Thursday 30th October 2025

Work on the kitchen continues apace, though some days its not easy to see progress, but maybe in a week it'll be done.

Thursday was a bright and sunny day, beginning with a trip to the gym.

Not quite so early this time, but sitting down at the bike for ten past seven, and a ride round the moonscape of Crete.

Whilst cycling, my i pod/i phone music selection reached the end and begins again with the Mighty ASWAD.

I guess now I am doing so much phys, it takes about two weeks to go through the music library, ignoring the albums by Velvet Underground, Nico, Gorillaz, Skids.

I am trying to find an alternative, and will do in due course. But for the meantime, its same old, same old.

We leave at eight, and arrive back with Craig waiting to start. He'd just arrived so no worries.

Jools did a tip run with some of the waste from the new kitchen, and on the way back gets two breakfast baps from the van outside B&Q, which we eat sitting on the patio as it was warm enough in the morning sunshine.

The morning sunshine didn't last into the afternoon, so I retreat inside to carry on reading The Book of Dust.

Meanwhile Craig ploughs on getting the job done.

Breakfast was enough to last us to four, when we have breakfast, and so need no supper.

Though we do have peanuts and other snacks with a beer, just to tide us over.

I could have read to the end of the book, but save 250 pages for Friday. Bed at ten.

Wednesday 29th October 2025

Despite nothing to get up for, I was awake at half four, so soon after Jools got up at five, I did too.

This would mean the day would drag, but there was the final instalment of The Book of Dust to read.

Outside it would rain most of the day, and heavily in the afternoon. So, we wouldn't be going far.

Jools went to a class at ten to eight, leaving me here. So I make breakfast, eat that, empty the bins and wash up, so that by the time Craig came at half eight, we'd not disturb him.

Today, there would be more filling in or holes and trenches, then the electricians would arrive to wire the under-counter lighting. This would take all day, and into early evening.

At midday, after testing Scully for the third time, as her sugars were so low, we drove to Walmer for lunch at the Corner Café.

I found a place to park outside, parallel parking in a rush, but done without jiggling, then dashing inside, where the only free table was behind the counter, and shelving, in what was called "the naughty corner".

Jools has fish finger sandwiches, while I had a cheese toastie. We both then followed that by a cream tea: that is a scone, butter, strawberry jam and clotted cream.

I made two pots of tea vanish over the two courses.

The scones were wonderful, and very filling. So much so we had no dinner, tea or supper.

Back home as the rain began to really hammer it down, turning the early afternoon into a premature evening, needing the lights on to do anything.

In the kitchen, Craig and the electricians carry on working, working until the task is done, then cleaning up the mess they made.

They were done by half five, by which time it was night outside, dark, and a filthy night with rain pouring down, against the side of the house.

We have peanuts and snacks for supper, before I watch Liverpool lose again, to Palace again, 3-0 in the League Cup.

On Norwich

I recently wrote a piece for @MyFootballWriter regarding the failures at Norwich City. Here is is below:



"My name is Ian, and 52 weeks ago this week, my Father took me to Carrow Road for the first time. Norwich lost to Spurs, which was expected I guess.

We caught the 11:15 train from Oulton Broad North to arrive in Norwich by midday, then walk along Riverside Road past Boulton and Paul's metal store, where in spring and autumn months, he'd by me a cone from the Dairyland van that used to park there.

We would be at the turnstiles for the old South Stand for half twelve when they opened, so I could get to the front to stand on a Corona pop box so be able to see. We stood there, as that's where he stood, as did his Father, among friends he didn't know the names of, but met every home game.

When the South Stand was turned into seating, we got two seats for the 1974-75 season near to where he used to stand. Money issues meant that was for just one season. But we went to carrow Road when we could.

A love of Norwich City is hard to shake, I have been a fan since then, travelled up and down the country when I could, and a season ticket holder when I could afford it.

I now support the club from The Garden of England, not having seen a game since before COVID, so get my information and passion from BlueSky and through MyFootballWriter. I retired this year, and for the last 15 years I was a quality manager, and an auditor of management systems, which is a deeply dull as it sounds. Quality Management is spelled out in an international standard, ISO 9001:2015, and details how management should act and behave in all aspects.

