Friday 29th March 2024

It is two months since I knacked my knee. Five days before we went to Iceland. I suffered pretty badly during the trip, and the week after. But the tear did mend, but what I have now is sore tendons, which will improve as I walk more and strengthen the muscles.

So, one day walk, one day rest is pretty much the plan for now.

Orchids have been photographed and posted on social media for two weeks now, and I have so wanted to get out, but really wasn't worth hurting myself further, but with a four day weekend, I thought I could get away with two trips to the woods, one at Earley on Friday and then to Yockletts on Sunday or Monday.

At least we had no shopping to do.

Though there was the back room to do. And to help get that done, Jools recruited JP from where she works who does odd jobs and has tools, to come and help.

Or in reality, do most of the work, though Jools would help, and I would supply food and drink.

Jools and I had breakfast, then after clearing away, I went out laden with camera, for a walk in the woods, while Jools waited for JP, who had not avoided the traffic we had warned him about.

Yes, with the schools Easter holidays not beginning until Thursday afternoon, it meant that Good Friday was the big getaway day. Or sit in traffic for hours day.

Not as bad as last year, but the A20 was stationary from Hawkinge, and Jubilee Way was jammed over halfway, going out meant avoiding these places and routes.

I drove up the A2, turning off to go through Bridge, then to Lower Hardres, through Waltham and to the wood. There was one other car there, though I saw no one.

I took a walking pole, just in case, and good job I did as there was much, and so was slippery, and me not too confident on my feet.

I walked down through the meadow, the ground falling away downhill, so each step felt like my feet would slip away from under me at any moment.

But I was fine. Then down the path to the Early Purples, where the first few had rosettes, and two further on had colour at the end of their spikes and were unfurling, but actual flowers in bloom.

But there were others: carpets of Wood anemones, Lesser celandines and bluebells just beginning to open. Though not "peak bluebell", yet.

The other path towards the farm was blocked by fallen trees from last winter and new ones from this, and before I got to the hollow where the orchids grew, I decided to turn back.

There was no phone signal, so couldn't check the traffic, so decided to turn off at Barfrestone then go to Eythorne and on to West Langdon, East Langdon to St Maggies.

I got home just before twelve, just before JP arrived having got out of the traffic, so they began to open the packages from Ikea and working out what went where and which parts were either missing or wrong.

Meanwhile, I mixed the dough and then let it rise for saffron buns. We would feat on these for lunch!

They worked hard all afternoon, while I nursed my knee and listened to football, with Norwich playing at three.

City came from behind to win 2-1 against Plymouth and so stay 6th.

Jools and JP finish at half six, halfway through. I cook hash for us, and we eat just after seven, with JP heading home straight after. He is coming back Saturday, and hope to be done by lunch.

Thursday 28th March 2024

Maundy Thursday is a holiday in Denmark, so work was very quiet indeed. I finished at midday, and as we had chores to run on the Romney Marsh, I thought we should have lunch out.

Looking at the map, I though Botolph's Bridge Inn would be away from touristy places and be quiet, but in the event it was quite full, we go the last car parking space and space on a table for six.

Cheeseburger, onion rings and chips were great, though out of the window we looked as the rain hammered down.

Before that there was work, though in truth just a case of updating audit reports in the database, and then waiting to see if there would be any mails or calls.

Jools went to Tesco so we did not have to do it over the weekend, just in case the town and port becomes gridlocked.

Once she returns, we have breakfast and another coffee, and she watches me looking at my inbox.

Exciting stuff.

That being said, I did get to speak to my boss to update her on what I have done this week, so she understands the issues uncovered

That done, I could power the laptop down after setting the out of office message.

Outside, it was a grim day, rain fell from dark, low clouds, although traffic was light enough down Jubilee Way and out towards Folkestone.

Hythe was jammed, and people being stupid jumping lights or worse, ignoring when they went red. But we were going in the other direction out towards the Marsh and the small seaside resorts on the way.

Then turning inland to go to the pub, arriving to find the car park nearly full.

Once we had eaten, we drive to a friend of Jools, Alan, who had painted her work desk. He lives in a small village with narrow streets and no nearby parking. So after finding somewhere to leave the car, we walked to his house, where we were greeted warmly by Alan and his dog.

