Saturday 29th June 2024

With the orchid season doing its pausing thing between the main and late seasons, what to do with the day?

Well, there's always Tesco. And some hunting and gathering.

And despite not having thing to really get up for, my stupid brain had me awake at half five again.

So, let's do it.

After coffee we drove to Tesco, filled the car and went round spending a large amount of money for what was really just a week's supply. Inflation may have come down, but prices are so very high. We're lucky we can cope, I have no idea how people with families are coping.

Back home then for fruit and a second coffee, before having decided that as the Marsh Helleborines were starting to flower at Sandwich Bay, we should go there.

And then to Sandwich for some stinky cheese.

And then to Ramsgate to photograph the glass in Pugin's church.

A plan, then.

We parked at Sandwich Bay, got permission to walk past the ringing nets, and onto the fenced area of dune slacks beyond, where the orchids were.

I know I said we were between seasons, but there's aways one or two to see.

Across the meadow and into the reserve, along the track where dragonflies and butterflies were already busy, but not settling much. A few Marbled Whites were about, and one was basking, so I crept up, pressed the shutter and got only one shot before the noise scared it off.

Off then into the slacks, and the colony of Marsh Helleborines is clearly spreading, and looks like, to me, that it has doubled in the decade we have been coming here.

The spikes themselves are about a week from being fully open, but looking glorious. We walk along the path, trying very hard not to step on a spike.

Also in view dozens of Southern Marsh, though most going to seed now, though a few worth a shot or two, and Ragged Robin, a plant that loves damp and boggy conditions.

I go to the far site of the enclosure, and stunned to find another 12 or so spikes of Marsh Helleborine, the first time I have seen them here, and as these were next to a track, easy to get shots.

Back then to the observatory, and after buying and consuming an ice cream, we drove into Sandwich as we wanted some cheese.

Not all cheeses are created equal. There are cheeses and there are cheeses, and here in east Kent, there is really only one place to gut the proper French unpasteurised cattle and goats cheeses, and that's NO Name Shop in either Deal or Sandwich. The original and biggest of the two is in Sandwich, on the corner of No Name Street.

We spent thirty quid on cheese, fresh crusty bread and fancy sausage rolls. Where should we eat them?

We realised the car parking ticket was about to run out, so went back to the car, then drove to Ramsgate to eat on the grassed area above the cliffs before going to Pugin's church, now the Catholic Shrine to St Augustine.

Their website said it would be open from half twelve, but in the church a service was underway, people preying and someone ringing a tiny bell. We waited for twenty minutes or more, with no sign of the service ending, elsewhere in the complex, a Christening was taking place, with people in the very best clothes.

We left, walked back to the car, and then drove back to Sandwich and home, getting back at two, with time for a late lunch of cheese, crusty bread and wine, which is as wonderful as it sounds.

Then, at five the football restarted: this time its knockout, the so called round of 16. Any mistakes and you're out.

Italy lost to Switzerland 2-0, and were terrible as the Swiss were good, then later, Germany beat Denmark, also 2-0, thanks to some very generous VAR decisions.

I drank wine and snacked on tortilla chips, while Scully snored beside me, happy to have company.

So much wasted time

It is easy to forget how long the Conservatives have been in power.

Its almost as long as I have been with Vestas, one less month, as I remember listening to the news reports in the days after the election as to whether Labour could form a "Rainbow coalition" of a number of parties, of the Conservatives would form a minority government. In the end they formed a calition of their own with the LibDems, and formed a Government that lasted the full five years of a Parliamentary term.

The LibDems were critised for allowing the Conservatives to bring in austerity, and so were hammered in the 2015 election, which the Conservatives won, with a romist for an in/out referendum on leaving the EU.

This was to head off the threat of Farage and UKIP, a policy which we see now totally failed as he has formed a new party and is a new threat to the ultra-right wing Conservative Party, scaring it inot lurching even further right. The Conservative and Union Party soold its soul to keep power, and come Friday morning, the size of the punishment beating the electorate is going to gve it will become manifest.