Section 4.2 details how an organisation (a football club, for example) should act in relation to "interested parties".

"Interested Parties are those stakeholders who receive your products or services, who may be impacted by them, or those parties who may otherwise have a significant interest in your organization."

I think you can see where I'm going with this.

But, the club should identify its interested parties, monitor what those interested parties want and feel, and communicate with them.

It is clear from the backlash relating the the "plan" to relocate away fans in the River End that no such communication with interested parties (the season ticket holders affected) before the plans were announced.

Chapter 9.3 of ISO 9001:2015 covers Management Review, and dictates how strategic management decisions and the strategic direction of the organisation is decided upon.

One of the nine inputs to be considered is the needs and requirements of interested parties.

Again, you can see where I'm going with this.

With my auditor's hat on, I see this as a fundamental failure of senior management in its obligations, and raises my auditor spider senses as to what else in management could be non-compliant.

If management is dysfunctional in its dealings and decisions regarding its loyalist supporters, how then are other decisions made regarding coaches, managers and players?

The final requirement is in change management. In making a decision regarding a change: what analysis was done requiring a change, and once the decision to change has been made, did that change bring the improvement as required. And this monitored on a regular basis.

What analysis was done in deciding that sacking Johannes Hoff Thorup and replacing him with the apparently similar Liam Manning? We can't demand the club reveal that evidence, but clearly the results have not improved. In fact they have got worse, so what analysis is being done to ensure that the decisions to fire and hire are correct?

I look at other clubs and wonder the same thing: Tottenham, Manchester United, West Ham, but didn't think my club, our club, would be another one."

Since I wrote the above, the club's majority shareholder, Mark Attanasio, has flown in from the US and took part in a supper call-in on Radio Norfolk. The stadium plans are on hold until consultations take place, but he has placed faith in Liam Manning, which he is entitled to do. But it also said there was no CEO who Zoe Webber and Ben Knapper report to, then the question from me is who decides the strategic direction of the club, if there is no CEO?

Who decides when things are not going as planned.

Wo approves the plan.

Is there a plan?

Up the creek without a paddle, heading towards a waterfall that will carry us back to League 1.

With Gusto

There is an ad on YouTube at the moment where a guy is sent out to buy some rice.

Which rice? He asks, as he is confronted with a wall of packed rice twenty feet high and wider than the screen.

A nightmare!

The solution, it would appear is a box of ingredients and menu card, delivered to your door, containing all you need to make a meal.

Cooking is not difficult. And neither is shopping.

Online we have more recipes than we could cook in a lifetime, the only problem is which ones to cook. Sometimes Jools just picks an ingredient to see what I can find to make with it. It is fun and we learn new dishes.

We go shopping, and when we do, we squeeze fruit and vegetables, only buy meat from the butcher, fish from the fishmonger when we get to Rye. Knowing your food and where it comes from helps make better food.

Are we so busy that we can't find time to go to a supermaket, or better still a market if you live in a city, and buy what is seasonal and looks good?

I suppose its the next step along from click and collect where the shop delivers your order, its contents having been picked. But is that now too inconvenient?

I appreciate not everyone is retired, or works from home and can spend all day between meetings and mails making a proper ragu or focaccia bread, but that can be made in batches, frozen to be defrosted and heated in mere minutes.

Before I met Jools, when I was living alone, I used to spend half a day at weekends making a huge bowl of chilli, stew or soup so all I had to do war warm it up when I got in from work. Too busy to do that?

There are thousands of meal that can be prepared and cooked in half an hour or less, and we should take care what we put into our bodies, support our local businesses where and when we can.

Tuesday 28th October 2025

Tuesday is a leg day.

Back on the bike.

And as Jools goes to a class at eight, I have to be back home by then.

So, I set the alarm for half five and am awake before it goes off.

There enough time for a brew before leaving, just as dawn breaks, but well before the sun rises.

I ride round Doha for forty minutes, then go down to the café for a coffee and a flapjack, as I had a blood test at ten.