He lives in a middle terrace house, but his garden went back 40 or 50 yards where his workshop was, then carry the desk back along the gravel path, over the wooden bridge over his pond, then into his house, avoiding the excited doggo.

I bring the car and park outside the house, while we load the desk in the back, we say goodbye and we were off, back into Hythe and then to the motorway to home.

Still no traffic, so we went along Townwall Street and up Jubilee Way to home, where the cats greeted us with indifference, but suggesting they would accept food.

We played cribbage in the evening, ate crumpets and listened to podcasts, and so the evening grew old, and we grew tired.

Wednesday 27th March 2024

It is now Spring.

Looks like Spring.

Smells like Spring.

Warm like Spring.

Colourful like Spring.

Spring.

Jools was working her last day before Easter, I still had two days to go, though most of Denmark seems to have taken the week off, what with Thursday and Friday being public holidays.

I ask colleagues about Easter food and in both Denmark and Sweden it seems to be herring, pickled of course, and then meat and black bread.

I had some loose ends to tie up, and should really get them done with so few folks at work to disturb me.

Jools left for work at seven, I set up the office and straight away called Henrik to check on him. He has to fly to America next week, is trying to arrange visas and a spare passport before he goes, and is struggling. He gets no work done all day.

Meanwhile, the showery day we had expected was mostly sunny, and very little actual rain until the evening.

In the garden the Cowslips are beginning to flower and shows how they have spread and one is now growing through the gaps in the patio. The first one is not quite open, but it'll do.

Work drags. So I listen to podcasts and watch more videos, while on one of the work screens I watch the live camera from the volcano in Iceland.

The day slips by.

Dinner is easy enough: warmed up ragu and fresh (shop bought) pasta, I need to think about things before I make another batch. But it is glorious, even without bread. As I, correctly, thought, there was enough carbs with the pasta.

After a shower, I had a bad vertigo attack which washed me out, so went to bed to listen to a podcast, only to fall asleep before eight.

Tuesday 26th March 2024

Tuesday.

And Jools was home, though she didn't have much planned, other than an aquafit class at midday. Though we did have the excitement of the new carpet being installed in the back room.

There was more stuff to sort out: which DVDs do we not want to keep, bearing in mind almost all have not been played in a decade. One of my favourites, Bull Durham, was last played on my 50th birthday. And that was one of the most recent.

I think we watched all of the Harry Potters and LOTRs during lockdown, between games of Uckers and walks in the countryside.

Anyway, a dull and misty start which really didn't get much better.

The carpet guys came just after 11, Jools went to the sports centre at half past, and there was I thinking the installation would take some time.

Twenty minutes later, they announced all was done and they took their tools and left.

I went up to look, and found the carpet and hall covered in fibres, so thought I had better sweep them up before a cat tried them.

In the time it took to go downstairs to fetch the vacuum, Cleo had eaten a couple of the fibre clumps and then thrown up.

Lovely.

I sucked the fibres up, and packed the vacuum away, so when Jools came home to inspect the works, as it will be her who will be using the room most.

It passed the inspection.

With Jools at home now, means I could take the car to go and snap another railtour, this time should be steam hauled, and it was to be Royal Scot.

Not very bight still, in fact it had been drizzling all afternoon, which should hake it better for smoke and steam.

I drove down to Martin Mill, parked up to find two people already there, so I join the waiting postie on the down platform ready to snap the train on the other side of the tracks.

It was good to have someone to chat to as we waited, one of of us checked the realtime tracker, so we knew when it left Walmer, we had about three minutes.

And soon enough we could hear through the gloom, the sound of a steam locomotive working hard. We took positions and got ready. One final check of the camera settings.

Round the bed it came, lights shining brightly through the evening shadows.

It passed in about twenty seconds, I guess. I rattled off 170 shots, and during the pass, we got a salute from the drive with two blasts on the steam whistle.

And that was that.

As the train climed Guston Bank to the tunnel portal, we walked back to our cars, and for me the short drive up the hill back to Chez Jelltex.

