Friday 30th October 2026

Its nearly the weekend again, and for me that means a lay in.

In fact I sleep so long I was only woken by Jools leaving n the car for yoga at quarter past six. By then Cleo had eaten breakfast, and had made a nest next to my legs, and was fast asleep.

So I get up and dressed. Downstairs there were all the ingredients for a cup of coffee, so I boil the kettle, fill the pot, ass the grinds, then pack the assembled pot on the hob to perculate through.

Add sugar and a splash of milk. And perfection.

I drink that, then do the bins, put them at the top of drive in case the trucks are early, like they used to be.

But no.

No hurry.

I had a twinge in my knee, so do little through the morning. Jools comes back, has breakfast then is out to take her ladies to the library for knit and natter.

Its so warm, I could sit in the garden without jumper, and soak up some vitamin B from phoebe.

I get a message from my friend, Andy, would we like to meet up for a beer near Bekesbourne?

We would, but which pub?

None in Bekesbourne, and the easiest thing would be to meet in Bridge at the Red Lion, which was agreed.

I make sausage rolls for lunch, with the free sausage meat that Paul supplied us with a couple of weeks back, so when Jools came back they were made, baked and cooling down. Just needing a brew to wash them down.

We had half for lunch, saving the rest for supper with some soup, then out in the car, along the A2 to Bridge.

The trees and hedgerows have suddenly turned to gold, and looked wonderful with the blue sky and strong sunlight.

I would take shots on the way back when Jools would be driving.

The pub was fairly busy, but we took a table in a corner to wait for Andy and for me to start on my pint of Harvey's Best, which went down a treat.

Even better Andy bought a second pint, so I sent that down to keep the first one company.

We dropped Andy off in Canterbury as there was delays and cancellations on the trains, then back home along the A2 to home, when I tried to take shots of the colours.

Back home and time to edit more shots, write, and then prepare for the quiz; in which I again did poorly.

But no mind.

Later, there was football. Sheffield Utd v Wrexham, but I lost interest at half time again, so went to bed.

Thursday 29th October 2026

Thursday, then.

And up before the larks and other songbirds, to test and jab Scully, feed the other cats and make coffee.

Phew.

This is almost like being at work. Or getting ready for work.

Of course, we were all ready to go to the gym.

Outside, the sky was still black, except a small sliver away to the south east that gave a hint that dawn might be on its way.

Not much to report, other that peddle away for fifty minutes, and get off in the same position in the gym as when I started, though nearly 7,000 steps, or peddles completed, so said the phone.

Back home for a brew and breakfast, then fill up the feeders as the birds were complaining about the poor service.

It was a cool if sunny day, the trees the other side of The Dip are now in the process of turning gold and red, heralding the coming, albeit late, of Autumn.

Or fall.

We went to see Jen, as somehow two weeks had passed since we last visited, and not much had happened in the two weeks, at least to Jen. I had been to Nottinghamshire and snapped twenty churches.

Jen was unimpressed.

Please enjoy this shot of Jen's back garden, wit the pampas grass looking splendid, and both of her sheds.

Back home for lunch of mini pork pies and wine. The main food groups, and then into the afternoon with reading and writing.

Again, what heat of the day faded, so the heating was called into action.

And that was that.

For the evening there was League Cup action, with Newcastle at Sunderland, and when I gave up at half time, Sunderland were two goals up, and cruisng.

Wednesday 28th October 2026

Wednesday again.

And a day in which the sun shone brightly, if not for very long, onto east Kent and Chez Jelltex.

Being Wednesday, it was a reast day from Phys, so I could lay in. And despite waking when Jools got up at five, I did fall back to sleep until gone six, so did feel somewhat rested.

Jools went to her class just before eight, leaving me four hours to fill, which I have breakfast, another brew, and in a surprise, go for a walk.

I say go for a walk, it was just up Station Road to check on the Winter heliotrope and other native plants that might be in flower. Though Heliotrope is not native, it's alien, and in danger of spreading further than it already has.

Trees are already turning to brown and gold, and in the sunshine it was almost warm.

Traffic is light this week due to school holidays, so I wander up, check on the plants and walk down.

Back home, it was warm enough to sit in the back garden with Scully in the lea of the hedge, out of the breeze, making it feel almost if not like summer, then early autumn, not the end of October.

Lunch was Italian bean soup, and I bade two potato bread rolls/loaves fir us to dip into the soupy goodness.