I enjoy sitting and drinking. One of the worse things about the kitchen is not being able to make proper coffee, so one at the centre is very good.

Then back home for twenty past seven, just as traffic was building, the sun was up and it was going to be a sunny if blustery day.

Jools leaves, so I wait for Crag to arrive, and when he does I can go upstairs for a shave and shower, and be lovely for the nurse later.

Jools come home, and we're straight out so she can drop me off for the blood test, and once that's done we're off out in the car for the day. Or half day.

I have to wait ten minutes or so, but the good news is that the blood is red, though my weight is far higher than I thought.

But I am doing something about it.

Back outside and into the car, so I drive us to Dover, then up the A20 past Folkestone and Ashford to Maidstone, as we were doing a little churchcrawling.

We turn off at Hollingbourne, then take the road through Leeds, where I pull in to revisit the church, as it was about a decade since I was last here.

The tower is by far the most impressive thing here, thick walls several feet thick, with a small, stumpy spire on top.

But it was open, so I take shots of the glass, all Victorian, but of high quality.

Then back outside to deal with the narrow main road through the village, dodging between parked cars and ancient buildings that jut out into the road.

Across the busy junction, and along to Loose before turning down the main road through Linton and out onto the Weald.

Why are we going to Staplehurst?

Well, All Saints has one of the few confirmed anchorite cells, or the remains of one, and when I came a few years ago, I snapped the small window from inside, not from the outside.

Each time we come across a small window or opening in either the north or south wall of a church, we think anchorite, but it seldom is. But as Staplehurst there are two windows: one larger than the other, and outside the remains of where the cell would have stood.

I had checked that the church would be open; its open most days, so with high spirits, we park on the main road, walk back to the church, and while Jools goes inside, I walk to find the remains of the cell.

On the north wall of the Chancel, there are the two windows, and below a depression showing where the cell would have stood. It was only 10 feet by ten feet or so, and the anchorite could have lived here years.

I walk round and pay attention to the door in the south porch, the ironwork is 11th century Danish, and is very important. Sad then, that the church locks the door away, and last time I came was obscured by stored tables and suchlike. At least now the view is clear.

I go in to take shots. Again the glass is good Victorian, but the Chancel is being dug up, partially uncovered tombs can been seen in the soil, so I could not get to the anchorite windows.

We walk up the hill, and it is a hill, to the Kings Head for lunch, and get a table by the fire. It is very busy, especially for a Tuesday, but the food is great when it comes: steak and al pie for me and a "dirty" burger and fries for Jools.

And then it was time to come home. The car guided us a slightly different way, then up the hill of the Weald and onto the outskirts of Maidstone, before heading back east to Leeds and then the motorway home.

The sun shone as we drove, it was like a summer's day, traffic was light too.

We dropped down into Dover, past a line of trucks waiting to enter the port. We turned up Jubilee Way, through traffic that had just back off the ferry, before turning onto the Deal Road and home.

Craig was still working hard. He had to fix all the units in place before the end of the day, as on Wednesday the technician was coming to measure the worktops with lasers.

In the end he was done at quarter past four, so the back door was closed and the heating put on.

I made a brew.

Outside, I filled up the feeders in the gathering dusk, to be ready for the morning. Scully was tested, jabbed and fed.

We closed the curtains to the world, and I started on the final volume of the Book of Dust.

Monday 27th October 2025

This is our living room.

It contains everything out of the kitchen.

It feels and looks very untidy.

It may very well be like this until 5th November when the worktops are fitted.

But it is a Monday, and after two days going to the gym, I had a day off.

So could lay in bed all morning. Only I was awake at five, laying there until it got light.

Jools was already up, feeding Scully, so I thought I'd better get up too.

Jools went swimming, then to the kitchen supplier then to see her Aunt, leaving me at home to wait for Craig and for the chaos and noise to start.

I caught up on videos and podcasts, then got down to trying to finish The Secret Commonwealth before the end of the day.

It was a fine day outside, and really we should have been making the best of it, but instead I read as Lyra made her way ever eastwards.

Craig arranged the plumber and gas fitter so that by Wednesday, the downstairs toilet, basin and cooker would be installed.

