Sunday 29th April 2018

Half the weekend gone already, and with 100% cloud cover forecast, no point looking for orchids. So the day was to be given over to "other things".

Other things like making coffee, feeding the cats and then watching the footy.

As I sat on the sofa, Jools was already outside sorting the garden out, I would join her later.

Halfway through the football, I pause the footy and make bacon butties, call Jools in from her toil, present her with a fresh brew and fresh tsp. In buty form. I cook mine, and after making a brew for myself, I go back to the sofa to watch the rest of the games and then after washing up, go out to do some stuff in the garden.

We have two large mostly empty beds to fill, so that really called for was a visit to a garden centre to see what there was. Our new favourite place is the Folkestone Garden Centre, which is not in the town, but 5 miles outside, beyond Hawkinge in Densole.

We get a trolley, and ten minutes later it was overflowing with stuff; digitalis, lupis, raspberries, whitecurrents, alpines, fruit nets and much more. We had to leave, we were like addicts, seeing more and more lovely things.

Of course, once back we have to put them all in the ground, and with a steady drizzle falling already, it was going to be a dmap job, but then just the thrill of putting plants in the ground, then seeing them grow and develop. I put in the new raspberry cane, the whiteberry, forgetting that I had put up the wiring last week, meaning get a spade in was troublesome. But I got it done, watered them in, then moved on to put the lupins and digitalis in.

An hour later they were all in, and it was half twelve and time for lunch. And it is the time of the year we have been waiting, the return of English Asparagus. I cook them in melted butter, and we eat them sprinkled with grated hard Italian cheese. The taste of spring, right there.

Rain was falling steadily now, so I take to the dining room table, write, edit and listen to football.

So passes the afternoon.

With the football at halftime in the second game, Man Utd v Arse, which was as tepid as you might imagine with the big names and characters out of the game. I prepare the rack of lamb, but it in the oven with a herb crust, pan fry the vegetables; onion, baby sweetcorn, mange tout and more asparagus. Fry some boiled potatoes, and with a bottle of cheap fizz. Perfect.

The weekend has slipped by again, time to speak to Mum in the weekly dance. I am past playing games so tell her straight, but at the same time, its her life. Whatevs.

The beginning of the end

Overnight, the Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, fell on her sword and resigned. But not for removing the rights of UK citizens and deporting them. No, for inadvertently misleading Parliament.

No apologies for the policy, no apologies for the misery, the breaking up of families, the denying of cancer treatment, the stopping of pensions.

This is a Government not worthy of its name.

And then, if we take that at face value, then several, if not all the Government front bench should also resign for misleading the House on Brexit. In some cases, I'm talking about you Boris, on an almost weekly if not daily basis.

Sajid Javid, a second generation man of immigrants is Rudd's replacement. But he has consistently voted for the measures revealed over the past month. Although he has said ut could quite easily have been he and his family that were deported. Again, no apologies for the policy, just for it being given the wrong name.

In the meantime the EU has written to Sajid Javid to express their and the steering committee's concern regarding EU citizens rights in light of the Windrush Scandal. That the EU wouldn't link the two was never in doubt. Just promising to protect rights won't be enough to convince the EU.

And then there is the NI/Irish Border; still not fixed, and the DUp now weighing in saying Mr Barnier does not understand Unionist feelings in regard to the possibility of a border between NI and the rest of GB. Well, as her party pushed for Brexit and no border between the north and south, maybe she can come up with a solution to fix the conundrum? I won't hold my breath.

And Barnier restated that without a deal which satisfies Ireland, then there can be no deal on anything, and you have until the end of June to fix it, or there is the backstop position, option 3, of a separate deal for NI, which the EU, GB and NI in the guise of the DUP agreed to. It was always a fudge, and complaining about a deal you agreed to makes you look stupid.

Just now the House of Lords defeated to Government with an amendment that will give Parliament the right to tell the Government of the day, might not be May by then, to go back to the negotiating table with the EU or stop Brexit.

May is now exposed as the politician that brought in the hostile atmosphere that resulted in the Windrush crisis, and there is evidence on Twitter, the BBS website and Hansard. Rudd may have taken the fall, but the target will be on the PM and it might be hard for her to survive. That said,no idea who would take her place, as a Brexiteer would be a disaster, though it would be impossible for even JRM to steer a no deal or bad deal through Parliament now.

Each day things get clearer. Probably.

Saturday 18th April 2018

And the weekend again.

And because of the traffic on Friday, and if I'm honest, we couldn't be arsed, we had shopping to do.

Tesco is a chore, but with beer, crisps and party food to buy, it can be fin. I say party food, but a selection of eight mini snacks from the deli counter can be bought for eight quid, and that is good enough for us for a simple Saturday night dinner.

Back home for croissants and coffee and put the shopping away. And then....

Friday night a friend messaged me on FB saying he was in the county, could I show him a Fly Orchid? So, a series messages went back and forth when ended up with me agreeing to meet Henry and his wfe at a garage on Stone Street at eleven.

I had planned to check on the Man Orchids at Lydden, so now had to do that on the way to the meeting. Volunteers had put up a new fence round the roadside reserve on the hill, a new, more robust stile to clamber over, and then the hunt for rosettes.

There are maybe a hundred Man orchids here, but the rosettes can be easily covered by other vegetation, so it took a few minutes to get my eye in, and then I spotted a rosette with a spike. This was the most advanced, maybe will be in flower in a week or so, if the weather warms up, of course.

From there, via narrower and narrower lanes crossing the two lines of downs to Stone Street, past other rich orchid site, that are not showing much as yet, but I will return in a week or so.

I arrive at the garage ten minutes early, fill the car up and ponder whether to get an ice cream, but decide against it.

Henry arrives at then past, blaming it on the hotel's slow service at breakfast. Anyway, we're all set, set off in convoy up Stone Street, turning off down a side lane, and then again down an overgrown lane with tumbled down the escarpment to the valley below. Halfway down was the reserve, we reverse into the small parking area, just large enough for our two cars.

Would they see Herb Paris? Chances were 100% on that.

I know the site so well now, but for my friends this was just their second visit, so they are entranced by the thich spring vegetation growing along the path leading up to the clearing. We pass Twayblades beyond number, a few Early Purples and thousands of bluebells. I hoped to see butterflies at the meadow, but the heavy low cloud meant that they were hunkered down somewhere.