In 14 years the Tories have delivered the most brutal of austerities on the UK, took it out of the EU, failed to prepare and mitigate the Pandemic, instead use the crisis to grift for themselves and their friends. Billions of pounds were spent via illegal VIP lanes, which ignored the usual suppliers of PPE.

Austerity brought not only poverty to a large sway of the nation, but ravaged services, cut doctors and nurses, caused an almost total collapse of the Justice System, to the point a victime of sexual assault might not have their day in court for up to FIVE years.

In 2019, the Conservatives wone the election with an 80 seat majority, giving it the greatest gift the UK Constitution can grant a party: almost unlimited power. Power to enact policies in it's manifesto, or using the Parliament Act, reintroducing policies in a new session to trump reservations and ammendments by the House of Lords.

Johnson got Brext done, his Brexit, the details of which he denied at the time their effect would have, and tried to row back on several times, threatening to break domestic and international law. Prior to the election, he and the two Leaders of both Houses of Parliament were have found to have given the Queen illegal advice. No apology was made, and Johnson suffered no punishement.

Johnson only got punished when Parliament decreed he had mislead The Commons and had failed to correct the record, as per Erskin May, the book on Paerliamentary procedures. He tried to hang on, only to have most of his Cabinet resign over the maddest 12 hours in Constitutional history, and I include Liz Truss's time in power in that, so he could not form a Government.

Truss herself was in power less than two months, including the time the country closed down for the Queen's death and funeral. Even then she nearly crashed the economy and all our pensions by her Chancellor's "Economic Statement", which included uncosted tax cuts and spending. The markets panicked and the markets crashed, which must have come as a shock to the self-described free marketeers. At least £74 billion was pumped into pensions and the economy, which had to be paid for by the UK paying higher interest rates on the international market, and all of us paying higher taxes one way or another.

There is so much more to say, but this is what happens when journalists become politicians and so do not have the skills or knowledge to enact policies, even sensible ones. If there was any justice in the world, the party should be out of power decades, and those who lead it in jail for life on charges of misconduct in public office.

It might yet happen.

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Friday 28th June 2024

We have made it to the end of another week, and indeed, another month.

In less than 14 months, I can jump off the treadmill and go and do something less boring instead.

Like watching paint dry. Or something.

It was my only chance of a lay in this week, what with four early mornings due to audits, so my stupid brain had me awake at half four.

Friday. Filled with work, bin collections and a void where two or three football games should be, as the round of 16 begins on Saturday.

Jools leaves at six for yoga, I put out the bins, fill up the feeders, make a second coffee, and am just about human come seven.

There is a meeting. Of course. I have a stack of things to do, but why not have a meeting instead, and one without agenda or structure?

So it goes, so it goes.

I do the minimum of tasks I had set out for myself, and told myself that meant I have five audit reports to write next week, so no excuses and no procrastinating!

My ankle was feeling OK, but once Jools came back, she went to walk to the library, while I stayed here and read the fresh off the printers issue of WSC out in the sunshine on the patio.

Colours in the garden are no turning from yellows to blues to reds and oranges. I went out to snap something for the shot of the day, and got a blue thing on a long stem that was tricky to snap, and growing through the winding path is our first Vipers Bugloss, which we are thrilled to have, and this single spike should seed well.

Talking of seeds: I picked a large back of Yellow Rattle seeds and seed heads ready for re-seeding in the autumn, then settled back down to read some more.

There was no quiz, and Jen is away in the north with Sylv, so we watched a documentary and then some music, and soon it was half eight and bed time.

Phew.

Thursday 27th June 2024

Thursday.

Another audit day.

FML.

But the last one of the week, and I should be done by eleven, even if it did mean getting up at half five once again.

Another one of them sunny mornings with little breeze, and again sitting on the bench on the patio looked very tempting indeed.

As I went out to check the moth trap, Cleo looked so sweet sitting on the water butt, I took her picture with the sun behind making it tool like her ears were on fire!

And so, to work.

Not much to report, just worked through the morning until we were done at ten to eleven, so I could make a brew and have breakfast.

It clouded over again through the morning, and was cool enough not to go for a walk. But there was another reason not to go out: that evening i had an appointment with the chiropractor regarding my ankle and what I could do.

