Wednesday 12th May 2021

May used to be the month of birthdays: Mum, Dad, Granddad, 2nd wife, stepson. NOw there are none, just memories.

So it goes, so it goes.

I suppose it should be said how the old gout is going.

THe gout is fine. After the mini-flare last week, the pan has eased each day, and for the last two days the associated swelling has gone down. Heck, today I was able to put the Crocs on both feet, which hasn't been possible since March.

The drugs seem to be working.

I am staying of wine, beer, fizz, red wine, white wine, gin. Though asparagus I think is worth the risk. Every now and again, there is a twinge, but not much, life has returned to normal, pretty much. So, that's pretty much good news.

And yesterday I covered the cat news, and that Poppy came back minutes after Scully was banished to the bathroom cooler. And since then, Scully has been very calm, sitting mostly on the sofa, keeping an eye on things but we can tell when she is about to go into killer shark mode, so we wag a finger and she behaves. Poppy bounced back quickly, allowed me to stroke her and even pick her up, and she not struggle

Which is beyond nice.

I actually catch up on work. Doesn't take long, but it means grappling with our departments archacic planning tool, which is a huge but inflexible Excel spreadsheet. It's madness.

But I at least know that I am good for the first two weeks after my holibobs.

Which is also nice.

There is plenty of coffee.

Some breakfast.

Scully monitoring.

Work.

And outside, the roofers put the tiles on, so that by the end of the day it is waterproof, and they will return in the morning.

Jools saw a fox at the ground feeder at dawn, and it returned at dusk, followed by a magnificent brush.

Handsome fox.

Jools snaps it, and the shot is OK.

Big news is that thanks to having three roofers on the job, and making them regular NATO standard brews, we are out of sugar. I don't tell them in case they refuse to return on Thursday.

I make chorizo hash for dinner. Still no wine.

For Jools it is the weekend, a four day weekend as she has Monday off. And she is heading to Manchester with Jen in the morning, leaving me home alone with the fighting cats.

And on Thursday, I was to have my 2nd COVID jab.