I find the first Fly in flower, a single bloom, in the muck of a woodland clearing. It had emerged just that morning, still not fully out of its wrappings, but vibrant in colour. It would have looked fabulous in sunshine. But none of that on this day.

We were to find two more Fly in flower, still early for them, to see one open in April is pretty unusual, but then with global warming, who knows what to expect?

Up in the top meadow there are four Lady in different stages of opening. They look magnificent, even in the dull conditions. And on the way up we see the colony of Herb Paris, with just a couple of the plants having the regulation four leaves, most had five. But job done.

Time was slipping away, I had to make tracks to leave as Jools and I had been invited to a party, so we walk back along the bottom path of the reserve, back to the car where I bid them farewell.

I go back via Bridge and the A2, getting back in about half an hour, time for lunch I thought, but was told, firmly, there would be food there. So we made do with a brew. A quick change of clothes and it is time to go to Crabble Mill, where I used to go to the camera club, and just along the river from our old flat.

Gary was 50, and so this was the opportunity to have a family get together, with brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles coming from all over the country. And a smattering of friends. Which is why we were there.

There was party food: finger sandwiches, sausage rolls, crisps, vol au vents, cake, cake and more cake. And birthday cake.

I took some family shots, and one of Gary cutting the cake; so, happy birthday again, Gary.

By the time we left, it was four, and the second half kicking off all over the country, City were playing Leeds, 1-1 at half time, and with longest serving player, Wes, scoring the goal. It was also his last game for the club, so the script was kept to as he set up the winning goal mid-way through the 2nd half. Suddenly we are nearly at the end of the season, with just one league game left, but bad news, two more weekends of the Prem, then the FA Cup, Champions League, play offs and then the World Cup.

We have our party food, mini sausage rolls, pasties and so on, then take up position on the sofa to watch Mad Max, which was OK. Long and mad, but watchable.

The Brexit conundrum

To put it simply, DD's job is to set up deals and arrangements with the EU that means that our relationship with the bloc stays the same; trade, travel, living and working.

All this time, money and effort to ensure things stay the same, which is why it is most likely that we will end up the a BINO Brexit, Brexit in name only.

This is because UK is incapable of replacing those arrangements and deals in the two year A50 notification period. Turns out the things experts said was impossible in the two year time frame ended up being impossible! Who knew? That was even before the band of useless twats May has appointed as her crack Brexit team: Johnson, Gove, Fox and DD.

That and not being able to agree between themselves in Cabinet what it was Brexit actually was, or what they, as a group, wanted to be the end point. In an odd irony, the 26 members of the Cabinet are less unified than the EU27. That is some failure for May, and for the EU, something to unify against.

The EU have been several paces ahead of the UK in the negotiations. The EU comes up with something, the UK says it is unacceptable, then months later agrees. Even I could do that. But can you imagine if this "skill" is taken forward to really aggressive countries, like the US?

There are the headbangers of course, who want UK out of not just the EU, but the SM and CU and anything with European in its title. Maybe its as just as well the European Cup has been renamed the Champions League. Exit both the SM and CU, as if there would be no impact, not that they care of course. DD's department has not spoken to any company regarding solutions to either the border in Ireland nor the one at Dover. Nor has any member of that department actually been to Dover to see how busy it is, and how any delay would be devastating not just to the town, but to the country.

Almost as if they are just going through the motions of Brexit without doing any of the work to back up what it might actually mean. Bear in mind that unless there is a solution to the NI?Irish Border and EU citizens rights in the UK, then there is no deal. No transition, no associate membership, no trade deal, no framework, nothing. And that would mean the UK being out of the UK 11 months today, and not having the infrastructure and resources to cope, but not een having dug the foundations for new customs offices at the Eastern Docks.

The question comes as to what the referendum vote actually meant: leaving the EU only, or more. Strictly speaking, if in 11 months time, the UK leaves the EU only, stays in some kind of SM and CU and VAT arrangement, then the mandate would have been carried out, and would be very difficult for Brexiteers to push for anything beyond that: I mean, the public would say, you won, we left the EU? And trying to explain the technical details on what the SM and CU were and why it would be a good thing to leave, if having left the EU nothing really had changed.

The EU has restated many times, that without a solution to the NI/Irish border, then there can be no agreement. DD wanted to kick that into the long grass until October, but the EU refuses and says there has to be agreement before the end of June. It is going to be a bumpy two months.

Friday 27th April 2018

Prayer Day (DK)

I mention the above as it is pertinent in what happened on Friday.

You have time off, for whatever reason and you dread the inbox upon your return. The mails, the calls the meetings.

And then when you power up the laptop, and Skype starts, and all you see from your contacts is lots of people not in work.

What the actual heck?

Prayer Day.

Public holiday.

No one in work.

I had some mails, dealt with those. Did some admin, spoke to those German and UK colleagues, and that was it.

I vacuumed the living room.

I weeded the new flower beds.

I emptied the bins.

I had lunch.

I checked in with work on a regular basis, and nothing.

Jools came home at three, so I switched off the work computer, and so let the weekend begin.

We were going to go shopping, but an accident on the A2 meant that it was traffic hell out there, so with the clouds having cleared, it was a fine evening. What the heck, lets just chill out this evening and do the shopping thing in the morning? Why not indeed.

We have made it to the end of another week, and that calls for a celebration. Have a cuppa. Have two.

Why not go out for dinner? I cannot think of a reason not to. We haven't been to the Old Lantern in Martin for years, we heard it has been taken over and the rumour was it was some kind of Japanese fusion place. Turned out half true, in that a Japanese guy owns it, and does Japanese nights, but otherwise it has a new menu, wider choice of beers.

Martin is down from the station, under the line and up the narrow lane the other side, left at the top and at the end of a dead end lane, on the right is the Old Lantern, an old pub, maybe 17th century; the windows don't fir, the floor is uneven and there are low beams everywhere. Wonderful.

We are the first customers, so order drinks and wait for the menu to be printed out, when it was, I ordered fish and chips, Jools had a burger. We then settled down to listen to the chorus of birds outside, mostly blackbirds all so busy feeding their young families.

The food is good, so good we plumb for a large cheeseboard between ourselves, and cracking that was, but our eyes were bigger than our bellies, and we failed to finish it. Only just though.

Jools drives us back home, arriving just in time for Monty, and a slump on the sofa as we both struggled to stay awake.

Thursday 26th April 2018

We all have the responsibility to look after ourselves. If not for our own reasons, but for the thes we love and care about.

