Thursday 2nd January 2014

Monday/Tuesday

It seems that 2013 wanted to blow itself out by the end. The wind blew and blew and the rain fell. We had pretty much all what we wanted in the house, so we stayed in, and did stuff: hobbies, chores, watched TV or listed to old John Peels shots from my tape collection.

On Monday Jools went to meet with the local council to discuss the funding for Nan. Not much was learned that we didn’t already know, other than if you are careful and save all your life, this will be used up at an unbelievable rate in paying for your care. But, with Nan’s short to medium term future secure, it was refreshing to see that she is getting stronger day by day, and being more alert, able to reason with staff, speak clearer and generally be how you would expect a 99 year old woman in a care home to be.

In a word: grumpy.

Jools also started to sort through some of Nan’s things, and we found many interesting things; documents, photos and the such. So I began the task of scanning them and then uploading to either the Dover Facebook group or to my Flickr photostream. Jools’ great-grandfather grew up in Southwark, born to two drunkards, he went to what was called ‘ragged schools’, educational establishments, set up by philanthropists to educate the poor. In doing so for Frederick Jones, he was able to gain an education, apply and be accepted into the Metropolitan Police Force, and in time transfer to be the resident policeman at Dover Priory station. In doing so, lifting him and his family and descendants out of poverty. Quite a thing really.

There were also programs for athletic meetings, cycling meetings as well as numerous family photographs. The local ones were great, especially those of Nan as a teenage tennis champion back in 1931 holding trophy. There were also great shots of her and her father with a friend on the beach at St Margaret’s.

New Year’s Eve the wind continued to blow: I did another session on the cross-trainer, and then we settled down to have a quiet night in. Once, we did we played Scrabble (I lost) and settled down to watch the festive edition of Tudor Monastery Farm, followed by Mock the Week. It was all very laid back, so laid back we nearly fell asleep. At eleven fifteen Hootannany began, Piano Blokey once again. I have to say, his chirpy demeanour does being to grate after it must be a decade or so of these shows. The usual smattering of ‘celebrities’ lines the audience. He swapped blokey, chirpy banter with them as usual.

Just after midnight, we looked at each other and headed upstairs. Another year gone.

New Year’s Day was no different to New Year’s Eve in that the wind blew and the rain fell. Hard. A Flickr friend came over in the afternoon, and so we chatted about things and then I cooked Chorizo hash whilst I listened to the final round of festive footy games on the radio. All this was part of the wait for the first episode in the new series of Sherlock. Now, I loved the previous shows, but not all were brilliant, and so this with this one. 90 minutes, Martin Freeman’s moustache and a rip-off of V for Vendetta. And it wasn’t as good as V either. Maybe the next shows will be better? As is the modern way, then to look at Twitter to see what it was thought of. And the result: much the same as I thought as it turned out.

And so we were 24 hours into the New Year. Only 364 more to go…..

For the first time I look into the tea leaves and come up with what I think may well happen this year. Mostly in sport. OK, in football.

Premier League.

Champions: Chelsea Runners up: Man City 3rd: Arsenal 4th: Man Utd.

Not earth shattering, just the same as last year, but in a different order.

Relegated:

18th: Sunderland
19th: Aston Villa
20th: Fulham

It will be a close thing this year, with any one of a number of clubs, Norwich included, could be relegated. And those who survive will have to get better for next season.

Football League

Champions: Derby
Runners Up: Leicester City

Play Offs: QPR, Burnley, Nottingham Forest and Leeds.

I have no real idea, but I do believe scoring goals is more important than not conceding. Derby as top scorers will do well.

This year I will try to:

Exercise more
Drink less
Get out more and flickr less
Read more

Photographic targets for the New Year:

Burnt Tip Orchids (Kentish if possible)
Purple Emperor Butterfly