For the evening's entertainment, there was the latest England friendly, v Belgium, and England played well, not so well as Saturday, but in defence were a shambles, gave two goals away, and it wasn't until the 97th minute that Bellingham scuffed an equaliser in the corner of the goal.

Yay.

Monday 25th March 2024

And so, back to work.

And those of you keeping track will notice that Jools should have had the day off, but was going to work due to personal reasons for Donna.

Meaning, from quarter to seven, it was me and the cats. And as a treat this week, I had to review a contract for a potential audit.

This kind of job suits me, as well as enjoying the detail, I have seven years experience in working with such contracts. So, could the pedant find any conflicts?

Does the Pope defecate in wooded areas?

He shoots, he scores!

I download the contract and stunned to find it contained some 2960 pages of legalspeak.

I had better have another coffee to gird my loins.

And so, the day passed with me reading, taking notes.

Drinking coffee.

After a weekend of eating mainly carbs, the plan was to have a fruitful day. However, there was these two lemons left over.

So, I made pasta a limone, and made it with some extra lemon zest and juice, and what a fine lunch it made. I had pondered adding some limoncello to add depth of flavour, but not a good idea as I had several hours of reviewing left to do.

I worked through to half four, and thought I was about halfway through the schedules I wanted to review.

Dinner was buttermilk chicken, stir fry and fried noodles. A fine meal, and just ready for when Jools came home, with the good news that Donna's partner had been given the cancer all clear.

We toast their and our good fortune, and eat well.

And again, no football to watch, so the evening drags, and we went to bed well before nine.

Phew, rock and roll.

Sunday 24th March 2024

Thirty nine years ago, the 24th March was also a Sunday.

I had begun woring at the chicken factory six days earlier, and to be honest, was something like hell. But this was going to be something different, asNorwich had made it to only their third Wembley final, this time playing Sunderland.

The 1984-85 season was one plagued by fighting on the terraces, and away from it too. The League Cup had seen its fair share of trouble, with Millwall rioting at Luton in front of the TV cameras, and Chelsea fans smashing up their home ground as Sunderland knocked them out of the semi-final. Norwich had beated Ipswich over two legs, and as both were two "unfancied" teams from the rovences, both teams got over 45,000 tickets each.

It was one of the worse finals ever to grace the grand old stadium, Norwich winning thanks toa deflected shot at the start of the second half.

There was no trouble, few arrests, all for dunkeness, but good news doesn't make the news broadcasts.

Of course.

Norwich lost focus and ended up being relegated, and at the end of the season there were the Bradford Fire and Heysel to suffer through.

But for a few hours, a few days, we were top of the world.

A glorious Sunday morning. One filled with promise and potential. And at the same time, next to no football.

So, what to do with it?

I had plans. Lots of plans. And another place to check for early Early Spiders.

So, after coffee, we drove to the Hoe, parked up and on what should have been a quiet Sunday morning, but there were dozens of people in gym kit with numbers on their vests, about to do some crazy phys.

We walked along the sea wall, and round the corner leaving the two fishermen who had walked beside us dragging their tackle in a box on wheels, to set up and dangle some worms.

We ducked under the tape at the end, and began to search, but found no rosettes. As expected there were several small rockfalls, whose rubble partially covered the grassy slope, and the rubble was thickest where the early Early Spiders would normally be.

We checked the rough area beside the fans, but found nothing their either, but we were being watched by a twitcher, probably upset we had walked where the Black Redstarts are usually seen.

Along the sea wall, folks with the numbers were walking or jogging, while on the grassy hoe above, sportier types were jogging or running.

We walked back to the car, drove to the tunnel and up, re-joining the A20 and going to Folkestone, parking near to the barbers.

My knee had begun to complain, and then the memory card in my camera failed, so any thought of going to Earley Wood to look for Early Purples went out of the window.

I just had a haircut, now £17, where three years back it was twelve, though I always give the guy shoo shears me a twenty.

We walked back to the car, then drove back home, though Capel, onto the A20 and into Dover and thence home.

I would rest my knee the rest of the day, put ice packs on it and take drugs.

