Tuesday 19th November 2024

Tuesday. And the weather was expected to take a turn for the worse later on, with snow, maybe eight hours of it expected overnight.

I got up, checked the world online, then got dressed, packed my office bag and went down for breakfast at half six, just as the restaurant opened.

The reason for being early was mainly to go to work before the roads got too busy, and to prepare the offices and meeting rooms for the day.

But mainly for the traffic.

So I had fruit, a bacon butty and two coffees before I went out to the car to find I have to scrape ice off the windscreen.

That done, I start the car up, put the blowers on full and drive slowly out to the main road, check for traffic, cyclists and pedestrians, and make a slow turn left towards the centre, before turning left again and driving over the canal and up through the massive university to the inner ring road.

Once the lights change, turn right, take the left hand lane to turn onto Randersvej, and the three mile run to the turn off for the office. The hardest part now done, I could relax and keep an eye out for trams.

Into the office car park, gurn at Rune through the window of our office for the week, then to reception, sign in and go to have a brew with Rune before everyone else arrives

The audit team arrive at half eight, and so the dance begins. Eight hours of it, with a break for free lunch at the salad bar in the canteen.

Then back for four more hours until the audit team were done, a debriefing, and we clean the offices and meeting rooms, and bugger me, its nearly six again.

The journey back to the centre is always fraught, with me talking myself through the junctions and traffic lights, and that final right turn near to the hotel, where you have to cross between cyclists and pedestrians..

I get back safe, and have an hour before old friends, Anni and Bo were due, so I procrastinate in my room until I get a message saying they'd arrived.

We talk over half litres of Christmas beer, catch up on news and dreams. Its half eight, I have not eaten, and with the kitchen about to close, they leave, leaving me with a fresh beer to wait for the traditional burger and fries, which was very good indeed. But eating late brought me a restless night's sleep and indegestion.

Monday 18th November 2024

So, back on the road again.

Or back on the rails again. At least at first.

Up at four, so early the cats didn't want feeding, a coffee, a final check of my passport, then load the car and leave.

A steady rain was falling, which would be the case most of the week, if the BBC were to be believed.

Down into town, Jools dropped me off at the station.. So early the ticket office wasn't even open either. I got my my ticket from the machine, then went onto the platform, making sure I kept hold of my bag this time.

At half past five, the train slid in from Ashford, and we were allowed on, so I put my case in the rack, and chose a seat on the left hand side. Then came 23 minutes wait until it was due to leave.

The train ploughed on through the inky blackness, stopping at overbright stations to allow the bleary-eyed to board.

Five stops on, it was my turn to get off, back into the chilly pre-dawn, and taking the escalator to the concourse, then to the DLR station, where a train had just arrived.

The DLR filled up with those, like me, traveling to the airport, but also of those heading to The City and many, many builders heading for yet more condos being built along the north bank of The Thames.

Checking at the airport takes a couple of minutes, then five more to get through security, and then have a slap up breakfast in the new restaurant, pricy, but the company was paying.

So, I dined on a variation of a fry up, with "bubble", or lightly fried mash balls as it actually was.

I looked at the duty free shop, but could find nothing really "typically" British friends living in Denmark.

A half an hour spent people watching, then walk down to gate 8, and a twenty minute further wait while our plane taxied, parked and disgorged two whole passengers.

There were about twenty of us, waiting to get on and spread ourselves round the 29 seats of the plane.

Then came the pre-flight brief, doors closed and we rev the engines and set off.

We took off to the east, so no views along the River to the City and beyond. Instead we rise above the river and the industrial wastelands of east London, where gentrification has yet to reach. But the brand new Barking Riverside branch showed well, though for the time being, the station stands in splendid isolation.

Over east London, heading north and east, over the nightmare that is the M25/A12 junction, the urban sprawl meeting nature in her golden colours. And as a hazy cloud almost hid the east Suffolk coast, my eyes dropped and I snoozed for half an hour our so.

I woke up with the tiny plane jumping around as we dropped through clouds, and the Danish countryside showed down below.

The usual steep, low turns, and we drop down and then onto the ground and land safely.

The planes rushes to the terminal, we wait to get off, then up the stairs for the long walk to immigration then to baggage reclaim.

Why are you here.

How long are you staying.

Where are you staying tonight?

Happy with my answers, I was allowed into Denmark, grab my case and walk out to the car hire place.

I wizz to the motorway some 35km away, only to find the motorway, the mid-Jutland motorvej, a huge set of roadworks, as they are now triple-laneing the part they failed to do a decade ago.

I have a meeting to be at, so nudge the speed up so that I am overtaking, slowly, other traffic.

There is no roadworks in the section of triple lane road, but starts again as Arhus Sud junction, all the way up to Nord.

I race up Randersvej, turn off and find a space to park in the office car park, race inside, meet the team just in time to set up the meeting room, get out my notebook and the audit to start.