So, no dinner, and out just before seven, down the hill to the clinic, and once in I told him the story, and turns out that despite being painful, it was the most basic of strains and there was no serious damage as there were no bruising at the time.

He poked, prodded and massaged, and once done he mailed me some exercises and instructions, but I already felt better.

Back home for supper of koftes and wine, and all of a sudden came all over snoozy, so we went to bed at half eight, what with there being no football and all that.

Wednesday 26th June 2024

Third day of four days auditing, and my brain is melting, still. Eight hours a day concentrating on a screen, taking notes asking questions and so on, takes its toll.

And starting at seven in the morning doesn't help either, just over an hour to wake up and be ready, maybe have breakfast, but usually its just too early for anything else other than coffee.

Another stunning day dawned outside, and drinking the second coffee outside with Scully, I realise I could quite happily sit there all day and watch the garden.

But work called, and so at seven I join the meeting via Teams and the audit begins.

Or does it.

Seems that there is unhappiness at the nature of the meeting, managers claiming they didn't know they had to prioritise, so it was scrubbed. And so instead of audits, I had a day to catch up on other work.

I had breakfast sitting out with Scully, and watched as dozens of bees and wasps busied around the ten-foot high stem of the Echium pininana. I take a shot, and if you look carefully, you can see the bees.

There is always other stuff to fill time when I should be actually working, so new stain of chaos that was previously unknown, so it was that my time, and energy, was sucked dry.

There was football in the early evening too, the last four group games before a two day break, so between cooking dinner I catch the first game which kicked off at five. IN Group E, all teams had won one game each, so all four teams were tied on three points. Both games ended in draws, so goals scored counted, and Ukraine went home early.

In the evening, Georgia played, and bear, Portugal, and Ronaldo was very unhappy and got booked for a tantrum.

Which was nice.

Tuesday 25th June 2024

Thanks to Brexit, shipments of beer from Belgium and wine from the rest of the EU are getting limited, also not helped by Sunak's new alcohol by volume stealth tax. Anyhoos, I got a mail last week that my supplier had a new shipment from Belgium, thirty seconds later I had spent nigh on a hundred quid on these and two big bottles of Chimay.

These came early in the afternoon of a day in which I spent another eight hours plus auditing.

As I am an auditor.

Up again at half five, coffee and breakfast, so online at half six, checking mails and being ready to start.

Another glorious day outside, unbroken sunshine, light winds and getting very warm to hot.

The morning passed well, so I had a good lunch, then began the afternoon's work, only for the Lords of Misrule to take over, and the audit turn into something else quite different.

By four, I was done, brain scrambled and had had enough.

Dinner was Caprese and bread bought by Jools on the way home, so I could hear next door to Bev and Steve's to watch the England game, hoping against hope it would be better.

It was betting, in the way it couldn't get any worse, so despite the game ending 0-0, England topped the group having scored twice in three games.

We did share some beers through the evening: one at 9.6% and then shared tw bottles of Chimay at 9%, by ten, I was more than ready for my bed, so made my excuses and wandered back home next door.

Monday 24th June 2024

I audit therefore I am.

An auditor.

This week, the Gods of Audit has bestowed on me six audits to do, two each on Monday and Tuesday, and one per day on Wednesday and Thursday. And because of the time difference with CET, the morning ones each day will begin at seven.

Oh my.

Which means setting the alarm, and getting up at half five, which meant on Monday, coinciding with the mist rising in the Dip and so thick enough to hide the village from view.

Even worse was that it was going to be a glorious day. Glorious week in fact, and I would be inside, at the dining room table eight hours of it, not finishing until four.

Sigh.

So, up and downing the first coffee, setting up the computer and arranging my notes to be ready for seven, and the Teams call.

Yes, it was a long morning, with an hour's break to squeeze lunch into before doing it all again in the afternoon.

It was cool inside, warm enough outside to melt cats.

Come four, and my brain was melting, no fit state to write reports or anything other than to listen to a podcast and have a brew.

