Tuesday 12th October 2021

Another day, same as the previous.

Only with less sunshine.

Jools was a blur as she got ready for work, and was off in the car before six to make use of the quiet period before the office filled up with her chattering colleagues, so I got busy making the second Christmas Cake.

Mixing the butter and sugar, adding eggs and then flour and spicesbefore folding in the fruit and cherries. Pour into a tin, decorate with blanched almonds, and pop it into a low oven for four and a half hours.

And then to work, in which first of all I had to check on the old company systems a travel claim for £3.16, which was showing in finance's systems as being unallocated.

Should have been a ten minute task at most. But.

IT have bene removing peoples licences to save money, and data is being transferred to our parent company's systems, and with each visit, less and less works.

Last time I tried, it took two hours to get onto the travel claim site, this time a lightning quick 90 minutes.

Nothing showing, so I take screenshots, save them to a memory stick, thus violating IT rules, but there is no other way of transferring data between the new computers as my Office licence expired on the old laptop.

Sigh.

Pack that away, get the new laptop and screen out, connect it up and log on. Connect the memory stick, breaking a different company's IT rules, and add the shots to an e mail to the travel claim department.

Phew.

Time for breakfast.

Fruit. Yogurt. Coffee.

Feel human.

Almost.

And on with work, try to make sense of mails and take calls.

Its like swimming through treacle.

I was expecting a delivery, so couldn't go out for a walk, so I stay home. It should have been cloudy, but the sun comes out to mock me with its wonderful light. I keep an eye out in the back garden for butterflies, but see none.

But meanwhile, in Herne Bay, a friend had a Swallowtail visit her garden!

Wowzers.

It had flown over from France or Belgium, and chose her garden to have a late lunch in, and she got fab shots.

It made me more detirmined to go out on Wednesday to see if I could bag myself one.

I hoped.

The day fades, the delivery comes, and by then the cake was cooked and cooling down on the range, and smelling delicious, and I need all my self control from not trying a slice.

Is it Christmas yet?

No.

Dinner was our old favourite, chorizo hash, which takes about an hour to prepare and cook, and all done by the time Jools comes back home. And I find I was pouring myself a half glass of wine, topping it up with soda water.

Yummy.

And sophisticated.

I rush to write blogs, post shots because at quarter to eight there is more football: England v Hungary, which was thin gruel to be honest. England looked tired and laboured to a 1-1 draw, which even that seemed beyond them at one point.

Ho, and indeed, hum.