Many years ago, I saw someone I used to love kill herself through deliberate negligence. I left before he had a stroke, lost one leg, her second leg, her sight before death finally took her. But she left a son alone at 16, and all so needless.

I say this too because in the past year both Jools and I have seen friends and family either die or have very serious health problems, and not wishing to labour the point, sometimes we have been blind to our own health. Not any more, as Jols and I have both gone through screening, and as a result, Thursday Jools had an appointment in Canterbury for most of the day. I took the day off to be with her.

I won't go into the details of the day, the endless waiting around, first at the registration, then the registrar, then the consultant before she finally went in for the scan. That was the morning and into the afternoon before we were free, sitting in various waiting areas, looking at the people around us, and wondering if this was our fate now, over 50 and in the system?

It then took half an hour to get out of the city, another half hour to get home. And we were shattered.

Pooped.

So we were home, had a brew and put the radio on. It was four in the afternoon, time to feed the cats and listen to some music on the radio.

All was fine, I put some more peanuts in the back garden for the fox we saw the night before. We thought no more of it.

Sure enough at about eight, foxy came along, but Molly was watching over the fox.

She had just caught a mouse. The fix saw it. And went for the mouse.

Molly pounced, the fox got the dead mouse, but Molly, fearless as ever, the Tortie Terror she is, chased the fox off.

And she was unharmed.

She soon came in, once the fox returned and cleared up the peanuts, but always keeping an eye on Molly. She was happy enough, and our little champion.

Football on the radio, Arse in Europe, dominating the conceding a last minute equaliser. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

The reality of Brexit

Every day an item of news or a tweet showing a picture from something like the only Daily Hate Mail that brings home how little not only Brexiteers, the Government but the people that voted for Brexit actually thought it through.

Seems like that the EU is going to charge UK citizens, after Brexit, €7 each time they enter the EU, in line with all other 3rd countries which is the case at the moment. Mail readers, or at least the online readers, seemed shocked to discover that Brexit meant Brexit. Who'd have thought it?

And the EUs own GPS system may be blocked not just to UK users but UK companies now, as we will no longer be part of the EU; more Brexit means Brexit, right there.

And now the Japanese Ambassador to the Court of St. james has spelt it out even clearer than last time in explaining what Brexit means; if there is no frictionless trade (a CU, SM and VAT lws) then there will bo NO Japanese companies left in UK in a decade. Is that any clearer that Brexit means Brexit?

In the two years since the referendum, UK growth has gone from the strongest in the EU to the weakest, with today, official figures showing that int he 1st quarter of 2018 it was just 0.1%. Government blames the weather, but there is a Brexit shaped elephant in the room.

The EU is currently stunned at the incompetence of Liam Fox, or should that be the disgraced former Defence Minister Liam Fox, and the fact that there is no infrastructure development at Heathrow and Dover, the two main pinch points in a no deal scenario.

At home, the Windrush scandal thunders on, with Amber Rudd showing very much she has little idea what goes on in her department. Not knowing there were targets for deportations (removals), then having to admit there was. This is the strategic direction of her department, if this isn't the very role of Secretary of State then what is? Of course if she has to resign, then so will her predecessor, Theresa May, now Prime Minister, who, and let's not forget, was very free and easy with facts, and has been shown to have lied about her role in the immigration ad trucks.

And May falling would mean the end of the Government, or a scramble to replace her. And then who? What would the Conservative Party stand for? JRM for PM? He is a backbencher given too much oxygen of publicity, and now seems to have more say in the nation's future than the Cabinet.

And still, as Amber Rudd's repeated refusal yesterday to say whether UK would be leaving the CU in an interview shows that even now, the Government is still negotiating with itself, not the EU. Johnson has said that staying in the CU would be a resignation matter; glad that something is, Boris.

Wednesday 25th April

Four months since Christmas.

Just so you won't forget.

Wednesday, halfway through the week. At lunchtime at least. And its all downhill from here, apparently.

It is another day working from home, so you know the score. It is dull repetitive, and I am watched at most time by one or more of the cats. In fat, Molly took up position laying on my gadget bag, staring at me for an hour as I took part in teleconferences. She seemed to be interested in what I did, and purred if I stopped to stroke her head.

It was a bright morning, and during a coffee break I go on a walk round the garden to see what was new or what was fading. The lupins we planted are taking well, and the upward pointing leaves managed to collect dew at their base, so creating an ideal photographic opportunity.

But there is always work, mails and meetings. And always, being watched by Molly.

In the afternoon it clouded over, and rain began to fall, good as the garden in getting dry, in fact hard to remember when it rained last. So the clouds get heavier and it get darker so I have to put the table light on to work.

Even if I say so myself, dinner was a triumph: shoarma lamb, new potatoes and a combination of smoked bacon, broccoli, peppers and onion fried in olive oil. And was all wonderful.

Just before dusk, a fox came into the garden to clear up the peanuts and seeds from around the bird feeders. Must be hungry to be so close to houses in near daylight. I get shots.

More football in the evening, Bayern v Real, and Jools found how to watch it on the net, but my eyes were heavy and I ended up listening to the radio laid out on the sofa.

Tuesday 24th April 2018

Back in the jug agane.

All work and no play, makes Jelltex a dull boy.

But I have just 13 days working now before two weeks off, and I can see the orchids stretching out in front of me. Forever.

But before orchid heaven, there is work. Mails, calls and meetings. Always the meetings.

Outside it is sunny again, but cooler, but worth going out with the camera to see what is about. To my surprise in three days the apple tree has developed buds and now the blossom is beginning to open.

I take a shot.

And back inside for breakfast, more coffee and start work.

The morning passes with no crisis, I have regular visits from the cats just to make sure that I don't want to feed them.

Outside the clouds begin to roll over, and what was a warmish pleasant day seems to turn the calendar back two months, so I go round closing the windows.

Better have a brew to warm up.

At the end of the afternoon, I gird my loins once more for a session on the cross trainer, so with a soundtrack of The Clash, BAD, New Order and so on, I do half an hour whilst Scully watches me from her new favourite bed inside the wardrobe. Yes, the wardrobe. Molly has been using it, as she learnt how to open the door, climb in and it closed behind her. Scully can't do that, but the door is now open all the time, so she sleeps on it during the day.

Dinner is to be the leftover steak from Sunday, along with more saute potatoes and frozen corn. It works very well, I have to say, not as good as Sunday, but still good.