As Jools was at aquafit, supper of pizza would be late, so late the only games of the day would have kicked off.

I watched Croatia v Italy, with Croatia leading until the 99th minute and second place in the group, but Italy levelled with just about their only shot, the las kick if the game.

Croatia out, and players collapsed in tears on the pitch.

Eight wasted years

Last weekend marked the 8th anniversary of the Brexit Referendum vote, and so began the period of instability.

I remarked last time how business hate uncertainty and instability.

With the ever-changing goalposts and definitions of what Brexit would mean and the denial at the highest level as to what the hardest of Brexit would mean at ports, borders and the effects it would have on the economy.

And with it being the only election issue at the last election, you would expect the Government to at least mention how they have successfully delivered it. They have started, bu theeconomy is in freefall, no longer blamed on the EU, but still migrants and the excuse of COVID and the war in Ukraine.

But of course all countries suffered with COVID and the War, only the UK imposed economic sanctions on itself with Brexit. The pain for the EU27 of Brexit is divided twenty seven ways, and the ports and border were ready by the end of 2019, our are still not either ready, or it would be economically ruinous for them to operate as intended.

Labour does't mention Brexit, lest reopen the old Brexit believer and remainers, so neither party say much about it, other than make it work.

The Tories are saying things like, Starmer would reverse Brexit or rejoin the EU by the back door, whatever that means, but the truth si the EU would not have us, not straight away, anyway.

So the country and economy will limp on, exports hit, hundreds of thousands of empty jobs, and food inflation increasing at over 6% and will go higher if the latest import controls are imposed.

As a country we have to be honest about where we are, how we got here and where we want to go, and the choices that will have to be made. That its not an election issue in 2024 is astonishing and sad at the same time.

Sunday 23rd June 2024

And so it came to pass, that two days after the solstice, summer did arrive in east Kent, and verily the sun did shine, and all were thankful.

This season, I have not done half the orchiding I would have normally, mostly die to my knee and ankle, but also because, I am not so bothered about seeing every species in flower every year. Driving an hour from home to see a spike or two of Early Marsh or Lesser Butterfly seems less important to me now.

And so on a perfect Sunday morning, one with endless sunshine and light winds, instead of chasing orchids, I went chasing butterflies.

During the week, I had seen posts from folks in Kent having seen the first White Admirals and Silver Washed Fritillaries, so I thought we should go and hunt them.

What I failed to take into account was that butterflies, unlike orchids, need warming up in the morning, as flight muscles are cold and stiff and need some basking.

We left home after coffee at half eight, driving onto the M20 to Ashford before turning off towards the Romney Marsh.

At Ham Street, the car park was already full, but not with botanists, but with dog-walkers cars, as no one is safe from hounds off the leads, even in an actual nature reserve.

Piles of dog shit lay on the path, and people with their dogs off the leash abounded, though in the woodland gallop we only passed by two such people.

As it was, we were too early, so sat on a bench at the junction of four paths to sit and wait for it to warm up.

Birds sang, squirrels sunbathed and sunshine fell through the canopy of oak leaves overhead.

We walked back to the car, seeing only Meadow Browns and Large Skippers, and I only got shots of the latter.

Back in the car, we drve along the country roads through Ruckinge, Bonnington to Lympne, and then onto the A20 to Hythe and onto the motorway, where traffic was pretty heavy.

We drove back to Dover, then up Military Road to Western Heights so I could see if there were any Small Blues about. There just so happens to be Common Spotted Orchids and Pyramidals there too, so would get shots of something.

As soon as I was out the car and up the bank to the small meadow, I saw the first of the Small Blues, flying low just above the grass, but still early enough so they had to bask, so laying down I could get shots.

I snapped a few orchids too, and that was it, back to the car to drive down the down into town, then back onto Townwall Street and up Jubilee Way to home.

It was half eleven, and I had not eaten, so I made a quick breakfast, and got onto the making lunch of hash, of course. Boiling potatoes and chopping vegetables.

We ate whilst listening to Desert Island Discs, of course, then had to stay awake through the afternoon without the help of football as there was just the final Group A games at eight.

