Tuesday 15th June 2021

The birthday of the first Mrs Jelltex. It is a quarter of a entury now since I last saw her, still not enough time to quench the anger.

Anyway.

Onwards.

Poppy has now settled down into a routine: one night out, at least. Then back inside at breakfast, sleep have breakfast, 2nd breakfast, maybe pop out in the evening, then back in for the night. Maybe a second day like that, then on the third, at least 12 hours out, maybe 24 hours. Sometimes longer. But she seems happy, less bothered by Mulder chasing her. Scully is still always on guard, but the front door being open has certainly helped.

We were having our early morning coffee when she burst in through the open front door, and sat on the stairs asking for breakfast. And an hour later, she was asleep on the chest of drawers, and was more than happy to accept strokes and head rubs.

It is a cool morning, but with the promise of sunshine later, but cool enough to close the doors, most of the windows and put a jumper on. Jools leaves for work, and I begin work, checking mails and dealing with the issues of the day.

Our garden looks magnificent, with the former lawn looking as high as the more formal beds, from the back room and looking down, the contrast with our neighbour's gardens is striking.

We like it, though its not for everyone, of course.

I have breakfast. Another coffee, and generally keep on top of work though the morning.

The cats are all sleeping, I am not bothered when at work now.

I didn't go for a walk, instead I have to remove the smooth sow-thistles from the garden before they seed. Most are in flower, so soon enough will go to seed. They have taken up the space beside the hedge, and are all between two and three feet tall, but I find they have very shallow roots and were easily pulled up, so need no pruning. I also prune the pink climbing rose, a few flowers had gone ober and petals were falling. Then is the great task of watering. Watering the tomatoes, and all the other plants in pots. It takes a good half hour.

And once I was done, you' not known I'd done anything. So it goes, so it goes.

And for once there was no afternoon kick off, just a blank in the schedules where a football match should be. We would have to wait until five for the Hungary v Portugal game. And when it did, was a good game, all level and goalless at 80 minutes, and ten minutes later Portugal were 3-0 up. This was the first match in the so-called "group fo death", which also features France and Germany who play in the evening.

I cook shrimp stir fy, the sauce made with a sauce sent in a Brexit Red Cross parcel from Canada (thanks, Liza), so it was Mexican spiced stir fry and noodles. Seafood was a real test for the gout, in that it can be a trigger, so I make sure I was well hydrated.

There were no ill-effects.

Time then for the evening game, a real battle of the giants; France v Germany. Should have been a classic, but Germany are a shadow of their former self, and although huffed and puffed, never looked quite good enough. They even scored France's goal for them, and that's the way the match ended.