Was indeed good.

Which was nice.

But soon after lunchtime, the sun is already swinging over the west and sinking, the heat goes out of the day, so we retreat inside and turn the heating on.

Supper was the rest of the party food. And wine, then to the sofa for an evening of football featuring Liverpool v Chelsea, which wasn't as good as Sky or the BBC made out.

It went to penalties, with Liverpool winning out.

Tuesday 27th October 2026

As I wrote a couple of days ago, I re-read old blog posts from the last ten years most mornings, and most days I complained about my bad back, or my bad knees or both.

But since going to the gym and keeping at it, my bad back and knees just faded away. Those times when I couldn't walk far, or needed a sit down, just ended.

I can remember a couple of years ago, walking up Tonbridge high street to the church at the top, I needed three or four sit down on benches to make it to the top.

Not any more.

Which is my way of saying it was Tuesday, so up before dawn to be at the gym for six.

My brain had me awake at half four, so was laying waiting for the alarm to go off half an hour later. So I leap out of bed, get dressed, and once down stairs I put the kettle on, test and jab Scully, feed the other cats, then put the mocha pot on to boil.

All done by quarter past five, giving me thirty five minutes to wake up and be ready for the drive to Whitfield.

As I walked to the entrance, the doors were unlocked and we all pile in, us rats go upstairs and begin our sessions.

I had a podcast to listen to, just over fifty minutes, which I listen to all of, so that I did 400 K/cals, and close to 6,500 steps.

Back home, the sun was up, though hidden by cloud, and a light drizzle fell.

Jools made me a brew, then was off to the Riverside for her class, then a coffee morning, giving me four hours to get my shit together, have a shower and do the washing up.

Which I get done.

I have a trick for summoning Jools: I put the kettle on, and usually she appears soon after it boils, which she did this day, shortly after half ten.

The rain had stopped and the bench dried out, so we sat outside to sip our tea.

I read the second of the books on Kent churches that Simon sent last week. I got annoyed by the author's views on churches, but likes his descriptions of the setting, so read each entry about halfway down the page, and skipped to the next church.

The afternoon slipped by.

Tesco now has party food in, so we had party food for supper, though there was no party, as such. But we ate bite-size Indian nibbles, and supped beer or cider.

The sun sank in the west, and now with skies clear and trees turning to red and gold, so the view out the back was glorious. While away to the east, the just gone full moon rose, as darkness fell.

For the evening there was football: I watched Leicester v Wigan instead of Fleetwood v Arsenal, because I though a battle between two out of form teams at the bottom of League 1 would be more interesting than the cup tie between the team 18th in League 2, and Arsenal's reserves.

How wrong I was, although the Leicester game was better than expected, which The Foxes won 3-0, but at the same time, Fleetwood lead Arsenal into the second half, ten Arse levelled.

And that's how it stayed, so went straight to penalties, and Fleetwood won.

Only I decided that I would bail on it after 86 minutes and went to bed, missing the celebrations.

So it goes.

Monday 26th October 2026

Well here we are, Monday again.

Nothing planned for the day, other than to see the end of it.

And another day in which the rain would fall heavily from the sky.

Although first thing the sky was pink then red, with some blue sky visible, but soon the clouds swept in, and day turned to something like disk.

The lawnmeadow is now being dug over by thousands of earthworms, their casts are everywhere, letting the rain and air into the compacted soil, and ensuring good growth for next year.

Which is nice.

I spend the day listening to pods, and editing shots, as I had yet to finish editing the pictures from our trip to France, though I would complete the task on Tuesday, and instead of uploading five at a time, I dumped the last 35 at once to get them out of the way.

Chartres is a fine cathedral and a wonderful city. We have to go back and explore more, but there are so many places to visit as it is, places we have yet to go to.

Between the rain, a Hummingbird hawkmoth does come and feeds from the Hot lips, making it still feel like summer, even if it is now cool, windy and wet. Mostly.

We go to Tesco at eight, to get supplies for the week, then to Lidl as their bakery is better and some of their cheap cider for Jools and cheap tripel for me.

We get back home as the rain starts, and it continues until dusk shortly after four.

Supper was Ruben rolls, which I have a glass of Chimay Bleu, 2024 vintage to wash it down.

Now that's a good beer.

No football in the evening, just a League 2 game which I skip, so to bed at eight, with the rain still falling and the wind blowing hard.