Supper was a quick and easy pan-cooked stuffed focaccia recipe I had seen on Friday, so had bought some soft cheese and truffle flavoured cured ham to be the stuffing.

All done in about 40 minutes, and the result was like a naan bread crossed with focaccia, but full of runny cheese and tasty ham.

It wasn't bad, readers, not bad at all.

And then the football, Scotland in a must win game with Hungary, and it was all thin gruel once again with so much resting on the result.

Hungary won with a 99th minute break away goal, to send Scotland home early. Once again.

Saturday 22nd June 2024

Dover has been the scene of many invasions, and many invasions and trip to France and beyond.

This is not the first such rally we have seen, but I think its safe to say, its the one with the most horsepower we have seen.

Your basic Mustang has a 5,0 litre engine, there up upgrades beyond that, and then there are the AC and Shelby built Mustangs.

The internet tells us that the Shelby will get 18 miles to the UK gallon on the highway, not in town.

Which is why all we refuelling at either Tesco or down at the Duke of Yorks.

Pretty much all were shiny, and with rain in the air, many owners were polishing the raindrops out before the grande depart to the port.

We went inside after taking shots, got our stuff and came out, just as the beats were being made ready to leave, with engines with a throaty roar firing up, and low slung muscle cars inching out of the car park.

We were in the middle of a train of cars, two up front and six behind, following the road to the A2 and onto it towards the port.

We turned off to St Maggies while the Mustangs headed to catch their sailings, a weekend drive to around round the Alps.

Not much planned for the weekend. Odd as it may sound, I no longer feel the need to go and see every species in flower in Kent any more, and taking things careful as the knee and ankle get better.

I think this year I have not seen Lesser Butterfly, Heath Spotted, Early Marsh or Burnt Tip here in Kent, nor gone to see the hyper-chromatic CSOs in mid-Kent.

And I can live with that. I do go to see Late Spiders more than any other species, just because they're so rare and special. Even still, I ducted a trip last week to a special spike at a new site, it'll be there next year, I suspect.

Back home we have breakfast, and then I have a morning of cooking to do, so to fill the freezer back up with ready meals.

First I made a large pot of Boston Beans; three tins of haricot beans, onion, tomatoes, pork belly, black treacle and smokes sausage, all in the pot and baked in the oven for four hours until nearly black and thick.

Once that was in the oven, I then made a pot of tagine, with lamb, chicken, fruit, honey, tomatoes, onion and stock, then simmered until the liquid had just about evaporated, before cooking some rice and serving tagine, rice with the last of the focaccia, sliced and toasted.

We ate at half one, just in time to be finished before the football began at two, so I watched games one after the other, the last two with a funk and soul soundtrack rather than the commentary. The Euros will last another 15 days, but not games every day. In fact on Thursday and Friday this week there are no games.

What will we do.

Friday 21st June 2024

The longest day.

So, we made it to Friday.

Well done, one and all.

Jools was off to yoga as I got up, so made coffee then put the bins out, filled the feeders before sitting down and checking on the world.

Work was mostly IT failures and more meetings about the changes.

Did we have any questions?

Well, as the details are yet to be hammered out, I don't really know, but hoping those in power know what they're doing.

I know I am writing in vague terms, but it is needed to protect the guilty. But one day it'll all come out.

The morning flashed by, ended with a 1:1 meeting with my manager, which really I would rather be anywhere else.

But when that ended, I just had half an hour before I could wrap up for the weekend.

Jen is off to Bury on Saturday to stay with Sylv, so this was our chance to say goodbye. As there was the Holland v France game in the evening, we went over to Whitfield at two, but as John was watching the 20/20 cricket world cup, he didn't come over.

So it was just the three of us.

Two hands of Meld, me winning the first one, and Jen the second, then she cooked home made pizza using up the last of her fresh food for early supper.

We toasted each other and tucked in.

And that was it.

Back home for quarter to six, for the quiz, now I had just about most things working now with passwords and the like. I had to make an early guess, but got it wrong. But good to be back with friends again.

