Thursday 20th August 2026

It's nearing the end of another week, and being Thursday, it was a phys day.

I was first up for a change, so got up, tested and jabbed Scully, fed her and the rest of the cats, before making drinks.

Phew.

Outside, the fire smouldered on, not as bad, but still going strong some 36 hours after it started.

Or was started.

Jools was up too, dressed, so after drinking our brews, we were out.

Although it felt fresher out, inside the gym it was still humid, and the workout reached thirty five minutes before calling it a day.

On the way home we filled the car up, the first time since we got back from France, then home for breakfast and another brew.

There is more than enough time for a shower and shave in the morning, then think about doing the other three windowsills upstairs.

I handbag that until the afternoon, and when Jools was out get the fungicide out and brush it one, then wipe off, all ready for some painting action either Friday or Saturday.

There's not much else to say about the afternoon, just lollygagging about until it was time for dinner: half a pizza each and a slice of poor cheesecake.

I even end up going to bed at eight, and while Jools watched a film, I fell asleep and heard nothing for ten hours.

Wednesday 19th August 2026

I thought we slept well, all things considered.

But I woke at some point during the night with an ocular migraine, and had a second within an hour of waking, then a third at lunchtime, despite not doing much stuff on the computer as Flickr didn't work.

I would end up having a two hour lay down in bed with Cleo until it was time to go out.

They day began with us checking on the fire out back.

Small flames could still be seen, and much smoke still rose into the air, though not as thick. At least one engine stayed all day, and into Wednesday night, damping down.

The row of mature trees along the track leading to the farm had all either been burnt or cut down, but the barn and farm were still there. And the cows still mooed.

Wednesday also brought rain. Steady, unspectacular rain, but the kind that would soak into the soil and lawnmeadow. We just need another two or three months of such rain to see the county right.

We did little, other than Jools going to another or her classes down at the Riverside centre, then come back via M&S laden with sausage rolls. Which we ate with fresh brews, obvs.

I got up at two, and got ready to go out. We were to meet Pete and Elaine in Canterbury for drinks and dinner, though Elaine's broken foot meant she couldn't walk far or fast.

Thankfully there's a few pubs around Canterbury West station, as well as a few places to eat, so all was set.

We drove to Canterbury, parked again near to St Augustine's, then walked over the inner ring road and through the city centre, past the Christchurch Gate and the "new" Marlow, before finally past the Westgate and to the station, arriving two whole minutes before their train arrived.

Once they emerged, we walked away from the city centre, over the level crossing to The Unicorn Inn, where there were no other customers, so would could take a corner booth, order drinks and get down to catching up.

A couple of hours later we walked down to the Mexican place on the corner, not yet busy and doing half-price cocktails!

We order good Mexican food and drinks, then people watch as more and more people come in.

The food was excellent, and not too spicy: Jools and Elaine shared a paella, which might have been the best decision of the day.

Having had several beers, Jools had to drive us back, after walking back through the empty city centre streets, then drive into the sunset back to the A2 and home.

Where the feline welcoming committee was waiting, so they were dealt with before making one last brew of the day.

Outside, the smouldering hay had been turned over, so had reignited and flashlights flashed as more hotspots were dealt with.

Tuesday 18th August 2026

It was a normal Tuesday, until about half six in the evening.

Before then, we had gone to the gym, did just half an hour as it was so hot.

It is cooler in the mornings, a little, and laying in bed seems so attractive. In fact Jools slept through the alarm until twenty past five, by which time I was dressed, fed the cats, tested and jabbed Scully, and made drinks.

Jools didn't go to the gym, as she wasn't awake enough, so I went and dis 75% of a session

Jools had her normal busy Tuesday: keep fit first, but then a breakfast with that class instead of knit and natter, then into town to the dentist.

Once she was gone, I had breakfast and a brew, then got down to the much delayed task of painting the windowsills on the living room windows.

They were green with lichen, and needed attention. We'd had the fungicide and paint for two years or more, but this time it was action.

I scrubbed the sills, let them dry after wiping down, then put two coats of pain on the two long faces.

Not perfect, but looked better.

I had a shower to celebrate.

Not much else happened through the afternoon. Jools came back home, we had a snack of cheese and crackers (no wine), then had Caprese once we had fed the cats again at five.

Jools had left to visit Jen to finalise details of their trip next year, so I stayed home, washed up and called a friend to talk about orchids.