The day for Craig was mainly plastering, filling in the holes and cableways created the previous week, all ready for painting at the end of the week.

He just got on with it.

I read.

Jools brought home meat pasties for lunch, which we made vanish, then back to reading while the sun sank in the best and the short afternoon drew to an end.

Craig left at half four, I grabbed some shots, though it doesn't look like much was done, but its all on track.

Soup for supper with some old stale bread.

I was going to watch some football, but it felt like I had been up for over a day, and once I finished the book, I went upstairs where Jools was already asleep.

Sunday 26th October 2025

Winter is not coming.

Winter is here.

It might be the weekend, but that means the gym and rest of the sports centre is nice and quiet between seven and eight in the morning. Which is why I was pulling up outside the sports centre at ten past seven amazed to see the main car park half full, though turns out many folks are swimming.

Up in the gym, I get on the bike and cycle round another city. Was it Melbourne or somewhere else? I don't know, but the cycling up and down along with the music made the time go quickly enough.

Jools had gone for a walk up to Windy Ridge, so there was no hurry to get back. So, once I had done my session, I went down to reception and bought a coffee and soft oat bar with white chocolate, then sat at a table looking at the swimmers going up and down their lanes.

I drove back, it was still too cold to sit outside for a while, so I gave Scully more food, washed up and listened to the radio.

We have a small section of counter top to work from, to put the kettle, tea, and coffee, which also doubled as a place to dish the food we eat instead of meals.

Jools came back, we had breakfast, then sat outside in the sunshine to eat, then I settled down to read more of The Secret Commonwealth.

It was nice just to sit and chill, to relax, though Craig has been doing most of the work.

I watched more football in the afternoon. Celtic lost to Hearts, Arsenal beat Palace by a single goal, then Spurs thrashed Everton at their new ground.

We had snacks and a beer/cider for supper.

As the clocks went back Saturday night, it was getting dark by five, and the sunshine of earlier had given way to wind and rain.

I read more laying in bed as the rain ran down the windows.

Saturday 25th October 2025

In Chez Jelltex, life is on hold.

The kitchen in perhaps, 50% done, but work is suspended for the weekend.

A piece of the old worktop has been placed on the new units, so we can make tea and coffee, prepare snacks and meals for Scully without either using the living room floor or the dining room table.

We yearn for some normality, even if this is just day six of the installation, but something we would have to get used to over the weekend.

We still have nowhere to cook, no hob on which to make coffee or boil pasta or rice, and still no sink for washing up.

But we will cope.

We go to the gym at seven, waking up at six so to do all the chores and have a brew before going.

There's a chill in the air early morning now, and the walk from the car to the entrance to the sports centre was more of a scamper.

I cycle round Melbourne for forty minutes. It looked hot, but then most of the places you have the choice of cycling round all look hot, but seems nice enough even if there is a focus on the marinas and ocean front.

We then go to Tesco where we buy a new microwave, as the ole one was above the fryer, and had a decade and a half's grease on the left hand side, so we thought we would have a new one for the new kitchen.

We also buy supplies, including cheese footballs and cheeselets, something to snack on if we get hungry without actual meals.

Back home for breakfast and brew, then start loading the car with waste to take to the tip.

We do four trips in all, so that under the car port there is just the old under the counter fridge and dishwasher, and after girding our loins, we unplug the old fridge-freezer, transfer the food to the new one, then carry it out ready to be collected next week by the council.

I have an infection underneath Dad's cygnet ring, and I can't get it off. So I had to go into town to the last proper jeweller for him to cut it off, then insert more gold to make it large enough to remove, and to replace the lost tiny diamond on it's face.

Its the first time I have not worn it since before the millennium. It will be ready in two weeks.

Phew.

That left the afternoon free for football. Ipswich beat WBA 1-0 in the early game, Sunderland won at Chelsea to go second in the prem, while Norwich lost away to Swansea to sink closer to the foot of the table.

Sigh.

Jools went out for fish and chips, so we ate that out of the wrapper for supper, while Man Utd somehow beat Brighton 4-2. Was an exciting game.

Between all this, I read more of the Secret Commonwealth, immersing myself more in the world of Lyra.

