Saturday 18th February 2017

And welcome to the weekend. Waking up at half six was several hour too early, and it took some time to get going, but as always a cup of fresh coffee always helps.

We have to go to Tesco, there are five items on the shopping list, but we still manage to spend seventy quid, somehow. Over twenty of that was on kitty kibbles, which shows how much we care. That and milk, bacon, fruit and vegetables. With trolley loaded we pay and go to the car.

Back home we have croissants and another coffee.

Now, on Friday we took delivery of six raspberry canes, two loganberry canes and two red current bushes. Looking at the planting instructions, we see to our surprise that we could not plant them in the beds where the old canes used to grow. So, we did some thinking and decided on a new bed near to the raised beds, which meant we would have to get the tool out to dig an area one by three metres. Not much you would think.

We alo had to get some bonemeal for the roots, and then there is the bird food and fat balls for the badgers/foxes that we need too. So a trip to Charlton to the pet food place and to Morrison's for some pies (don't ask), then back up the hill to B&Q.

It would have been tempting to sit around all day, but the canes needed planting, so we put our boots and coats on, got the tool out and marked out the bed.

We dug it over, then scattered garden compost and dug that in before finally digging a trench, sprinkling the trench and roots with bonemeal, planting the canes and stamping them down before watering them in. Took about two hours, and we had aching limbs, but we looked at what we had done, and it looked good. Jools did some tidying up, we had stopped for lunch, but now it was three in the afternoon and kick off time.

And already there had been the first cup shock as Lincoln had knocked out Burnley 1-0. Millwall knocked out Leicester by the same score, and in the league we hoped City would continue their upward course, but sadly due to injuries and not being at the races, they slipped to a 2-1 defeat. I was going to go up to Burton for the game, but friends never confirmed the details, so more pain was avoided. But losing still hurts, even if you're 200 miles away.

I cook kofte kebabs and fried spuds, after speaking with my friend Tony on the other side of the world thanks to the wonder that is messaging on Facebook. The modern world is wonderful. Except when it isn't, clearly.