At about half six, I saw smoke rising from the farm, and was angry at them lighting a bonfire with the ground so dry.

But it was worse than tat.

Much worse.

Three teenage boys, it seems had set light to the haystack, and it went up.

Soon flames were reaching fifty metres into the sky, thick smoke drifted into the still air.

The fire spread quickly, and having heard no sirens, I called 999. It took ten minutes for the call to be answered, but once they did, it was confirmed engines were on their way.

Smoke was rising beside their barn, which was full of cows, and next to that was the farmhouse.

The first engine arrived, followed by at least five more, and the battle started.

As darkness fell, it was contained, the barn and cows were saved, but the hedge with mature trees was cut down as it was in danger of being consumed.

As darkness fell, it was like a volcano, with the bales reduced to what looked like lava, smoked lit by the fire rose into the inky black sky.

I guess the fire was about 50m from the end of the garden, and we would have been in trouble had the wind changed direction, but it didn't.

We went to bed to the sound of the pumps on the engines, trying to cool the flames, but the farm was safe, as so were we.

It's Arsenal's to lose now

Sorry to have to report that the new Premier League season is due to begin tomorrow evening, when Arsenal take on Coventy live on the tellybox.

Asenal have strengthened sensibly through the summer, and so have a deeper, better squad than last season.

They will be formidable to say the least.

So, will anyone be able to keep up with the Gunners?

As most of their main rivals, Aston Villa excepted, have if not new managers, or managers/coaches going into their first full season in charge. And some will have to improve by a significant amount if their season is to be judged a success.

Andoni Iraola left Bournemouth to take over at Liverpool. Slott being sacked soon after the end of the season after a disappointing second season in charge. And winning the title twelve months earlier at a canter counted for nothing. To complicate matters, Liverpool are the subject of a minor-shareholding buy-out, with the bald bloke who owns Amazon as one of the consortium. They will own close to 40% of the club, and might buy more of the club next year to take their stake to over 50%.

Watch this space.

Pep lookalike, Enzo Maresca, took over from Pep at Citeh, as a result of Pep standing down after a decade of trophy-strewn years in charge. Mentioning charges, those 115 charges are yet to be decided upon, and winning games might be the least of their problems. In addtion, the midfield due of Silva and Rodri both left. Last week's Community Sheild capitulation has set the alarm bells ringing, and things might not be going well at Citeh this season.

Michael Carrick continues in the Manchester United hotseat, hopes are high at very Old Trafford, but then they are every year. They seem to have bought well, but then do every year, but it is how much slack he is given if and when the going gets tough. Being in the CL as well as the league will be very different to last season's lowest ever number of first team games of 40 (forty)

Chelsea pulled off the coup of the summer in appointing Xabi Alonso as manager, not coach, but this was before the Liverpool hot seat was known to be available. Alonso could have gone to almost any top European club, but decided on one of last season's basket cases, Chelsea. Chelsea have been busy buying up experienced players, and trying to sell of some of their failed younger stars from the last four years. But even still, Chelsea have more than 50 senior players and just 12 days before the transfer window shuts, so they can pretend to balance the books.

Newcastle are still in crisis, as two weeks ago manager, Eddie Howe resigned halfway through pre-season, and appointed Matthias Jaissle (me neither), after selling three of their best players, if not their three best players: Anthony Gordon to Barcelona for £69.3 millions, Sandro Tonali to Spurs for £100 million, and Bruno Guimarães to Arsenal for £75 million. They have spent well in brining in replacements, but none of them are stars or household names, so this could go very badly indeed.

Tottenham Hotspur appointed Roberto De Zerbi on the last day of March this year, and he just did enough to keep Spurs in the Premier League. Coming after the previous season when Spurs finished 17th, the belief was that things could only get better in 25/26. They got 50% more points, but finished 17th again, just above West Ham. Spurs have something like 500 midfielders, and just two forwards: Dominic Solanke and Richarlison, neither of which are prolific and are injury-prone.

And Aston Villa have had their squad raided by their rivals, so have the rest of the window to correct that, but do have a quality manager still in post, so anything could happen.

More interesting than who will be runners up, is how each of the above react to a run of bad results. Heads could roll, and quickly.

Monday 17th August 2026

I have looked through my blogs, and I am pretty certain that the last time it rained was on the 11th June.

I mention this as the colour of Kent, England and most of western Europe is burnt brown.

