Monday 18 March 2024

Sunday 17th March 2024

I'm not going to do too many of these, "four years ago" posts, but just bear with me.

On St Patrick's Day 2020, I met up with a friend who dies church tours to visit three churches on Thanet.

A couple of people had bailed, but I don't really think it struck us then how things were going to change.

I met the group at the church in Ramsgate, and in a few minutes the tour arrived, John talked us through the chuch history and features. We did not shake hands, and I think we wore masks, if so the first time I did that.

The second church, IN Margate, cancelled at the last momenth, so I left the tour as I had been to the other two churches they were going to visit. Withn 6 days the whole country would be closed down and we would go nowhere for months.

So it goes. So it goes.

Sunday.

And in contrast to the previous day, rain was expected to fall into late afternoon.

We had nowhere to go, nothing to do.

Until the football began at quarter to one, at least for me.

We did lay in bed, but the sun rising at six now means it is pretty much light, by quarter to, and our brains wake us up.

So, we lay in bed a while, then get up to feed the cats, Jools does get dressed to go to the early session at the pool, and I drink coffee.

Once she is back, I decide to go and visit friends Gary and Julie, over in River. Time slips through our fingers, I was last there just before Christmas to deliver cards, though Gary was out. And since then we have been busy, and then I hurt my knee, so have not been out much.

So, I drive over to Dover, down past the old flat, under the railway, past The Crickets and then the nursing home where Nan saw out her days, to their house on the corner beside the park.

They have many plans for the year with the motor home and without, in fact were going away the next day for the first trip of the year.

So we chat over a brew and look out of their back window over the valley of the Dour, and houses spread on the other side of the river.

Seventy seven Then back home for midday, making lunch before the football starts, and to listen to DID on the wireless.

Jools went upstairs to paint the back room some more, so Scully and I watch football from the sofa, the second game being Man Utd v Liverpool, which despite what anyone in the media is telling you was not the best cup tie of all time, instead a game between a team taking to casually (Liverpool) and the other (Utd) who didn't seem to be bothered to do the basics.

A game broke out, however, Liverpool failing to score more than two, and a last minute Utd leveller. And after one more goal each in extra time, Utd break from defending a corner to slot in a winner in the 121st minute.

Football. And that was that.

Not shy about retiring

I plan to retire on 25th August next year.

I will be sixty.

That is the 25th, not the 31st, I plan to stop as soon as possible.

Its not that I hate work, it makes all the other stuff we do possible, and has helped pay for Chez Jelltex, aka the Ugly House.

And through work I have travelled round Europe and gone to China too.

I have also had a breakdown through it, and am still at work through the kindness and understanding of my manager and colleagues.

I saw a colleague nearly have a breakdown just before he retired, and I have no plan on having a breakdown in my 60s.

So, my manager last week asked if I still planned to retire, as plans would have to be made for a replacement.

Let that sink in, a replacemet 18 months in the planning, meaning I must do some serious shit or know serious shit. Or both.

I replied, among other thngs, that the company does not value me, the job I do nor the knowledge I have that could be used to improve the company. Were that to change, maybe, but I doubt things would change so much I would feel I had to change my plans.

Retiring earlier is more likely, if I'm honest.

So, that's the update.

Sunday 17 March 2024

Saturday 16th March 2024

At some point, I had to push my knee further.

So it was on Saturday we agreed to go to Dover Castle, not too far if I became "lame".

Up at six, with it being not just light outside, but the sun rose just gone six, and it felt like it was going to be a great spring day.

Pulsatilla vulgaris I went to Tesco, we didn't need much, and with Jools only working three days next week, we have enough frozen meals for her lunches.

Dover Pharos Tesco was pretty empty, so I rush round getting the stuff we needed, and some stuff not on the list, then back home for quarter to eight to pack away the gatherings and have breakfast of fruit. Spanish strawberries have now appeared, and some are tasty as well as juicy, so we have a big bowl of fruit and more coffee before it was time to go to the castle for when it opened.

Seventy six What we didn't know was that this weekend is where folks who play the lottery or scratchcards could use an old lottery ticket to gain free entry to English Heritage or National Trust properties as a thanks for for grants from the lottery fund.

Dover Pharos This would mean it would be crazy crowded.

This we found when we arrived at the turn off on Castle Hill to the castle, the queue of traffic leading all the way down, waiting for the ten o'clock opening.

Dover Pharos More joined the queue behind us, this did not feel normal.

But once we were allowed in, we all took a parking slot, then walked to the entrance, we flashed our new membership cards, and walked up the slope to the Keep and the church.

Dover Pharos St Mary in Castro looks quite modern, and inside is mostly Victorian, but there are signs it is older. In fact it is Saxon, though until the middle of the 19th century was ruinous, so was repaired as to how it now appears.

The arches and windows are clearly Saxon, though little else remains.