At half eight, we went out to look for Comet Lemmon. Up to the top of the down, and using an app we search, before i switch to my DSLR and big lens.

I might have got it with the mobile phone, but this is as bright as it will get, and it was only four degrees out, and took cold to linger much.

Friday 24th October 2025

On Thursday, the final instalment in Philip Pullman's Book of Dust trilogy arrived. But as its been a few years since The Secret Commonwealth came out, I thought I had better read that first before starting on the new tome.

Jools was up early going to yoga, so I got up at six, woke up and made a brew.

Without a hob, no coffee for me, and as much as I like tea, first thing in the morning, teas doesn't cut the mustard.

The bins were put out and then a shower before the fitter arrived to start on the 5th day.

Its beginning to look like a kitchen with units on the wall and along the sides. And as the day went on, ore of the same. All being fitted using a laser to measure the gaps, so it will be perfect.

It was a glorious sunny and warm day, so I sat outside with Scully, ready the book and watching the birds. Scully curled up beside me and was purring in her sleep.

Jools came back, so we had breakfast, then was out again for her craft meeting at the library, so I carried on, holding the fort.

As it were.

Jools brought coffee and croissants back, so we had lunch, then the afternoon stretched out as the drilling, banging went on in the kitchen.

The new fridge freezer was switched on, and worked almost silently. On Saturday we will transfer the food over from the old one, and try to lift that out to be scrapped.

No dinner to prepare: one, as we have nowhere to cook, but two, we were taking Jen out for a curry at Chef de Mumbai at the Swingate.

These would be the first curries Jools and I would have had since coming back from India.

We picked up Jen, then drove back to Swingate, parked. And once inside shown to our table.

I had Pani Puri to start, which was Popular Street food, Hollow semolina shell stuffed with potatoes,Chickpeas. Flavoured with fresh mint, corainder tamarind water.

I followed that with dahl, rice and garlic naan. And there was beer and wine.

We dined well, and the owner was delighted to see us back, and made us very welcome indeed.

Jools drove us back, dropping Jen off first, back time to see the last half hour of the Leeds v West Ham game.

I fell asleep.

Thursday 23rd October 2025

Day four of the kitchen work, and it appears that a corner has been turned, with cupboards and cabinets on the wall and in place.

What the day for the fitter was getting all frames in line and level, so although he worked hard all day, on the face of it, little progress has been made, but from here on in, we hop, there will be obvious signs of progress.

Though because of the work top having to be measured before the stone cut, we will not have a hob or sink until 5th November, which means two more weeks of eating out and/or takeaways.

We did go to the gym not quite first thing, bust just before seven. The heavy rain that was to fall all day had arrived, and the roads were very wet and slick with more fallen leaves.

I cycled round Toledo for 40 minutes, did some time on the hand bike, and we were done, and heading back home via Tesco for eight fifteen, so to be there when the fitter arrived.

Rain hammered down all morning, so I sat in the back office re-reading the second Book of Dust, The Secret Commonwealth, as the third part was due for delivery.

So with work ongoing downstairs, I read of Oxford and Lyra.

A quick lunch of pasties and a bresh brew, before I had to go out to have my feet checked, as I am now diabetic.

There is a clinic in Deal, so I drove along the main road, the road really slippery at Oxney Bottom with the sharp bends and large amounts of fallen leaves.

I find a place to park near the clinic, wait until five minutes before the appointment, and am then shown in.

I have young person's feet, but old person's legs. And there is some damage to the nerves meaning I can't feel in my feet as clearly as I should.

I am hoping my new fitness and reduced drinking will have an effect, and hope to see improvement next Tuesday when I have a blood test.

I drive back via the offy, where I buy two large bottles of Chimay Bleu, as I really, really love that beer.

Then back home now in bright sunshine as the clouds had cleared, though there would be the first air frost of the night under the clearing skies.

Dinner was microwaved Chinese left over from Wednesday, and once again we were shattered, so went to bed fairly early. Too cold to have the bedroom window open for the first time since early spring.

On winter

A jpurnalist I admire, Ian Dunk, said today in a piece that he hates winter.