In the end, the big game was a bit of a let down, a 0-0 draw with two good teams, but neither wanting to lose, so neither did. Nor did either win,

Stability

Ever since 2015 and Cameron's victory in that year's election, the country has been far from stable.

And then came the referendum vote and the hung Parliament that May's ill-advised election brought. That was the most ill-advises election of modern times until this year, of course.

Then came the 2019 election, Johnson promising Brexit would get done and we could all move on.

Only, as soon as it was agreed, Johnson started to deny what had been agreed, and delay the required infrastructure to have the control the Brexiteers promised.

All beside this, business and the economy has been trying to cope with the changing political and regulatory landscape, with rules and new GB standards being proposed, then delayed and scrapped.

Each one of these events has costs, and makes long-term planning impossible.

What is needed after this election is a period of stability and reflection, in which we actually get used to Brexit and decide, item by item, if that is worth the effort or we change it.

Normailsed relations with our nearest trading partners, and shared standards is by far the most sensible step, so we can trust EU goods and they can trust British and UK goods and services.

Whether that involves rejoining the SM and/or CU would depend on fact based decision making, and the UK polity being honest about the risks and oppotunities.

I have said for some time that I would not comment on current Brexit policy until something sensible happens. I hope that sensible policies are around the corner, and a period of stability in which business and the economy can plan long term investments.

Thursday 20th June 2024

Thursday.

Is it the weekend yet?

Apparently not.

A day of chaos, and then some at work. Needless to say, I can't begin to tell you what the chaos was, but rest assured, it was chaos, so a day of work was changed to a series of meetings to explain and justify the chaos.

Before then, there was coffee, breakfast and massaging.

Yes, massaging.

Massaging of my calf, so to help the cramping, and amazingly, the pain in my ankle and foot lessoned quite a lot.

Well.

Although not right away, but getting up and not limping, and then realising you're not limping, was quite the thing.

The wind has stopped blowing from the north, is now much less and the sun shines most of the day. Almost like summer, which is nice

Just work gets in the way.

And chaos. Of course.

As before, there were three games, Serbia v Slovinia, England v Denmark and then Italy v Spain. With just an our between each game.

As England kicked off at five, Jools stopped off for fish and chip for supper on the way home, arriving home on the stroke of half time, and the last morsel being eaten as the teams lined up for the second half.

The game itself was dreadful, England dour and lumpen, outplayed by a bright Danish team, that almost had me cheering for them by the end.

Wednesday 19th June 2024

And so the chaos goes on.

And back to three games to enjoy in the Euros too later in the day, and for work there is the preparation which is so important for an auditor to do.

So, after getting dressed and downing the first coffee, it was a case of bringing up documents to review, make notes.

Through the day I made focaccia bread to go with our dinner, so every hour after making the dough/batter, oiling my fingers and pulling and folding the dough to trap more and more air within the mix.

Its a tough job and all that.

So the day slipped by until two, and so the start of the second rounds of games of the group phase.

I had a meeting until half time of the first game, but then could pack the office away and watch the second half of Croatia v Albania, for some more of that Balkan angst, and the game was a stunner, with Albania scoring an leveller in injury time to draw the game 2-2 and almost certainly end Croatia's championship.

Dinner was asparagus followed by Caprese, and a freshly baked focaccia to go with both courses.

Then it was Germany v Hungary as we ate, followed by Scotland v Switzerland.

By that time it was ten in the evening and time for bed.

Phew.

All bets are off.

A day after the Conservative Party's latest attack ad accusing the Labour Party of gambling with the public purse, a story broke which is so apt, not even the Thick of It would have contemplated as being too implausable.

It seems that two prosepctive Conservative candidates, a policeman and the Conservative Party Director of Capaigns, are all under investigation by the Gambling Commission due to all having placed bets the day before Sunak's announcement of the election on the actual day chosen.

Further to that, scouring at data from Paddy Power shows a huge spike in the number of bets on the election being the first week of July.

Funny that.

So it seems the opportunity to wring a few more pounds out of being in power was just too difficult to ignore, to the grifters grifted.

Only the policeman is suspended, as his standards are apparently held higher than those of prospective MPs or Sunak's most senior aide.