I am neither the auditor or auditee, so I listen, make notes and try to stay awake. Not made any easier with there being sponge cake to graze.

The audit finishes, we clear up, return the refreshments to the canteen, attend the closing meeting, clean up the meeting rooms, and so it is nearly six by the time I leave for the run into town.

I know the way, but driving on the wrong side of the road, where cyclists could veer into the road and have priority at most junctions mean I was glad to get to the hotel beside the musikhaus, park and go to check in.

My old RAF chum, Shaggy, was coming to visit, and arrived as I was checking in, we go up to my room to exchange contraband: Bovril and Marmite for him, and Danish Christmas beer for me.

We then walk into town, under the newly installed lights, to the canal to find a place for dinner.

We end up in a grill, and have more Christmas beer and Korean fried chicken sandwich, which was mighty fine.

I pay, then we go to a traditional bar for one last Christmas beer, more chatting and our plans for the future, and then gird myself for the walk back up the hill to the hotel.

I get back at half ten, have a shower and relax, before getting my head down as there is even more audits to look forward to the next three days.

Sunday 17th November 2024

I can't lie, but I hate going away.

Its not that I don't like travel, its that travel for work eats into the weekend, with booking seats, packing and generally thinking about things not to forget when we get up at four the next morning.

That being said, Sunday began very early and in a panic.

I woke at half three, with the sound of blood pumping deafeningly loud in my ears.

I tried to calculate my pulse in the dark and got it very wrong, but assumed I was about to have a heart attack.

This is all true.

So, I laid there waiting for death, but then I noticed my breathing was shallow and normal. I had no cold limbs indicating a thrombosis, and other than the sound of my own heart, I was fine.

Maybe I wasn't going to die. Yet.

I laid in bed until Jools got up, we got the heart monitor and blood pressure device out, and my blood pressure was slightly high, and pulse nearly 90, that was probably down to my stupid brain.

Did I want a coffee?

Yes.

So, life carried on as before.

Coffee.

Breakfast.

More coffee.

Check in online for the flight, pack and be readier than I usually am at half ten on a Sunday.

I even located my passport.

Dover District Council and Kent County Council have spaffed £34,000,000 on what they called "Fasttrack".

The idea was to have electric buses going between Whitfield and Dover Priory. As the Brexit-related facility at Whitfield was cancelled, so the land that had been compulsory purchased, and the Roman road, we turned into a bus route.

For buses and bikes only.

On top of that, a new bridge and approach roads were built beside Tesco, leading straight to the new mega-estate at Richmond Park.

There are "problems" with the electric buses, so some "ultra-low emission" buses have been sourced to run on the green route.

At the moment, there will be one bus an hour in each direction, and for this they have built new roads from near the Castle to beside B&Q, then via a bridge over the A2 to Richmond Park.

A wonderful piece of tarmac, and bridge for two buses an hour on Sundays, and six and hour weekdays.

And remember, my hometown Lowestoft, had to wait over 100 years to get a third river crossing, and Dover gets a bridge for two buses an hour over the A2.

The service began this morning, with the first bus due to set off from Dover at 11:00, only for the bus to break down, so services are currently running half hour late.

So, we went out to walk over the new bridge, snap the new bus, and be out of the house for a while.

We parked by the vets, then walked to the bridge, which rises over the A2 offering views in both directions. There are a matching pair of shelters near the roundabout.

And that's it.

We walk up the bridge, down the other side, take more shots, then turn round to wait for a bus to come to be snapped.

Here's the thing.

Where the bus route comes out near B&Q, there is already a bridge over the A2, and 400 yards the other side, a roundabout linking to the new estate, using this simple route, even diverting along to Tesco and coming back, makes the new bridge surplus to requirements. But they built the new bridge anyway.

So, a bus comes, bus nerds jump off and I get my shots. We walk to the car and drive home.

During the afternoon I had a snooze with Cleo, but waking up in time for the England v Ireland game, which ended in a 5-0 triumph for England after Ireland got a player sent off.

Time for supper, and that was that. Bed by eight and try to get seven hours before the alarm went off at four. And I begin the long commute.

Saturday 16th November 2024

And the weekend.

Though with less football than usual, or maybe a different kind, with club games being replaced with international, which mostly were available here via YouTube, other tubes available.

But there was some lower league stuff to watch, and I would lose 90 minutes of my life to watch Bristol Rovers v Crawley end in the dullest of 0-0 draws, with very little skill being on show for the cameras.

Before then, of course, was getting up, coffee, shopping, breakfast. And then a trip into Canterbury for a mug.

A mug.

A colleague's daughter dropped her treasured "Keep Calm" mug and asked if we could find a replacement.

Not online with one that would arrive before I left for DK early Monday morning. But I did seem to remember one of the them tourist trap shops opposite Christchurch Gate.

And as we have not been to the city in a while, we go.

Visitor numbers have returned to their pre-COVID numbers, and with Christmas market stalls just about everywhere, it was very crowded indeed.

