office.

The Oswestry patient transport trip wasn't too bad but we had to take quite a detour on the way back as there was some hefty flooding just before Newtown. I didn't want to risk it even with the Cybertruck. Driving an electric vehicle through over two feet of water might not end well.

That meant I got back late to help Valentina prepare the meal.

We'd invited Daniel and Maggie over for dinner this evening before the news about the redundancy.

I didn't know if it was going to be a bit awkward but in the end we spent the whole evening talking about Trump and what might happen next.

Dan and Mag's youngest daughter Nia lives in the States. She went back with her fiance Daryl last year when his assignment in the UK finished.

They met when he was covering the last NATO summit at Celtic Manor where she was Banqueting Manager I think.

Dan's not a big fan of Trump so he wasn't too sad about the news.

It was not a big surprise when the Republicans got back in last time, particularly after the whole Philippines Phiasco as they called it. Losing all the US military bases in the Philippines cost the Democrats dearly.

What was more of a surprise was that Republicans brought back Trump for a second run. He was already over 80 when the election campaign begun.

But after eight years of the Democrats in charge, it seemed that enough of America was ready for 'Make America Great Again' Take 2.

That's what they've got. Well almost. They got the President and the Senate at least.

Trump has been tweeting from the hip since he came back just like the good old days. Tweet first, consult later.

So dinner was all a bit US and them 😀

Dan and Maggie are a bit worried about it all with Nia being there, and the wedding coming up in a few months.

They hadn't said about the wedding before but Nia only told them on New Year's Day.

So the redundancy has really come at a bad time. Weddings don't come cheap!

Tricky to write this bit. Confession time.

When they mentioned the wedding and the costs and job and all that, I just blurted out "If you want to sell some of your land up on the mountain I can probably help you out".

Dan didn't really pick up on it. I think the third pint of my home brew and some more messages from Nia distracted him.

And it was getting late.

Maybe I was a bit 'insensitive'.

Dan and his brother inherited some land from their father. He died last spring, and probate came through a couple of days before Christmas.

Valentina told me after they had gone that Maggie had mentioned to her that Dan and Ronnie were thinking about planting a little woodland up on the mountain in memory of their dad.

I didn't know that at the time. I thought I would be helping with a quick sale.

Tomorrow I'll call Dan to apologise.

Two pints were more than enough for me.

Time to sleep.

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If you have missed the previous diary entries, you can catch up...

• FutureDiary : 01 January 2030 - It's 2030 and we are still here...

• FutureDiary : 02 January 2030 - That was quick, that was crap and we sprung a leak

• FutureDiary : 03 January 2030 - Excellent news from Anne in China

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[ graphics by @pennsif]