Can we just get rid of them now?

Tuesday 18th June 2024

It had to happen, at some point, that the picture of the day would be a shot of the fitba.

Another day in which my ankle got a little better, but still didn't go walking, mainly because there was heavy rain and thunder expected, but in the end, didn't turn up in east Kent.

Work was the usual of two steps forward and two steps back, and another meeting regarding my annual assessment.

Sigh.

Apart from that, not much happened. There was even just two games on the tellybox, not one at two in the afternoon which meant no early stack for me. Three games a day for the rest of the week, though!

The garden looks magnificent: the ox-eye daisies, corncockles, knapweed, black meddick, buttercups, orchids and so on and on, all looking so vibrant in the sunshine, when there was some.

Two doors down the scaffolding was taken down, with the clapboard, eggshell blue, now covering half the house, the top half, and looks OK, in a Kentish kind of way. So there was the noise of power tools all morning, and clanking as the scaffolding was stacked on the truck.

And then silence.

Until the hedge trimmers started.

I pointed out to next door that to trim the hedge before July risk disturbing second and third brood nests, so one side agreed not to cut the hedge that separated us from them. They did their other two hedges mind.

On the other side, all is quiet as they have gone to Germany for the football, so very quiet of an evening now.

Dinner was fritters, cooked with one eye on the football, and wine, of course. And then settle down with Scully to watch Ronaldo and Portugal, hopefully lose.

Sadly, they won, but he failed to score, so that counts as good news, right.

Monday 17th June 2024

Last weekend, or the weekend before last, my laptop failed.

A utility in Windows caused it to lock, and there was no way round it.

So, the only option was to accept the data unsaved was lost, which amounted to one and a half month's pictures, and some documents, the last two orchid presentations I had done.

And then get the guy down Dover in the IT shop to reformat the leptop and start again. In the meantime, we bought a bog standard machine, and I have been working on that the last week or so.

And that was fine, except photo editing, in that the less high spec machine could not get PicMonkey to work, so I had to revert to the one embedded in MS photos. Not perfect, but allowed me to have something to post on Flickr and for these posts.

Saturday, I got the old laptop back, and on Monday transferred all my sites used to there, and PicMonkey worked again, thus explaining the glut of uploads to Flickr.

So, everything is just about back to nrmal, and the laptop is like a new machine.

A warm and sunny day!

With a gentle breeze.

But with work.

Yes, Monday again and welcome back to the working week and all that.

What with one thing and another, I wasn't going to go far, but there was more than enough stuff in the garden to snap.

The ox-eyed daisies are at their peak, a swaying in the breeze, with small flowers, orchids, buttercups, corncockles, and so on, all in flower and looking their best. The cats love making their nests in the long grass, Scully tries to sneak up on the feeders but fails.

And there is football. A three game day, with the first at two, second at five and the final one at eight.

Barely enough time to eat and make brews between.

Just as well that Jools had aquacise again, so after a brew and a crumpet, she was off to the pool, and I went back to the second game.

Crisps and whiskey whilst watching France beat Austria, and somehow a whole day was gone again.

News from the hustings

Over halfway through the election campaign now, so why stop when we're hating it?

Yes, in 16 days it'll all be over and either the Conservatves will still be in power, or won't.

In a quite remarkable turn of events, Sunak is actually less popular three weeks in than he was before this started, and Starmer has slightly improved. This despite the right wing press and Conservative Party HQ throwing all sorts of shit and actual lies at the Labour Leader.

Who would have imagined that a bunch of incompetents who were so bad at governing would be actually worse in campaigning?

In some polls they are now trailing 4th behind Labour, the LibDems and Farrage's lot whatever it is they're calling themselves this week.

Despite spending years trying to bypass scrutiny in Parliament and elsewhere, the prospect of a Labour landslide has the once Party of Law and Order and let us not forget, the Union, warning of Labour avoiding scruiny with their two hundred plus majority.

Suddenly, the Party, who under JOhnson and Mogg gave the Monarch illegal advice now care for the constitution and the rule of Law?

Do me a favour.