For the evening there is football on the radio, Liverpool in Europe against Roma, which Liverpool take a 5-0 lead by 70 minutes, but tire to end up 5-2 winners. A stunning result, but those away goals could haunt them next week.

The penny is dropping

Today, DD appeared before the oversight committee, and although they went gentle on him, it became clear DD really is not so much a nam out of his depth, but a man drowned, his body recovered and an autopsy about to be carried out.

DD announced that UK will be coming up with its own draft text of the December Fallback position, aka option 3. All well and good, but the EU published theirs in March, and anyway, he's had, what, 4 months to get this job done? In fairness, in order for the draft text to be published, that would require the cabinet to agree that same text, and as they can barely agree on the time, that happening is slim. So, when you don't know where you're going in negotiations, the other side decide your destination.

His failure to answer questions, or contradict statements, on subject that the PM and other Ministers had made that morning. Either he's crap, poorly briefed or the rest of cabinet bypassing him.

He did admit that the A50 bill passed by Parliament last year, could be amended to cover the event that Parliament reject the "deal" that DD gets from the EU, either extending the A50 notice or having a 2nd referendum. He didn't rule anything out.

That meant that the MP for the 1780s, JRM started making threats to the PM, using coarse language to describe her plan for a customs "agreement", and threatening to apparently burn the House of Lords down if they contnue to thwart the will of the people. JRM is now backed by Naught Nigel to be PM, which says it all, really.

DD still believes there is a technological solution to the NI/Irish border, this was thrown into further doubt when it emerged that the new App created for the Windrush victims only works on Android phones, not Apple. Just be glad I suppose that it works only on Betamax really. And bear in mind that the UK has to create a computer system to handle hundreds of thousands of customs declarations, VAT declarations a day, at multiple locations, train thousands of users and be up and working by the end of the year. And the last major public sector IT project, for the NHS, is a decade late and billions of pounds over budget.

All these are foreseeable problems, and could be avoided if the A50 notification was sent when the UK was ready, i.e. never, but there you have it.

DD suggested that the NI/Irish border might not be fixed until October, which the EU announced was too late and restated that it must be sorted out by the end of June. So, no time to waste, and remember, UK decided to leave and so should have thought of all this shit.

Also this week, the Government has lost a series of votes on the Withdrawal bill in the House of Lords, the upper House doing their job in scrutinising what the Government is doing, and what the Commons should have done, but failed. The latest one is very much tightening up the possible use of the so-called Henry VIII powers by Ministers, now there will have to be a very good reason for them to use such powers.

It is also possible that May might not survive the Windrush scandal, the current Home Secretary, Amber Rudd is not covering herself in glory with answers today showing she either fails to notice deportation targets all over the Home Office notice boards, but as the responsible Minister she should know not just the targets but the actual policy itself. The head civil servant of her department knew of the policy and the target, which is spit into regions, but the national target is just over 8,300 a year. A target suggests a strategic direction, which as Minister Rudd, and May before her, were responsible.

Were May to fall, it is likely that the Government would fall too, and so there would be an election.

The Government also might fall as the DUP has said that if NI were to be treated differently from the rest of Britain, they would vote against the Government.

It is a mess, and it's all coming together for an almighty crash in the summer.

Monday 23rd April 2018

St George's Day.

Another royal baby born.

Civil list increased.

Crown manufacturers said to be happy.

Last week it seemed summer had arrived; long hot sunny days, and shorter humid nights. We knew it wouldn't last, but it felt cooler on Sunday, and after the early morning sunshone on Monday, the clouds rilled in and it got colder.

It was almost warm enough to have breakfast outside, but not quite. Anyway there was football to watch, recorded from Sunday, highlights of 5 league games. You will be glad to hear that the season is drawing to a close, Norwich have just two more games, but club football will cling on to the end of May, then there will be warm up games, England have two, and then the World Cup. I do not intend to watch much of it, just when it is on and I have nothing else to do, orchids, churches, butterflies and the garden will all come first.

Brave words, I know.

Anyway, get dressed and then to work.

I have meetings, of course, with my boss and manager. Things said, then down to replying to mails, before lunch and another meeting.

There is news of a new royal baby. I don't mind, but another one born to a life of opening bridges and launching ships, and holidays in Scotland and Norfolk. In the 21st century, they serve no purpose and should be phased out, but Brexiteers would like to give them a new Royal Yacht in which they can sail the sea selling the idea of a empire 2.0. I wish them well, but wish they would support themselves, you know.

The meeting drags on for over two hours, and a meeting via Skype is never good as people stray from the microphone meaning their voices and words fade to nothing.

That ends, and with loose ends tied up, I can pack up and go up to the spare room to do a session on the cross trainer. It's been two weeks in which I did one workout, so back on the grind. I pick up a perky selection of tunes and put on my trainers. And off we go.

I do half an hour, good enough, and am hot and breathless, but got it done.

Dinner is insalata and corn bread. Jools comes home, and with the wind whistling out the back, we're not going for a walk that evening.

I have wine, Jools has cider, we toast our good fortune and eat.

A quiet evening, it is cool and gets dark earlier than in the last week. I follow football via Twitter, Jools goes to bed to read. The cats are scattered about the house, snoozing.

The Brexit coup

I have no idea, really, if the idea of Brexit with the referendum and the "people's mandate" along with other policies was deliberate, or just a fascist's coincidence.

Before Brexit, you had Cameron's coalition government bringing in measures, under the guidance of the idiot, Chris Grayling, of restricting legal aid, trying to limit Judicial Review and restricting Freedom of Information (FoI) requests on cost grounds., of limiting the possibility of anyone questioning, or holding, the Executive to account.

That the Withdrawal Bill, the former Great Repeal Bill, planned to give Ministers the power to strike laws and/or citizen's rights by a stroke of the pen, and no comeback whatsoever. The idea of a coup maybe is not so far fetched after all.

The Government even tried to get Brexit past Parliament until the Gina Miller case restricted the Government's power, and without that case, would have succeeded.

After Grayling left the Ministry of Justice, Gove, was made to look competent just by reversing all of Graylings policies, with the exception of the legal aids cut. Make no mistake this was done as a purely dogmatic exercise, no impact studies had been done (sounds familiar), and only once implemented was its impact given a cursory glance. People lost jobs, families, children, unable to afford the legal representation as legal aid was now out of their reach. So, a basic function of a state, the use of law, was being limited to only those who could afford it. This also applied to acts committed by local authorities, and central Government, even if they had acted illegally, people could not get legal aid.