As if life wasn't exciting enough, my body thought I would enjoy a bout of vertigo in the afternoon. So, with no warning as I dried off after a shower, the room violently spun round, and did not stop until I stood still for two minutes. No idea where that came from, but I hope it clears quickly.

Luckily enough, although I did get it again later when I went to bed, not as severe, so I slept well.

The evening I joined a Zoom meeting to see Mark Radcliffe and Marc Riley be interviewed about their time as Mark and Lard on Radio 1, when for a few brief months they introduced the flagship breakfast show.

Its twenty years since their show got cancelled, both got jobs on Radio 6 and broadcast to the this day.

Just not together.

It was a good show, from two guys who never took themselves too seriously.

Saturday 23rd March 2024

Saturday morning, and with it being a cool, but sunny day, I ask Jools if we should go to the cliffs orchid hunting before or after Tesco.

Before, she said.

Rightyo.

After coffee, we packed the car with shopping bags, camera, knee brace and walking pole, for the short drive to the National Trust's place, early enough not to have to pay, but late enough so that the gate was unlocked.

After parking up, we walked down the two sloping meadows to the narrow path leading to the Cliff Road, as it was on this slope the earliest Early Spiders are usually found.

We walked down, very slowly, then across to the metal frames that sometime have spikes growing in their shade, and found just two rosettes. Well developed, but at least a week away from flowering.

So, back up the slope to the car.

And it was at this point I realised I had underestimated the task, it being all uphill, not too steep, but steep enough so my knee began to complain.

But I did it, back to the car, and sinking into the seat was a relief. We did still have to get to Tesco and walk round there, hunting and gathering, but that is level.

Back to the car with our swag, but instead of going straight home, we drove to Walmer to the Corner Café for breakfast.

Its not often we do this now, but it is good to sit in the café and take in the smells of our meal being cooked while sipping freshly brewed tea.

Breakfast was good, plentiful, and all of it eaten. So we could go back to the car, turn it round and drive home, back for twenty past ten and Huey on the wireless as we unpacked.

And that was it for the day, other than ice packs and taking drugs for my knee. Which is for the tendons not the cartilage that smarts.

There is lower league football to watch, before England played at seven. Not much to report, just pizza for dinner and then sitting down with Jools and Scully to watch the game.

Was OK, though Brasil won 1-0, and deserved to. I did toy with the idea of watching Top Gun II afterwards, but didn't. Probably for the best.

Friday 22nd March 2024

The painting of the back office is complete, so now just some plastering to fill in a hole left by we guess an old radiator pipe, carpet is being installed on Tuesday and the new shelving on Thursday, so hopefully the house will be back to normal by the weekend.

It was the last day before the weekend. Jools was working, and I had meetings.

So, Jools left at six for yoga class and work, while I did the usual chores of putting the bins out before making a second coffee and getting ready for work.

Our new boss had arrived in Chennai, and to they were in the conference room for the monthly department meeting. Next month we shall all be in Denmark meeting face to face.

Later my boss would call me as she got off her flight in Mumbai, talking to me on the bus to the terminal and once she had flagged down a taxi to take her into the city.

All very exciting to listen to, sitting at our dining room table.

Not much else to report, just glad to finish for the day at half four, with just enough time to prepare and cook chorizo hash before the quiz at six.

Just the Welsh under 20 match on YouTube to watch, which I don't really engage with, so we head to bed at nine, pooped for some reason.

Thursday 21st March 2023

Spring equinox.

Thursday.

And it is an odd week, in that I have caught up with work, should have some easy time, but pressure is building on the next series of tasks.

Any our boss has travelled to India to meet up with the other half of our department, so she's been unavailable. And Rune is on a course all week.

Jools had another non-working day, so spent the whole day, some nine or ten hours, painting the back room.

She did work hard, while I manned the computer and answered the phone.

I did have time, however, to use to the car to drive to the butchers, meaning I was out in rush hour traffic, and it gives a totally different view of town. For example the A2 was jammed from Whitfield all the way to the Duke of Yorks, but thankfully, I was going in the other direction.

I got there in 20 minutes, and filled a shopping bag with stuff, paid and was on my way back home, and with traffic lighter, I was home in under 70 minutes, I had not been missed.