It is possible that Sunak might ose his own seat, and rumour has it he has enrolled his children in a school in California. That's California USA not Norfolk.

And there are dire warnings of tax, coming from the party that has imposed the highest tax burden on the nation outside wartime. Its not the tax that matters, its ow its spent.

So, the hustings continue, Tory slurs against Starmer and the Labour Party continue, but hope is that in three weeks time, we might have some stability, and in my next post, its stability i will write about.

Until then.....

Sunday 16th June 2024

What should have been a great day.

A perfect day, if you will.

Having done 16,000 steps on Friday with no real downsides other than being really tired, I thought for Sunday I would go back to Sandwich Bay for the peak of the Lizard Orchids.

On the way we would visit three other sites for orchids, then a walk over the golf course and back again.

In the end, it went all well until I set off across the meadow to the golf course at Sandwich Bay.

Before then, there was coffee, breakfast and another coffee.

First stop was Whitfield where last year we had noticed two spikes of Common Spotted Orchids, on Saturday we noticed more spikes, so went back and found close to 30 spikes, some starting to go to seed and so turning brown at the bottom of the spike.

Passing cars looked at what I was doing, out of curiosity rather than pity.

I hope.

Next it was a return to the council offices for their display of Bee Orchids, of which about a decade ago I gave the facilities manager guidance on how to look after them.

It is working,, as the little golf flags marking each spike are now spreading not just across the area beside the road, but now down to the offices themselves and even spread across the road near to the council tip.

I went round to snap each spike, and was lost in my tasks so unaware of a figure approaching.

You're trespassing, he said.

I showed him the orchids and explained.

He went from being official, to amusement and then actual interest.

Tristan, as that was his name, asked about the rare variant I had just seen, so showed him the usual colour form, and then the partially yellow one.

He was really interested, but as I said, I have been coming here at least six years, but now with the spread meant venturing onto private land, so anyway, he was happy and asked to post shots to the manager.

Next onto the building site on the edge of Deal where I went to look for the elusive yellow Bee. This time I parked on the road so not to set off the automated trespasser warnings, and with Jools remaining in the car to read, I went hunting.

One massive spike of Bee beside the path, and on the roundabout about twenty more spikes, though some already going to seed.

I take shots and make our getaway before security or worse come to investigate.

And finally onto Sandwich Bay, where the centre was all locked at nine in the morning, so we made our way over the meadow and then the slacks to the golf course and to the Strand beyond.

I have strained the ligaments in my ankle now, now that my knee is pain-free, and shoes press in on the painful ligaments on the outside of my arch, so that soon walking became painful.

The struggle was lit by the site of a male Marsh Harrier taking off from its nest, making all sorts of raptor noises as it flew off like a pale ghost.

Then onto the golf course and over the two fairways, which were deserted, pausing halfway for the first colony of Lizards.

We reached the beach, I snapped plenty of orchids, found the remains of the Man Orchids, now just a stem with swollen ovaries. Jools looked at me and asked if she should go and fetch the car.

Yes, I said.

Walking just too painful. Though it must be said, once home and the shoe off, life and my leg much less painful and bearable.

But the day was done. Jools drove us home, then after a brew, she sat outside to read and I messed around on the computer until the first game kicked off at two.

A few weeks back, I was persuaded to buy a côte de boeuf from the butchers, and they had, at my request cut it in half, though once home I had frozen both halves together, and once frozen there was no getting them apart. So, we invited Jen and I would find a recipe of griddling and oven cooking it, and add to that Hasselback potatoes and chilli stir fry, and a bottle of best red plonk.

I just had to schedule it between the football.

Only the potatoes really took any time, the steak being oiled, seasoned and smeared with horseradish, left to defrost and then cooked.

Once cooked, the meat was sliced and put on a platter, and we could eat as much as we wanted. Even then there was a sizeable half pound left for lunches during the week.

We ate well, and drank deeply.

Jools took Jen home, while I got ready for the evening's entertainment, England v Serbia.

Not a good game, but England won, scoring at the end of the best move, while Denmark and Slovenia drew 1-1 in their game. England will get better, but so will the opposition.

Onwards and upwards.