I took shots of the windows, arches and some fittings with the big lens, but by then others had arrived at the church, so having got my shots, we left.

Dover Pharos And further decided to go back to the castle a less busy day, so walked down to the main area in front of the Keep and then back down to the car park, where all spaces were now full, and more cars arriving every minute.

It only takes five minutes to drive home, where it was time for a brew, and a day of relaxing ahead, with the strong possibility for me of 10 (ten) hours of sport, though in the end I bailed on the late England v France rugby match as Ireland won the Grand Slam.

Dover Pharos At three, Norwich played Stoke, on a sunny afternoon, and romped to a fine 3-0 win, thus strengthening our claim to sixth place in the table, but a long way to go yet.

Dover Pharos On the tellybox then was Fulham v Spurs, in which Spurs went all Spursy and lost 3-0, but it could have been worse.

Saturday 16 March 2024

Friday 15th March 2024

Seventy five days into the year, and a Friday too.

The days are getting longer and warmer, although the threat of frost and even snow is not over yet.

Jools had the day off, but much planned, so up at six so she could go to yoga, and I put the bins out.

The rain had begun before dawn and carried on until lunchtime before easing, the the clouds cleared.

This was a Friday full of meetings, including a two hour department meeting where, again, we were told how great things are

Seventy five Each morning, or when the rain stops, I go out to check the garden for new plants and flowers, so it was on when of these checks I finally noticed the grape hyacinths growing out of the lawnmeadow.

Scully sez: We were going to the cinema to dee Dune 2: this time its sandier. But, with the redundancies at Jools's work, there was a goodbye party for those who are leaving, so she drove to Hythe to say her goodbyes.

Its never easy.

By the time she returned, I had finished work and the kettle was boiling again. Its a 6th sense I tell you.

Not much else to tell, just the afternoon waiting for when the music quiz started. I didn't do well this week, as the works of Steve Millar are mostly unknown to me.

But by then it was the weekend, and time to relax even more.

Friday 15 March 2024

Election extinction

After Johnson won the last election in 2019, I wrote at how odd it was he fought so hard to keep it when partygate happened, despite he having no clear skillset that made him suitable to be Prime Minister, not inclined to learning those skills, or dedicating the time and attention needed to be an effective PM.

He was follower by Liz Truss, who did something remarkable, in that she was a worse PM than Johnson was. She did only last, what, 37 days as PM, and fourteen of those the country closed down due to the death of the Queen. Truss did not have the ability to communicate, have the skills to be PM, be convinced she needed the skills and unid the checks and balances of State that enabled her and her Chancelor to push through their mini budget, with unfunded tax cuts that so spooked the markets.

She was in turn replaced by Sunak.Another politician promoted beyond his abilities, not having the skills or life experiences to be able to understand what life is like for the poor. Let us not forget his did not know how to pay for fuel in garage, had to be shown hw his swipe card works, and whose wife's family still trades in Russia and will be expempt tax even though the great unwashed are not.

All three lead a party that now cannot be lead, spit into factions, each has learned that with 30 MOs voting with the opposition, any meaningful bill or policy can be voted down, or threatened with being voted down. Thus winning concessions, and yet still wanting more and more, and still complain about it.

I also wrote if we would in the not too distant future mourn the stable days of May's time as PM, spread over the hung Parliament wracked with meaningless meaningful votes on Brexit. May had her faults, but she was a titan compared to those who followed.

And when the time comes, either next week, next month or next year to replace Sunak, what dregs will they appoint to lead the party. How hard will they have to scrape the bottom of the barrel of talent that is the modern Cnonservative Party.

It is now spooked by the bastard offspring of UKIP, The Reform Party, so lurching to the right to avoid defeat by UKIP now leaves them considering a further luch to negate the apparent threat by 30p and Reform. Its all pointless, as they will always want more, and what they do get is never enough, nor extreme enough to have been the "true" Brexit or immigration control.

Previous Conservative PMs were David Cameron, whose failure to confont the headbangers lead to him promising the referendum, then walking out when he lost. And before that it was John Major, who oversaw the largest landslide Labour victory in 1997. Before him was Thatcher, who despite her legion faults, had the clarity of vision to deliver her policies to lay waste to the UK's nationalised heavy industries, and convert the UK economy to Service.

Which Brexit then undermind.

So, what does the modern Conservative Party stand for, other than trying to out-racist Reform? Who under the age of 60 will vote for them, thanks to the loss of freedom of movement and the demonisation of what they call "woke". The country is swimming in sewage, the NHS, railways, Justice systemand much more is on its knees after a decade of austerity, and HUnt's recipe for the Nation is more austerity, cuts tot he NHS and Justice.

And cuts to the Armed Forces, just as Trump threatens to end support for Ukraine if he winds the US election, then there will bo nothing to stop Russia from threatening more of Nato, what a time to cut even more defence spending. For tax cuts for the already rich.