Same is true for those who faced deportation, or removal as the Home Office now calls it, and turned a blind eye to those cases that were brought to its attention.

Questioning the Executive is something that goes back to Magna Carta, the right to a free and fair hearing. But that is now getting lost, except to those who can afford it.

Then there is the bare faced lies that were told of Brexit: only a win/win situation, this would be the easiest deal in history, nothing would change, there would be lots of extra money for everything, including the underfunded NHS. These lies were easily challenged, but wee often repeated by the forth estate and poor journalism, in the BBC especially where they still don't seem to have a grasp of the terms needed to pin a lying Brexiteer down, maybe its because some of the journalists were Leave voters, but they have a duty to hold the Executive to account too, failure to do so, is a failure to democracy.

The lying continues to this day, and goes unchallenged when much of what is being said has been proved to be lies, in some cases for years.

And then there is the funding. The DUP paying a student six hundred grand the last week of the referendum so he could pay CA. Then blocking any investigation as to where the DUP got their money from in the first place. One of the main Leave campaigns part funding the other to get past election spending rules, and the illegal use of people's digital data to target social media Fake News and advertising. Aaron Banks owns Moneysupermarket dot com, and somehow data by its users came to be in the possession of CA. Use of data for one purpose then being for something else, let alone supplying it to another company, is against the law. Wetherspoons deleting it's customer's information at the same time it would have to if it were complying with electoral laws.

And in order to preserve Parliamentary Sovereignty, such sovereignty has to be pypassed on increasingly regular occasions in the name of Parliamentary Sovereignty. You have have it, only when we say so and when to do what we says.

The Windrush issue, which will soon be expanded to those citizens who thought they had a right to live here after Hong Kong was given back to China, and that will then be extended to EU citizens, although the latter has already happened. I wouldn't trust the Government, this Government anyway, with me and my family's future, based on their past and very recent records. Windrush should have been a resignation matter for the last two Home Secretaries, Amber Rudd and the now PM Mrs May. It seems now that an appology after being caught is enough, or blaming underlings. No accountability, no recourse: a coup.

Sunday 22nd April 2018

Despite the orchid season being well under way, and a species in flower I have yet see, I decided not to visit Sandwich as the orchids are on the edge of a golf course and we would have to pay seven quid to get on the estate. I plan to go to Marden at the weekend to see the GWO there, as it is a much more pleasant experience.

So, what with a late night of carding and drinking and laughing on Saturday evening, a slow start was the order of the day for Sunday, and not even any football to watch as there had been just two Prem games the day before, and one of those ended in a 0-0 draw. We listen to more Huey, then I fire up the grill for bacon butties and more brews.

There is the steak for dinner to season and rub with olive oil, and finally, make scotch eggs some sausage meat I got out of the freezer a couple of days before. Exciting stuff I'm sure you'll agree.

Anyway, once all that had been done, and washed up, showered and dressed, we had to tackle the wiring on the posts we knocked in the weekend before for the soft fruit to climb over.

We had been to B&Q the day before, and I had bought wires, hooks, eyes and tensioning equipment, all we had to do was to string the wire through the posts.

All we had to do.

All.

The wore came wrapped inside what looked like an aluminum horseshoe. No instructions on how to get the wire out. I snipped the holding wires, and that made no difference. I called Jools, the brains of the operation, as to what we should do. In the end we took the wire out of the metal horseshoe thing, and then dealt with the huge tangles birdsnest we created. Half an hour later that was sorted and I could start the threading and tensioning.

Two hours later we finished and it was time to eat the scotch eggs I made earlier. They were lovely and spiy and made with fresh eggs from Jen's hens. Yummy.

There was apparently endless football in the afternoon, Arsenal v West Ham, another FA Cup semi final and another game. Already forgotten to details. In fact I didn't listen to the last game. Apparently there can be too much football.

Dinner was huge boston rib steaks. Huge things, and with the saute potatoes, garlic mushrooms and sweetcorn, all too much even with the bottle of Deus beer I shared with Jools. Let's be honest here, a 75cl bottle at 11.5% was too much for one person. Even me.

We failed to eat all the steak, half left each I will cook again later in the week for a bonus steak dinner.

I spoke to Mum for half an hour, reminding her of the broken promises she has made, but also the need for change must come from her not from pleasing us, or me. If she can't want to change for her health, then there is no point. She has lived her life and earned the right to live out her days as she sees fit, doesn't mean I am going to support her in that, nor go to visit her either.

I told her I feel the adult in her relationship, and for someone as intelligent as she is, that can't be right. Maybe she'll change, but as I have been waiting the best part of 20 years for that, I doubt it.

New week, old problems

Over the weekend, the Japanese Ambassador to the Court of St James warned that Japanese car companies need to have assurances that they would have access to the SM and cross border supply chains would still work post Brexit. But it seems this warning wasn't clear enough to May and her Brexiteers as come half seven this morning, May assured her crack(pot) team of Brexiteers that it was UK intention to leave the CU. This did change before eight, but back again just after.

And apart from the NI/Irish border issue, there is a just as big issue, but bear with me as the subject is dry, and I won't go into details. It is VAT harmonisation. One of the reason for not having border checks is that VAT is the same on both sides, take that away then the VAT payable would have to be worked out, so high tech solutions, even if they were acceptable, would not be enough to avoid a hard, or hardish border. But the oversight committee remarked that as HMRC had made no plans whatsoever, they assume that it was the Governments plan not to diverge on VAT with the EU.

Of course such details are lost on Brexiteers who only see their great crusade of free trade against the world's largest free trade area.

Their key argument is control. As I pointed out before, there is a balance between control and trade, the more control you want the less tade you get, and vice versa, and no matter who you trade with you have to comply with their rules; EU of USA.

The EU has been trying to conduct a FTA with India, but in return, the Indian government want freer immigration rules. UK vetoed this, odd that India being a Commonwealth country and India is one of the countries that DD is targeting for a post Brexit trade deal. Now that UK is not participating in trade deals, it seems an EU-India trade deal might happen sooner rather than later. I'm sure the irony of this will be lost on the Brexiteers.

The EU is close to sealing an FTA with Mexico too, another country that DD has targeted. All going so well.

DD visited NI today, and went to look at the border, and has been photographed looking at a bridge. As you do.

