Saturday 20th April 2019

What with stress from the job and a cough I develop once I lay down to sleep, I have not slept that well this week. Quite how bad I did not realise, until we had lunch yesterday, and I could not be arsed to do anything else other than to lie on the sofa and "listen to the football". I might have had an hour's sleep. It wasn't enough.

This might explain how easy it for Jools to suggest and me accept, that the planned orchid hunt be put off 24 hours.

Put off for what? Wee, first of all it was to go to the butchers. Then, when I pointed out that the freezer was full of meat, lets just relax, do the garden and listen to the football?

Which is what happened.

We went to Tesco, spent a hundred quid, twelve of Which was wine, which is a human right, right?

We bought lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, which is more expensive that over-processed shitty food. Who decided that?

Anyway, once back, we have breakfast, then drive to Samphire Hoe to check in the lea of the cliffs.

I was hoping that in the 9 days since we were last there, more spikes may have come up, or those there developed into triffids with a dozen flowers. Neither was correct. Maybe ten spikes, quite small, and in the micro-climate under the cliffs, the dry conditions meaning the tiny spikes were baking and turning brown.

And I had my camera on the wrong setting, so all the shots, the macro ones at least, came out so poor, none were worth editing.

We go back via the garden centre at Alkham. It was tempting to buy more plants, but Jools has trays and trays of seedlings nearly ready for planting out. We decide just to wait to see how they grow on.

Back home we have a saffron bun and a brew.

And at that point I feel so washed out. With just four games to listen to on the radio, I take to the sofa and sleep for an hour.

Waking up I feel no better.

We have party food for dinner; olives, pitta bread, humus, mozzarella cheese, onion bhajis, and curried chicken. It was great.

But afterwards, I am fit for noting other than to sit on the sofa to watch a Woody Guthrie documentary, and once that finished, I went to bed.

Endex.