Jools carried on painting, while I checked mails and took calls.

I bought pork pies for lunch, so Jools stopped for an hour, then went back upstairs in her paint-covered t shirt, painted paw-prints thanks to Mulder.

I helped finish the last wall, so that come half six, we were done. Jools was done.

Dinner was warmed up leftover curry from the night before. And the last of the Norfolk Christmas ale.

Its international break week, so no football to follow, except the Wales v Finland game on BBC Wales, whilst watching tram videos.

Its a hobby.

Wednesday 20th March 2024

Wednesday.

And Jools was at work, so it was just me and them cats.

And they slept all day.

But outside it was spring.

Warm, sunny and with a light breeze, with only the sound of lawnmowers and coastguard helicopters scouring the sea for those refugees in small boats. It is rather like living in the DMZ at times.

Anyway, other than the noise, the air is filled with the sound of birdsong and the scent of newly emerged flowers. The lawnmeadow is now sprouting too, with the warm sun and recent rain ensuring strong growth.

But I have work to do, but as being up to date and my boss on her travels, it would be a quiet day.

I asked my knee how it felt, and the answer was that maybe we should go for a shuffle, further than the bins.

So, come mid-morning, I put on my walking shoes and grab the camera for a walk just over the fields to Fleet House then back along Collingwood, down Station Road and back home. Less than 3,000 steps, but feeling quite the adventure.

My hope was to see butterflies, especially as Large Tortoiseshells have been seen to two areas of the county, and I have seen one near here in early spring a few years back.

So, along the street and along the track, past huge stalks of Alexanders all being feasted on by flies and some Yellow dung flies. I take shots of the latter, and walk on.

As it has been two months since I last walked, the ground has dried up a lot, very little mud and mostly firm underfoot, though would be wet and muddy down by the farm, near the new bench and down the Dip of course.

No butterflies seen, but I did the mad lady who last year accused me of spying on her and “her” land. I say nothing and she just stares.

Back along Collingwood, snapping flowering plants as I go, and with each step my knee grumbled a little bit louder, but no actual pain. So, I tell it, to the end, check on the Coltsfoot and then home. OK?

OK, said my knee.

Along Collingwood, nearly at the end, the house where a gate post used to stand, and each year a handful of leafless Coltsfoot spikes rise from the grass, this year the numbers had increased, and spread either side of the hedge and down the driveway of next door, to the extent that I counted 124 spikes, most fresh, but some having now begun to fade and go to seed.

I walk to the end of the street, down the hill 25 yards and turn into our street, along and I am home. I felt like Scot of the Antarctic, or having completed a marathon, but with Spring well on its way, I want to be able to get out and do snapping!

For the evening we went to The Swingate for dinner. Or Chef de Mumbai as its now called. I had booked a seat, though booking wasn’t needed as there was only one of other table taken.

Sad for the owner, but the food was excellent and in such amounts we had enough to bring home for dinner on Thursday.

I drove us back, we had been gone an hour and fifteen minutes.

2024 Orchid season (part 1)

On the 18th of February, the first spikes of the Oxon Giant Orchids, Himantoglossum robertianum, were found in flower.

The 2024 UK Orchid season was off and running, even if the first species wasn’t a native species, but rather a naturalised one. Even still, this was some three weeks earlier than 2023 when at the end of March many of us visited the site to see the orchids, would this mean that our native species would be as early?

So it was on the 16th of March, on the Purbeck coast, that the first 11 spikes of Early Spiders were found to be in flower, this was followed two days later by the finding of the same species in flower on the Isle of Wight, and on the 19th March, Green Wing Orchids found flowering in Hampshire.

On the same day, Tad found a spike of Early Purple almost completely in flower in woodlands above the Medway meaning the Kent season is under way too.

I would suggest this is ten to fourteen days earlier than previously known, to have three species flowering in the third week of March is, I believe, unheard of, and marks a new chapter in climate change here in UK.

The first UK dragonfly of the year was spotted yesterday, a Beautiful demoiselle, was photographed having emerged from a garden pond in southern England. And at least eight species of butterfly have been recorded.