Of course, how he and May will square the circle of the deal agreed with the EU on the fallback solution for NI and her repeated statements that UK would not be in a or the CU. It is possible she doesn't understand what she and DD signed up for of course.

DD stated that a deal on the border might take until October, when the ratification process has to start. That the EU have given UK an end of June deadline seems to have escaped his eagle eye.

Still, eleven months and counting.

Saturday 21st April 2018

The weekend.

The day began cool and clear, a slight mist rose with the sun, but within half an hour that was burnt off. It did diffuse the sun for a while, turning it's disc to an angry red colour.

We had no shopping to do, just the usual chores, and then make coffee and warm up the croissants.

At eight I loaded the car with all my photographic equipment, and with the radio off and the windows down, we drove out of the village through Westcliffe and down Jubilee Way heading south to Folkestone. Our goal this fine morning was a wooded chalk down, a nature reserve filled with Fly, Lady, Twayblade, Greater Butterfly and Early Purple. I hoped that it would be here that I would see my first EPO of the season.

Up Stone Street, turning off down a narrow lane, and turning off again down a lane that looked like time had forgotten it, two tyre tracks cut through the mud and stones that had been washed down in. On either side banks rose steeply, filled with anemones, wild garlic, Lady's Smock and many other wild flowers, whilst from a nearby field, a hungry lamb bleated for it breakfast.

At moments like this, I won't say I give praise, as I don't believe in God, but moments and days like this makes the stress and hassle of work worthwhile, and here in the arms of Mother Nature we can forget the working week for a few hours, always not knowing what we might see next.

I check on the glade where the large Lady grew lat year, but I could see no rosettes, but I did see them three weeks back, so will fight through the undergrowth in a couple of weeks when they flower again.

We walk up the gently rising grassy path, lined with primroses and Common Twayblades. Up it goes until the view open ups into a glade, and in a beam of sunlight there is a flowering spike of an Early Purple Orchid.

The light in the glade with the path passing close by is stunning, dappled sunlight shines through, illuminating spikes of orchids or bluebells. I take shots, although I have to say the numbers of EPO are quite down on previous years.

Along the path to the meadow, where we stop for a few minutes to see if there were any Green Hairstreak on the wing, it is still cool and damp on the ground, maybe in an hour on our return walk to the car we might have more luck....

Over the road which cuts the reserve in half, and taking the path leading to the upper meadow, on either side we see Greater Butterfly spikes as well as Lady and Twayblade. There is the usual group of Herb Paris, none with seven leaves this year though.

As we walk into the clearing we see two spikes of large Lady rosettes, one showing colour of its lips. It will be out maybe later that day or in the morning, but for now we had to make do with one nearly open. We stand hoping to see a butterfly on the wing, and soon I am chasing a dozy Brimstone, a species I have always struggled to snap. It settles a few time, the last I lay down near it and inch closer and closer, peering through long grass to get my shot. I am nearly so close I would be a minimum focus, but that last movement alerts the butterfly and it lifts off and vanishes into the tree canopy.

We walk to the wood the other side, and although the bluebells are mostly open, its not a patch on Stockbury. But it does have bi-colour EPO mixed in. Again the light falling through the tree canopy is nothing shot of sensational.

The path turns down the down, as it were, and at the bottom where the path doubles back on itself, there is a large group of Lady rosettes, and some big Fly too. But all are a good week away from opening.

We walk back to the car, pausing at the meadow again and despite sitting there for quarter of an hour, there is now telltale shimmering green indicating a Hairstreak.

From the reserve we take the road back up to Stone Street and go to the garden centre near to Chartham, we needed nothing but manage to spend thirty quid, but we have a selection of lupins and another raspberry plant.

We go back down Stone Street, take the road to Stelling Minis where we stop at the village shop for a snack; sausage roll, banana milk sake and a pack of Guinness chili flavoured crisps. No, I have no idea either, but were OK.

With the season having started, but with only three species yet in flower, it seemed sensible to drive back home, via Barham to check on the spikes there.

Jools does walk up the bridleway with me, to see the EPO beside the track. These are in flower too, with many more to come. Although either rabbits or deers had nibbled many of the younger and juiciest spikes. Still should be a good show there, and hopefully a couple of white ones will make it too.

I failed to find a Lesser Butterfly, but once down the bridleway and into the wood on the other side I find many Lady, Fly and Twayblade rosettes; one hopes that the heavy logging will have done no long term harm, but I think it is going to be poorer after the damage to the soil and wood.

I find many Lady rosettes and of a good size, a few fly are mixed in, and of course twayblades everywhere.

But none are in flower, so I will leave a detailed survey until some are open, I turn round and meet back with Jools at the car so we can take the steep road back to the village and from there onto the A2 and to home.

We have lunch, some fresh bread rolls, and huge brews of course, whilst the radio is switched on the last of the Huey show.

I try to stay awake for the football, and just about keep my eyes open. At half time I go outside to plant the raspberry canes. It is the hottest part of the day, the air is still and it feels like high summer. I wish I could bottle this moment, to savour in the long dark days of winter, to remind myself that there will be days like this again.

Norwich draw 0-0 at Preston, and fail to have a shot on target. The season is fizzling out, like the leftover toffees in a tin of Quality Street in the middle of February.

Then there is the small matter of the FA Cup semi final; Man Utd v Spurs. Should have been a good game, and was, really. Bpurs began like an express train and scored in ten minutes. But then Utd got into their stride, defended superby, Spurs could not break them down. Utd level, then early in the 2nd half, take the lead. And no matter what Spurs did, they never came close.

We leave to pick up John to go to Jen's for another evening of cards. The sun is setting as we arrive and her half dozen chickens were taking themselves to the coop. It was warm enough to have the patio doors open.

We have a good night, play the usual number of games in an hour less, and have supper of scampi and spicy chicken bites. We are all done at a quarter to midnight, so say goodnight to Jen, drop John off on the way, the only traffic we see is the line of boy racers waiting at the Maccy Dee drive through.

Your Sunday Brexit

It is now almost inevitable that UL will enter into something that is, to all intents and purposes, a Customs Union agreement with the EU once it leaves the EU. ALl that is left is for that that to be extended to a Single Market agreement and then the BINO becomes real.

Of course, the Brexiteers have now realised what this means and are very unhappy. Arch Brexiteer and head of the ERG, JRM, says that what Uk should do is launch a trade war on Irish beef and wait until the Irish economy collapses and wait for the EU to sue for peace. or something. I'm not too clear on details, but then neither is Jacob, as he fails to realise that the EU and Ireland impose the same tariff and nontariff barriers on UK good and you have yourself a Europe wide trade war where we can't trade with a market that takes over 50% pf our exports.