I fall asleep to the sounds of autumn outside.

Sunday 25th October 2026

At two in the morning, the clocks went back, bringing GMT back to the United Kingdom. Meaning lighter mornings, but darker and earlier evenings.

We did lay in bed, and slept through our extra hour. Jools got up at six to feed the cats, and I slept on to half past, woke feeling refreshed.

I do read old blog posts from each of the preceding ten years, and I see from last year that that week was when we switched to going to the gym really early to avoid crowds and to ensure our machines would be free.

This meant on weekdays being at the doors for six, and seven at weekends.

Which we did this weekend.

As usual, the gym was pretty empty at a minute past seven, although the speakers did boom our Europop to no one, as we all pretty much have headphones on, which we have to have turned up the volume so to drown out the Eurodisco.

One of which was a reworking of "You've Got the Love", which was itself a reworking and mash up of two older songs: an instrumental, and a vocal by Candi Staton. That was a hit when I was going through trade training in 1991, and I remember it booming out of boomboxes as we bulled and studied.

We both did our fifty minutes, then after a short cooling down outside in the sunshine, we went to Tesco to fill the car up, then to the Promenade for a walk.

In a change from the two previous days, and the two following days, Sunday was gloriously sunny, though with a stiff westerly.

It was too rough and too near high tide for anyone to be swimming. No Sean and Ange, so we walked down the promenade and over the new bridge before turning for home, when the café under the clock tower said we were too early as opening time was still five minutes away.

So we saved our money and walked back to the car, me doing some light botanising on the way on the few flowering plants on the edge of the stony beach, before reaching the car and climbing in.

A quiet morning, so we drove back to Townwall Street, then along to the port and up Jubilee Way, free of traffic as there were no ferries in.

Once home we put the kettle on, and in a change had a shortcake each which I had made between halves of football the previous day.

And a very good start to the day it was.

I had another shower, changed and so was set for an afternoon of football. Or in the case of Manchester United, an attempt at football.

Lunch was our old favourite of chorizo hash, all prepared, cooked and eaten before kick off at two, at which point the week of preparation for Man Utd was for naught, as opposition, Bournemouth, had already in the six days before beaten both Sunderland and AC Milan (!), so the current iteration of The Red Devils would pose no serious issues.

So it was that Russian monied Bournemouth cruised to a 3-0 victory, and on another day might have scored more. In their last four visits they have won 3-0 three times and had a 4-4 draw!

Much less said about the second game, Sunderland v Leeds, which due to storm force winds was something of a bore-fest.

And as the commentator stated there had not been a 0-0 draw in between the two teams in living memory, it was then inevitable that it did end 0-0.

Disunited they fall

I was going to write about Manchester United on Wednesday after they were thrashed by Como in their first season in the CL, but held off.

And so today, United were thrashed again, this time by Bournemouth at the Theatre of Revised Expectations in Salford.

Should manager, Michael Carrick be sacked?

Would make no difference, as it doesn't address the real problem at the club.

And that is thirteen years of terrible decisions, poor recruitment, unable to develop most young players, and when the going gets tough: sack the manager.

Until the root cause, the terrible run club above the manager.

The latest terrible idea was to change the forward line in the summer of 2025, the midfield in the summer of 2026, and the defence next summer. Only good teams are built on strong defence, and while that is as old and injury-prone as it is, United will conceed more than they score more often than not.

As a club, not to have any apparent idea on how the team should play, and recruit and develop players to feed into that vision means that it falls on coaches and managers to try to fix the mess.

And that is impossible while having to provide good results.

It used to be said that clubs like United were two games from a crisis. That's no longer the case, when winnin titles or getting into Europe swing on small differences.

Its not as if the rebuilding over the last two summer transfer windows have actually fixed the apparrent issues with the forward line and midfield. The more the personel changes, the more the issues remain the same.

So here we are: another crisis with the manager about to be sacked, like the guy from Portugal before him, like the Dutch guy before that, that Austrian coach before that, that former legend of a former player before him, beofre the grumpy Portugese guy, before the grumpy dutch guy, and before the Scot that Sir Alex recommended.

Nothing has worked, managers and coaches of all kinds and styles. All with the same result. So, go ahead, sack the coach again, and let the cycle repeat.

Madness is repeating the same mistakes and expect a different result.

Rinse and repeat.