In our garden, daffodils are already turning brown after flowering, and tulips sprouting well.

Tuesday 19th March 2024

As Jools has every other day off, we thought we would do something with our time together.

So, for the first such day, we went to the pictures at two to see Dune II.

We were first to enter the auditorium, Jools with a hot dog and me with a cotton sack sized bag of popcorn and a dustbin sized cup of Cola.

Before then there was work.

Jools was off, of course, so she went upstairs to do some more sanding and painting, which I cracked down to battling the forces of sloth.

And drinking tea.

On her way back from the tip having dropped off the old carpet from the back room, she called in to get some warm pasties for lunch.

At twenty past two we drove into town to St James where the cinema is.

Now, and this is the truth, the St James development has been finished for some years, maybe nearly five years but this was my first time visiting Cineworld and its 5 (count 'em) screens.

We were to see Dune II having seen Dune I a couple of weeks back, so best see the sequel while it was still fresh in our minds.

What to make of the film? Well, as someone who has never read the books, it was a bit of a jumble, not as much as the first part, but it looked AMAZING.

It was a good film, but after two and a half hours, it just stopped. As the starships took off for a space battle in space with space lasers.

We came home, fed the cats and had a brew. It was getting dark, and the fox was on the lush asking for food, so I put a bowl out laden with old cat food and a pack of cheap dog food.

It all went.

Monday 18th March 2024

Monday morning looked and felt like Spring.

After a cool and misty start, the skies cleared, and the two Pasqueflowers, all dew-covered and closed soon opened and raised their faces to the sun.

I took shots with them covered in dew, and another series when they opened fully.

I don't think there is a better colour combination in nature than the purple of the petals and deep yellow of the stamens.

The birds are chasing each other round the garden and in the pond there are two more clumps of spawn.

Jools is working three days this week, meaning I am home alone on Monday. So, once she leaves I put on a podcast and listen to that before logging on for another week.

It is a week after I have written my reports, filled in travel expenses, so for the most part its a low stress day, the kind I like.

I have started watching videos of a coil collector, who opens £250 worth of £2 coins to find rare and unusual ones. I now know more about the commemorative ones and whether the Queen of Kind should or should not have their crown on.

Amazing that people find passion in some things, whilst most don't. Christopher makes a living out of coins, and makes these videos in his spare time. He is witty and engaging.

Holy Toledo.

Other than work, my task for the days is to pull up the Cleavers that grow along the hedge on the west side of the lawnmeadow. They are doing very well this year, so I fill a sack with them and the birds are happy at having exposed soil to hunt for worms in.

Jools calls to say she wasn't going to aquafit, and we have nothing out for dinner, except a pack of hot cross buns, so we toast those and have with a brew.

Monday was also the 39th anniversary of me starting work at the chicken factory. I've come quite a way in those years, seen and done some things.

Sunday 17th March 2024

I'm not going to do too many of these, "four years ago" posts, but just bear with me.

On St Patrick's Day 2020, I met up with a friend who dies church tours to visit three churches on Thanet.

A couple of people had bailed, but I don't really think it struck us then how things were going to change.

I met the group at the church in Ramsgate, and in a few minutes the tour arrived, John talked us through the chuch history and features. We did not shake hands, and I think we wore masks, if so the first time I did that.

The second church, IN Margate, cancelled at the last momenth, so I left the tour as I had been to the other two churches they were going to visit. Withn 6 days the whole country would be closed down and we would go nowhere for months.

So it goes. So it goes.

Sunday.

And in contrast to the previous day, rain was expected to fall into late afternoon.

We had nowhere to go, nothing to do.

Until the football began at quarter to one, at least for me.

We did lay in bed, but the sun rising at six now means it is pretty much light, by quarter to, and our brains wake us up.

So, we lay in bed a while, then get up to feed the cats, Jools does get dressed to go to the early session at the pool, and I drink coffee.

Once she is back, I decide to go and visit friends Gary and Julie, over in River. Time slips through our fingers, I was last there just before Christmas to deliver cards, though Gary was out. And since then we have been busy, and then I hurt my knee, so have not been out much.

