Sunday 19th April 2026

Sunday comes around again.

And this week really merits the title, Super Sunday, as there was a game at the top of the Championship, a or the Merseyside Derby and the title decider between Arse and Citeh.

But before then, much to do.

The usual: get up, get dressed, have breakfast and go to the gym for seven. Do my forty minutes, get hot and sweaty.

Finish.

Before driving to the National Trust's place on the cliffs for an orchid hunt.

Friends had visited the week before and said there were plenty of Early Spider spikes, so it was our turn to hunt them.

At ten to eight the entrance isn't manned, so we don't have to pay, and were the only car parked overlooking the port.

I get the camera out, and despite wearing just a t-shirt and shorts, it wasn't cold, so a walk down to the top of the narrow path and down it was pleasant.

I see just one spike on the way down, badly trampled and not in flower. Further on under the frame I find just one spike at first, but a second all the way along, on top of a chalk wall with a dreadful drop to the rocks below an inch or two beyond.

I'd tackle that on the way back.

Further on there was one flowering spike a metre down a sheer drop, so I just looked. I checked until where the platform of flattened grass marked where the Cliff Road turned inland, so I turned back.

With the sun at my back, spikes would be easier to see.

I hoped.

I came to the spike on the chalk wall.

I carefully crept along the sloping chalk face, that faced towards the Cliff Road so was safe, then inched on my belly to the spike.

I imagined my friend, Tony, having kittens as he watched me get my shots.

All I had to do was get back down.

I crawled backwards.

Which is when my footing slipped on the damp grass, and down I slid, grazing my right shin causing me to swear loudly.

I landed in the long grass, safe and sound, with just my stupidity for company.

I walked to Jools who had found three spikes on the edge of the Cliff Road just beyond where the narrow path started. And then on the path we saw a good half dozen spikes we had missed on our way down.

All that was left then was the walk up the sloping chalk meadow, through the gate, up the steep steps, up one more meadow back to the car.

We would have gone home for breakfast, only it was still only nine, and maybe Ange and Sean would be on the beach swimming.

And as we drove down Castle Hill, Jools asked if it was a good day for breakfast.

That it be.

Anyway, no sign of our friends down on the beach, so we drive back round to Castle Street, park and walk round to Chaplins, only to find it closed for the weekend.

No matter, just around the corner is another café, on Market Square, so we take 30 seconds to walk round, get a table and order our food.

Now what I will say is that you never know how big a new place's breakfast or meal might be. So, I order an extra sausage, Jools had tomatoes and black pudding. So, when our meals arrived they were huge.

I must remember to order meals for my current appetite not what it was a year ago!

I fail to finish the mushrooms and toast. Jools leaves her hash browns.

We were full to bursting.

Back to the car then, drive home for another brew, sitting on the patio to watch the birds in the warm sunshine. Until it was time for a shower, to be all clean come midday when the football began.

Ipswich v Middlesborough to start with. Boro' leading 2-1 going into the last few minutes when Town got another "soft" penalty.

So it goes.

Then the Merseyside derby, with Liverpool scoring late on through Virgil to take the three points at the Dicky Hill.

And finally, the big match. Citeh v Arse. And not a bad game, though Arse really didn't have a shot on goal, were chasing the game 2-1 and never looked like scoring.

And didn't.

A quiet evening, wildflowerhouring, and to bed at nine. Tired from doing nothing.