And he is seen as the leading Brexiteer, and shows he has shit for brains no matter how many tens of thousands of pounds was spent on his private education. The effects of a trade war probably wouldn't affect JRM and his tribe, now seven children, as he is and always has been independently wealthy, it is the lower 95% of the population that would suffer, those with less to lose with lose the most of course, not least their jobs. But hey, dealing with human costs is not high on the Tories radar, as the unfolding Windrush case shows. People who were born, were schooled, lived and worked in the UK, always paid taxes, voted. Now find that there is no proof they are British. It couldn't be anything to do with their colour could it?

But there is going to be compensation; how do you compensate for people denied cancer treatment, unable to be at the children's wedding, or parent's funeral, made to be a criminal in their own country and the threat of deportation to a country they have never visited, or repay tens of thousands of pounds in benefits because the Home Office destroyed their evidence of being British? If this isn't a resignation matter, when the PM as Home Secretary, rather than the policy of the "go home" wagons being rolled out when she was on holiday, turned out she pointed out that the message wasn't harsh enough!

What a shitty country, full of hate and bigotry it has turned into, and all the while the Mail, Express, Torygraph, Times cheer them on and then act appalled at the human cost their hatred caused.

Bastards the lot of them and all who voted for Brexit, you sowed the seeds, and now reap the harvest, don't be surprised, just be shamed.

Friday 20th April 2018

And it is Friday. Again.

We have to get through the dull work stuff of course, and that was looking like being difficult.

Anyway, it was another stunning Spring morning, warm and humid already, the sun already risen into a clear blue sky, and it is going to be darn hot later in the day.

There are the weekly chores to do first thing: register hours, report to my boss, and file away documents that have arrived. In such a way, the morning passes. I even finish the task that has been hanging over me for a week or so, send that off, and it seems that with Denmark already having started a long weekend, maybe so should I.

One last phone call to make and I am done. Half one, and after trying to sit on the patio o read, I find it is "too hot" for just sitting and reading.

Jools comes home at half two, and now wth the weekend in full effect, we load the car for an orchid hunt on Samphire Hoe.

I was last there on Monday, when the west wind whistled down the path, and I saw less than ten rosettes; it seemed a wild goose chase, but then a walk isn't wasted, with the temperature at 25 degrees, it would be pleasant. Even more so as Jools buys us an ice cream each to eat as we walk down the sea wall towards the cliff face where I hoped to find some hardy hardy orchids.

It was fairly quiet down there, I guess schools were not quite out, so we wandered down the sea wall by ourselves, round the corner and to where the wall abutted against the cliff. There, under the cliff I hoped to find orchid spikes. But I found none, although I was sure they were there, just the rosettes covered by the other plants growing quickly.

We walk back and I meet a photographer; I ask him if he had seen any Early Spiders elsewhere. No he says, too early. And I almost believed him, I mean we could just walk back to the car and go home, but the path beside the railway beckoned, and my (early) spider-senses were tingling.

Jools said she wasn't going to join me, so I leave her at the visitor centre and begin the walk up the path. As I said, just four days earlier there had been just a couple of spikes, even though it had been warm for the three days between, it was hoping a lot to think they would be flowering.

I walk past the junction in the path, past one and then two benches My eye is caught by something; three small spikes in a row on the edge of the path, all three in flower, albeit just one flower on each. Still, a trio, all lined up looking gorgeous in the sunshine. Only problem was that the lips were pointing away from the sun, meaning I had to shoot into the light, and it proved to be tricky.

Further along I find three more singles in flower, and on the way back, one more, with the lip uncurling itself from the sepals, at an odd angle, but the colours stunning.

Happy.

With.

That.

Further down I spot some Field Horsetails, aka Maretails; a prehistoric plant, and one I had not noticed before, a bonus for me, so I snap those as well.

I walk back to the car, Jools sees me and comes over, and now for the shocking news: we were going to go to Tesco on the way home. All full of kids and people talking blocking aisles. But yes, to allow an early start on the orchid hunt in the morning. That was the plan.

And it wasn't that bad, we go round, a few people were being dumb, but then we can all be dumb at times. We have a full trolley, go to pay and make a dash for home.

Phew, what a day.

We have a selection of party food for dinner, and garlic dough balls. Dough balls to you too. And sweet beer.

The day is rounded off with an hour in the presence of The Don, blabbering about flowers in the garden. And we are happy. Very happy.

Another rock upon which the good ship HMS Brexit will crash

UK is leaving the EU be simple operation of international law and the calendar on 29th March 2019.

Read or not. And that counts for both sides.

UK must get its laws in order otherwise there will be chaos. Regulation and arbitration methods must be updated.

UK and the EU must reach a deal on the exit.

And this must be ratified.

By the EU27

By the European Parliament.

By Westminster.

A "transition" deal, even if it is a standstill, the above is also applicable.

And a selection of regional Parliaments and Assemblies will also have to ratify it.

Any FTA deal that might apply to the UK would also have to apply to Canada and Norway. Or they will complain to the WTO.

Yes, and in order for all the above to happen, rights of EU and UK citizens living in the UK and EU will have to be settled, and after the Windrush debacle, the EU will accept nothing less than laws protecting their citizens as, simply, they don't trust the UK.

And the NI/Irish Border needs to be settled to the satisfaction of Ireland and the EU. As well as all parties in NI.

And there is one other land border between the UK and EU. Gibraltar

Gibraltar voted 98% to remain, as EU membership means Spain has to guarantee its borders, and allow free movement. Those of us old enough, will remember blockades and day long delays for people and good before 1992. That is a thing of the past, but it could be a thing of the future if Spain puts a precondition for ratification of talks on the future of Gibraltar. Of course, the Brexiteers didn't bother themselves with details, like how it would affect people and reality, it all sounded perfect in the abstract, they just leave it to others to make work in the real world. Then scream like babies when their unicorn can't be made real.

I'm sure it'll all be OK in the end, I mean, most of the details will have to be settled by the end of June, and that leaves, what six or seven weeks. Plenty of time.

Thursday 19th April 2018

And the day dawned even warmer and more red and golden than the one previous. Let's be honest, this is not spring, this is summer; come early.

THe sky is salmon pink when we get up, already warming up, though still feels just chilly, but that will soon pass.