So, I drive over to Dover, down past the old flat, under the railway, past The Crickets and then the nursing home where Nan saw out her days, to their house on the corner beside the park.

They have many plans for the year with the motor home and without, in fact were going away the next day for the first trip of the year.

So we chat over a brew and look out of their back window over the valley of the Dour, and houses spread on the other side of the river.

Then back home for midday, making lunch before the football starts, and to listen to DID on the wireless.

Jools went upstairs to paint the back room some more, so Scully and I watch football from the sofa, the second game being Man Utd v Liverpool, which despite what anyone in the media is telling you was not the best cup tie of all time, instead a game between a team taking to casually (Liverpool) and the other (Utd) who didn't seem to be bothered to do the basics.

A game broke out, however, Liverpool failing to score more than two, and a last minute Utd leveller. And after one more goal each in extra time, Utd break from defending a corner to slot in a winner in the 121st minute.

Football. And that was that.

Not shy about retiring

I plan to retire on 25th August next year.

I will be sixty.

That is the 25th, not the 31st, I plan to stop as soon as possible.

Its not that I hate work, it makes all the other stuff we do possible, and has helped pay for Chez Jelltex, aka the Ugly House.

And through work I have travelled round Europe and gone to China too.

I have also had a breakdown through it, and am still at work through the kindness and understanding of my manager and colleagues.

I saw a colleague nearly have a breakdown just before he retired, and I have no plan on having a breakdown in my 60s.

So, my manager last week asked if I still planned to retire, as plans would have to be made for a replacement.

Let that sink in, a replacemet 18 months in the planning, meaning I must do some serious shit or know serious shit. Or both.

I replied, among other thngs, that the company does not value me, the job I do nor the knowledge I have that could be used to improve the company. Were that to change, maybe, but I doubt things would change so much I would feel I had to change my plans.

Retiring earlier is more likely, if I'm honest.

So, that's the update.

Saturday 16th March 2024

At some point, I had to push my knee further.

So it was on Saturday we agreed to go to Dover Castle, not too far if I became "lame".

Up at six, with it being not just light outside, but the sun rose just gone six, and it felt like it was going to be a great spring day.

I went to Tesco, we didn't need much, and with Jools only working three days next week, we have enough frozen meals for her lunches.

Tesco was pretty empty, so I rush round getting the stuff we needed, and some stuff not on the list, then back home for quarter to eight to pack away the gatherings and have breakfast of fruit. Spanish strawberries have now appeared, and some are tasty as well as juicy, so we have a big bowl of fruit and more coffee before it was time to go to the castle for when it opened.

What we didn't know was that this weekend is where folks who play the lottery or scratchcards could use an old lottery ticket to gain free entry to English Heritage or National Trust properties as a thanks for for grants from the lottery fund.

This would mean it would be crazy crowded.

This we found when we arrived at the turn off on Castle Hill to the castle, the queue of traffic leading all the way down, waiting for the ten o'clock opening.

More joined the queue behind us, this did not feel normal.

But once we were allowed in, we all took a parking slot, then walked to the entrance, we flashed our new membership cards, and walked up the slope to the Keep and the church.

St Mary in Castro looks quite modern, and inside is mostly Victorian, but there are signs it is older. In fact it is Saxon, though until the middle of the 19th century was ruinous, so was repaired as to how it now appears.

The arches and windows are clearly Saxon, though little else remains.

I took shots of the windows, arches and some fittings with the big lens, but by then others had arrived at the church, so having got my shots, we left.

And further decided to go back to the castle a less busy day, so walked down to the main area in front of the Keep and then back down to the car park, where all spaces were now full, and more cars arriving every minute.

It only takes five minutes to drive home, where it was time for a brew, and a day of relaxing ahead, with the strong possibility for me of 10 (ten) hours of sport, though in the end I bailed on the late England v France rugby match as Ireland won the Grand Slam.

At three, Norwich played Stoke, on a sunny afternoon, and romped to a fine 3-0 win, thus strengthening our claim to sixth place in the table, but a long way to go yet.

On the tellybox then was Fulham v Spurs, in which Spurs went all Spursy and lost 3-0, but it could have been worse.