And yet the Conservatives want to win the election, despite all of the failures overseen in the last 14 years. Maybe there is still some family silver they have yet to pawn off to their mates.

Thursday 14th March 2024

Thursday: and Jools was back to work, though we did sleep through the alarm until twenty past six, then there was the rush to get ready after having the first coffee of the day.

And to work, with three hours of meetings from eight, while outside the sun rose at six way to the south-east, so far now that its rays now light up the side bedroom when it rises. And it seems only a couple of weeks ago the sun was rising at eight and opposite the back of the house.

Seventy four I still am cautious about going out for a walk, my knee is some days better than others, but I don't want to tear the cartilage again. But one day I will have really get walking again.

Twins One day.

Lunch was lemon pasta again. Jools isn't keen. I like the tartness of it to be honest, doubly so when mixed with sliced chillies.

The afternoon grew old, and turned to dinnertime. I made a simple lamb tagine, leaving the meat out, though coated with spices to be fried just before the fruit and vegetables, laced with honey and spices would be ready.

Pasta a limone Just as I was about to cook the lamb, I get a phone call from Jools: she had been locked in the factory with the finance director, as the site manager failed to check in the offices upstairs. They had to wait half an hour to be let out, then she had to walk to the car and drive home.

So, the tagine stewed some more and got more flavour, once she got home, I fried the lamb and dished up.

It was splendid, also with some of the focaccia from the evening before.

Thursday 14 March 2024

Wednesday 13th March 2024

Four years ago, the world changed.

Football got cancelled, as did most sport, as did entertainment, though pub, bars and restaurants were allowed to remain open for another 10 days thanks to Johnson's dithering.

Those were some dark days, made worse for me as I re-read those posts seeing how well I forecast things would be, and turned out.

That Friday afternoon, after my journey down from North Wales, along almost deserted motorways back to Kent, was how to fill the voids in afternoons and evenings left by having no football.

Even worse wehn radio too began to be affected, and recorded shows became the norm.

If we knew what was coming, would that weekend have been harder to bear?

Like most things in life, we coped.

The nation coped.

Despite of the actions of Johnson and his Government.

News on the COVID enquiry has gone quiet, but we have learned that the Government did not follow all the science, just the science that suited them. Then griftd billions in "VIP Lane" PPE contracts. Estimates vary on how much money was wasted, there are no official figures as that would have to come from the gifters. But tens of billions of pounds, just vanished. Thirty seven billion on Dido Harding's Test and Trace system which never worked. And she has not been seen for months. And her husband, the old ant-corruption tsar.

The anniversay went pretty much unremarked on the things I listen to or watch, but my blogs record the chaos and madness of the pandemic.

Meanwhile.

Spring, if not here already is pretty close.

In two weeks daylight will equal darkness, and with each day, more flowers either bloom or sprout afresh from the soil.

Pulsatilla vulgaris Being Wednesday, Jools was back home, though had chores to run, as the tip runs come more frequent as old and tired furniture is sent to the MFI in sky, and we scour Ikea for new stuff.

The back office is now bare, walls mostly painted, but needs new carpet and then shelving and a chair to make Jools feels at home when I listen to the football downstairs.

So, she is gone at eight, and after tip onto the Romney Marsh to drop off her working desk for stripping and recoating.

Meaning I was home all day.

There is work, and outside the rain had failed to come at least for one day.

I have been checking the pond pretty much every day since the beginning of February for spawn, with no luck.

I saw frogs, a couple of weeks back three engaged in apparent mating, then on Tuesday I saw what I assumed to be a pregnant female just below the surface.

Spawn Wednesday morning, just after sunrise, I checked and she was engaged in laying eggs.

So, Spring is here. Soon the air will be filled with the sound of dozens of froglets.

Reddit.

She came home for lunch, we ate together, then she did more stuff while I applied the finishing touches to my audit report and its presentation at the end of the day.

Seventy three As a treat, a railtour was due to come through east Kent, though due to reasons, the Royal Scot was not coming, and the Class 40 wasn't either.

The Golden Arrow at Martin Mill, Kent So, an hour late, I went down to Martin Mill, climbed down the underpass and onto the down platform, so when the tour came the other way I could get shots, and more as it powered up Guston Bank.

The Golden Arrow at Martin Mill, Kent It hoved into view soundlessly, but its headlights shining bright, I rattled off shots as she entered the station and carried on towards Dover.

The Golden Arrow at Martin Mill, Kent 88 shots in a few seconds, and for once I had the camera on the right settings.

Back home quickly so Jools could go and try a new "bounce" class, while I would stay home and entertain the cats, and have focaccia toasted, then dipped into olive oil.

The Golden Arrow at Martin Mill, Kent Yummy.

And wine, of course.

There was football in the evening, though we went to bed at nine. Tired, and not just because I had finished the bottle of Vin Santos.

Ahem.