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.