The sun rises away in the east, and the day begins.

Being a working day, and being at home, it is the usual routine. Jools makes coffee, we put the seedlings and cuttings outside so they can harden off. Jools busies herself, and I try to stay awake. I have breakfast, she leaves for work, and I put the bins out. Job done, now there is the first meeting of the day to prepare for.

I switch the computer on and it is going crazy. The pointer is moving all over the place, I mean not staying in one place, and rebooting the computer makes no difference. I struggle for an hour, manage to attend a meeting, then I take a call and a colleague suggests its a mouse problem. I take out the USB thingy and put it back in, and everything is normal.

So I crack on with work.

I have lunch.

I work some more.

At three, mails slow down, and so I decide to go for a walk, of course it is the hottest part of the day, but what the heck.

The plan is to walk up to Windy Ridge, through the wood and back again. Not that there would be much difference in the path over the field from the previous day. Still no piglets in the copse, then from the corner of Collingwood, I can see fields of rapeseed turning from green to hyperyellow.

The hill up the the ridge is not steep, but with the air heavy in the heat, I huff and puff my way up, past a field of young bullocks who are not interested in me, as they have clouds of flies to cope with. One either side, further up, the rapeseed goes right to the edge of the field, I take a shot.

It is a relief when I reach the wood, as it is cooler there, but horses have churned the paths into heavy mud, which made walking tricky. I see little of interest, other than three holes recently made by a busy woodpecker, given away by chips of wood on the ground.

From the ridge it is pretty much downhill all the way, which is just as well. And once home I make a pint of iced squash and gulp that down. One last check of mails from work and I can finish for the day, and chill on the sofa for a while as the cats decide its getting cooler now, so how about some dinner.

In the evening we sit outside in the cooling air, waiting for when dusk falls and the return of the bats, cartwheeling in the air for our enjoyment.

I even resist a wee dram, which would normally be a given on such warm evenings.

The return of the Irish Border

Of course, the Irish Border was always going to dictate on the shape of Brexit.

Today, the Torygraph leads with news that the EU have rejected UK's plans for the border to remain "frictionless". I say plans, more like dreams really.

In reality, in order to be frictionless, like it is now, UK, or NI at least, would have to remain in both the SM and CU. But as both would be left if the UK leaves the EU, then setting up SM and CU that replicate what we are leaving to ensure the continued flow of trade.

You might be wondering what the point in all this if we are to leave and just spend billions of pounds replicating what we already have. And you would be right.

There is no easy answer to the Irish Border for May: well there is, or are, but the choices will upset either one wing of the Tory party or the other, or the DUP. And whatever is done has to meet the Irish Republic's demands. If not, they will not ratify the deal.

So it is very important that it is settled to the satisfaction of all parties, but Ireland first and foremost, because without their approval there is no exit deal and no transition deal either. And UK crashes out of the EU with no deal and onto WTO rules.

At the root cause, there is a basic misunderstanding by the Government on how the EU works, how international trade works and the apparent hope that something would turn up. Bear in mind, as ever, that it is the UK that is leaving the EU, not the EU kicking out UK, so it is up to UK to find solutions to the problems their policy has created. One would have hoped that these would have been thought about and solved before the referendum, or before the A50 notification was sent.

And in the background is that any potential deal must be in compliance with EU rules and laws, as well as WTO rules and schedules. And what is true for the NI-Irish Border, is true for all ports and airports, in that frictionless trade and traffic depends on UK remaining in the SM and CU, remaining in the Eu in other words, or setting up a SM and CU that replicates what already exists. The second choice will be difficult and very expensive, but unavoidable if trade is to continue.

And this has to be all sorted by the end of September 2018; five months time, if the ratification process has a decent chance of getting through each of the Parliaments of the E27, the European Parliament and Westminster.

Wednesday 18th April 2018

We wait all winter for signs of spring, and the things we remember from previous years; the smell of hyacinths, the sound of swallows on the wing, the feel of warm rays of sunshine on your skin. And so on.

Earlier this week, there had been sunshine but it was cool. But come Wednesday, the dawn was warm and rosy, birds were clearly happy with the situation, as they were singing very loudly. As to what the bees thought, I wouldn't like to say, but come dawn they were busy at the flowers as the petals opened.

It was already warm, or warmer than it had been at six, and once the sun rose, so did the temperature.

We have coffee, Jools get ready for work, and I have breakfast and think about work, but not too hard.

Highlight of the day was on my early morning round in the garden I spotted something in one of my orchid pots. I bought two hardy orchids last autumn, the poor Bee went black and rotted in the autumn when I was away, and there is little hope for that. But the CSO in the larger pot, probably went the same way, but then again....

Well, there was the start of a rosette, two fleshy green leaves that can only be orchid. If it is a CSO should be spotted, but these are pure green. After taking a shot I see that there are two black areas on the leaves, so I am hoping this is normal and not the start of rot setting in.

I can't remember being that happy for a while.

I let calmness envelop me, and go to work.

Work, oh yes. A couple of difficult phone calls to make, but seems to be OK, and so to work.

Mails, two and a half days of them to plough through, write replies and make calls to smooth things out.

It is warm now, heck nearly even hot. We have gone from February to July in a day. I have a mid morning coffee and sit on the patio. The air is still and thick with summer heat and humidity, the cats are flaked out under a bush somewhere, their breakfast left uneaten for now. Insects are in the air, checking drooping flowers others might have missed for nectar and pollen.

Windows and doors are opened to let some cool air in, and the last thing I feel like doing is working. But I do. Ploughing on, getting things done.

At four it is too hot. The cats appear and make half-hearted appeals for dinner. I feed them, they pick at the food and go back outside.

Jools comes back at half five, and although I don't think our hearts are in it, we agree to go out for a walk.

Over the fields looking for signs of spring in new flowering plants. The fields have been ploughed and look so dry its close formation dust. We reach Collingwood and walk back, past the new house being built on the edge of an old quarry, the sort of house I would like, but then we are happy at our place.

We walk back along Collingwood, into the setting sun, letting the warm rays wash over us.

Back home Jools tends the young plants and seedlings, and I cook dinner. Chorizo hash, which is excellent with a pint of IPA.

The evening is warm, but I find things to do inside; writing and photo editing. As ever there is football, but I only follow by text, giving up at quarter past nine when Utd take a 2-0 lead at Bournemouth.

I plan to read in bed, but I close my eyes after a page and am soon asleep.