And on Sunday night, actual rain was forecast.

I got up at two to use the bathroom, and as I climbed back into bed, I could hear the large raindrops banging down on the carport roof.

It only last ten minutes, but I am pretty sure that it rained again before dawn. So when we got up, the ground was still damp, but drying out quickly, so I thought I had better take shots to record the fact.

Obviously, its not enough. We need weeks and months of rain, even then it will be too late for many plant species and insects that rely on them.

A long delayed task was to paint the outside sills of the living room and front and side bedrooms.

So, me being a man of action now, I would get all DIYy.

I had to get the fungicide solution, then the masonry paint. But I was getting ahead of myself.

First, the lichen.

Its not that we don't like it, we do. But the dirty sills spoil the house, so I would fix that.

I got a brush, a container for the solution, then got scrubbing, and managed to get as much over me as on the sills.

But after an hours or so, it looked better. So I did the two lower ones again, then got some clean water to get the excess off.

I would paint on the morrow.

Having done some actual work, it turned out that we both didn't feel inclined to do much more. The sun dried out the ground, and you wouldn't have know there'd ever been rain.

There might be more wet stuff later in the week. Maybe thunder too. We shall see.

Jools went to Canterbury, so leaving me behind to do the DIY, then sit in the garden with Mulder and Scully, as the day warmed up, until it warmed up too much to sit outside.

Jools returned at lunchtime, so we had chicken salad and a beer.

Which wasn't very clever. So we had to try to stay awake through the afternoon and into the early evening.

Jools and Jen's plans to go to Oz next year are well advanced, and Jools' good planning getting alternative quotes has already saved them £1500.

My plans for my trip to Perth are at an early stage, but I am dazzled on a daily basis by shots in the West Australia orchid group on Faceache.

For the evening there was football. Welsh football. Cardiff v Wrexham, which ended an entertaining 1-1 draw.

There's lovely.

A bolt out of the blue

So, a brief update as to our future plans for travel.

I say this as when we saw Jen last week, she asked if Jools could do her a favour? Go to Australia with her for six weeks in a motorhome.

This was the literal bolt out of the blue, but then it opened up another possibility for me, as I would stay behind to cat sit, thus save close to two grand in cattery fees, then I could go to the orchid capital of the world: Perth.

I would be going later, at the end of July, and have been planning, roughly some things to do. I have friends who will show me some of the orchid sites, and others I can find out myself, perhaps.

News as I get it.

Before then we are off to Sardinia on another orchid trip with our friends, that's in "April" sometime.

And in February we are also off to Tenerife for a few days where we hope to see their four endemic orchid species.

In a break from the orchids, in October I will be joining a church tour of Northamptonshie with a friend and church expert, John.

Our long planned trips to Mexica and New Zealand get pushed back to 2028.

Sunday 16th August 2026

Every day we get a little bit closer to normal.

We had to scrap phys on Saturday, so there was no doubt we would be going to the gym on Sunday.

As I am still delicious, some bitey thing feasted on me Friday night or on Saturday, so my legs itched again to buggary. As my dear old Dad would say.

We were at the sports centre a minute after seven, and the car park had only a handful of other cars, despite the pool being open.

We went upstairs and did another thirty five minutes, more than enough time to get hot and sweaty.

After the session we came back via the Co-Op in Whitfield as we needed fresh corn.

I had thought I got out two large lamb steaks for lunch, but turns out they were steaks! Ribeyes, and of quite a size. But had also got two punnets of tagine out too, and there was mushrooms as well as the corn.

I seasoned the steak, then went for a shower and shave, so that by one, it was time to start cooking.

Corn boiled first then kept on a simmer on one of the back burners, same with the tagine, before cooking the mushrooms with some garlic and the steak having two and a half minutes each side.

A pleasant change not to have chips or any other potato carbs, and we roadtested the new pink fizz, which was pretty good too.

We really didn't feel like washing up, but did before the afternoon snooze hit. I was watching for Championship football: Watford beat the dirty cheating Saints 2-1, then Burnley and West Ham shared four goals. And both were pretty good games.

The day was also notable for a two hour power cut in the morning, meaning no internet, no calls, and our local 5G transmitter was taken out too.

We had to talk to each other.....

We watch a film in the evening. Normal which looked good on the trailer, and was OK. Lots of bizare deaths and very dark humour.