Its a season hat offers nothing, except cold and dark.

There are no holidays, no cause for celebration, until the warmth of the sun returns to our faces at the end of March or in April.

The reality is a complicated truth.

There really are no seasons, they merge into each other, one giving hint and preparing for the one that follows.

If I were to take you into the back garden now, I could show you rosttes for the Pyramidal Orchid that will flower in June,rosettes for Cowslips that will flower two or three months early, already preparing for next spring and summer's colour.

In the soil, seeds I harvested and those nature scattered are receiving the 80 days of cold weather needed for them to germinate next spring.

On Wednesday, at Barfrestone, I saw huge amounts of leaves for Winter Heliotrope, an invasive plant that will flower late in December or in January.

Then the Snowdrops, Winter Aconites, Violets and other early spring bulbs will flower and brighten up our hedgerows and woodlands.

All this going on now, if we open our eyes to the signs. Maybe its because I look for botany, I see these signs, signs that nature is not sleeping, but slowly preparing for the longer, warmer days of next year.

I love all seasons, as each brings something to delight. Winter can bring snow, storms, hard frosts, clear blue skies on a frosty morning.

Don't fear or hate winter, it is just the next stage of Nature, and Nature never rests, its just she does her best work in darkness and in the winter cold.

Wednesday 22nd October 2025

Not really an Indian Summer as we have still had no frosts, but we will take these sunny and warm days as long as we can.

Day three of the kitchen work, and after the ripping apart and new cables and sockets, it was a day of sanding.

And both Jools and I had a lot on, so we would be out of the noise of it for hours.

First up after tea, as we can't make my coffee without a hob, we go to Tesco for fruit and yogurt among other things. Then realise we had to pay for new plug sockets, so have to go into Deal to an electrical wholesaler, we we had been promised would have received the order and would just need paying and collecting.

Deal just after seven is waking up, we drove though the narrow streets to the north of the town, park outside the warehouse and go in.

We explain what we want and there should have been either a mail or text.

What is the name of the electrician, the poor guy behind the desk asked.

No idea.

Jools tried to explain what the guy looked like: five foot eleven, black curly hair.

But we knew how silly that sounded.

However, we picked the design we wanted, I took a shot of it, so the guy could order them now knowing what we wanted.

And back in the car, and back to Dover to drop Jools off for her class, then dash home for breakfast before I had to go out for bridge.

They fitter arrived and began work. Sanding, sanding, sanding.

I drive to Walmer, along near the castle to a Yoko's house, where twelve of us gathered for instruction.

A year ago they struggled to get four players for a table, now they have enough for three tables.

One hand I make 5 hearts, and am very happy with that.

Back home at half eleven. Jools is back, so we have lunch of sandwiches before we're off out again, as this week it is churchcrawling group again, and the lucky church is my favourite: Barfrestone.

Barfrestone is a Normal two cell church, but the top half of the walls are made of Caen stone, richly carved and I find something new every visit.

As parking was limited, we had to give three ladies a lift, and Jools had to drop me off first, then collect them.

It was a glorious trip over, passing through Coldred, along avenues of golden trees, and woods now with more golden and crispy carpets of recently fallen leaves.

So it was I was sitting in the small churchyard on its only bench, finishing the Beatles book, then listening to a podcast.

I checked the church was open, cribbed from my friend John's book. And all was ready.

People started to arrive at half one, all there by two, and the visit began.

One said before this week I had never heard of Barfrestone, let alone been here. And they were all delighted by the church, its carvings, stories and mystery.

Sadly, no one could give me a lift at the end of the visit, so I had to wait while Jools took the ladies back to Walmer and Deal, then return for me. By which time the warmth of the day had faded to a damp chill, and I was shivering as she pulled up.

I climbed in, and she took us home via the A2, the quickest way.

And when we got back, we found several units in place and the kitchen looking like one again, though there's a long way to go.

Jools went out for a Chinese for dinner. There was enough for another dinner the next day.

I tried to watch and listen to football, but shattered from three very early mornings. I went to bed at nine, with Liverpool and Chelsea both five goals up in Europe.