We parked in a multi-storey so we could get the car washed, walked down to the city centre and found not quite what we wanted, but one in red, that came in a box which should protect it from the worst of baggage handlers.

We should have gone into the Cathedral Precinct, as they had a fair, the first to be held in the close in 200 years, but with the gate back shrouded in scaffolding, we wander off in search of breakfast.

We find it in a traditional greasy spoon, and have the works with toast and tea, all for a tenner each, and great service too.

Back to the car as time was upon the cleaning, and so we found the car all sparkly and clean, so that it would a magnet for incontinent birds all the way back to Dover, by which time it had several splats.

Sigh.

Sean and Ange were coming for dinner, and we were having the two racks of lamb we got last week. I defrosted them, seasoned, and I left them to soak in the seasoning.

Football in the afternoon.

And then cooking, making Moroccan spiced rice, boiled fresh corn and creamed spinach.

They arrived just before six, we share a glass of wine and I finish cooking, dish up and take the plates through.

More wine during and after, to go with the cheeseboard, before they leave at half ten. Jools had cleared up as Sean and I talked, so just had to get up them wooden steps to bed.

Friday 15th November 2024

We made it to Friday at last.

Though to get to the weekend, I would have five straight hours of meetings and presentations.

It was going to be a long seven hours.

Made harder by the fact I fell back into a deep sleep after the alarm went off, so Jools woke me as she left for yoga.

I had 50 minutes to come to, get up, get dressed, make coffee, put bins out, etc, etc.

I didn't do it all before seven, so was quarter past once I logged on.

Eyes down.

Not much to tell of work, other than it was almost without break, and by midday, I needed a brew. One last meeting before I could finish at half one, pack up and be ready for when Jools came back and we could go to Jen's, as she felt well enough for cards.

We grabbed a couple of pizzas from Tesco on the way, so, they went in the oven when we arrived and we were eating ten minutes later.

Jen is doing well, and John hopes he will no longer be needed at some point next week. One of us would take over, but I am off to Denmark again on Monday, perhaps for the last time.

Eyes down for cards as usual, and try to get it all done before half five when we would have to leave, as I am doing rather well in the music quiz this month. Just before we leave, Jools wins the jackpot and we were free to go.

In the quiz I got a single point, but that was all I needed to take over the overall lead and Andrew failed to score. Only problem now is that I am away next Friday, and will be on a plane somewhere between Denmark and LCY at six. So, no points for me next week.

And then to more football: Denmark v Spain on the laptop, whilst listening to Scotland v Croatia.

And like that, the evening passes.

Serious policies call for serious appointments

I don't follow US politics now I have left Twitter, but I see some, and that Trump has been appointing unsuitable people to various important posts.

I don't doubt that those appointed intend to do very serious things, mostly cruel, heartless and unchristian things. But as we saw with 14 years of failed COnservative Governments here in the UK, turning campaign promises into actual action is hard.

Sacking hundreds of thousands of public sector workers in order to slash $2trillion from the budget without caring of the consequence, is not serious policy or appointment.

Appointing someone with no military experience to head the Pentagon is not serious.

Many of the policies will fail, even if lessons have been learned from Trump's first stint.

Maybe failure is the aim, so that wokeness and unpatriotic State Department workers can be blamed. The US version of The Blob.

Trump is an unserious politician. Cruel, heartless and a sociapath who has addmitted wants chaos.

Countries get the GOvernments they deserve, the US voted for this. Hope they enjoy the ride.

Thursday 14th November 2024

After three ten hours days, I decided, come what may, I would finish at two and get some chores done.

Yes, chores.

A fine day, though with much work to fill it with, meaning little time to go out and do stuff. Other than fill the bird feeders up at first light, with the little tweeting buggers squawking at me to hurry up as they wanted their breakfast.

Coffee made, the world checked online, and if I'm honest, since binning Twitter two weeks back, I am less informed about what is going on, but also seeing much less Trump, Musk and the fallout from the election.

Instead I post stuff on Bluesky, where I find another million new users had joined in the previous 24 hours.

I don't get the feedback I needed, so some of the work would have to be shuffled off to an already packed Friday, though making it easier to finish early.

I do wrap up at two, and the first job is the trimming of the dead goldenrods beside the drive. My back is moaning, the sciatica is little better, if at all, so I go to the shed, get the shears and broom, then move the bin in preparation for when the clippings had been cut.

I guess it took twenty minutes, maybe more, but with a break halfway through to rest my back, the collect the clippings and put in the brown bin.

I find the stencils to reapply the house name on the bins. Then to the porch to decant two bags of peanuts and a bag of sunflower hearts into tubs for the birds.

As always, Mulder and Scully are there to supervise and remind me dinner is only two hours away, but they're still hungry.

When I was outside, Mulder had jumped up a post so he could meow at my head level.

I take his picture.

Wine is unboxed and put in the racks, peanuts and sunflowers are decanted, and the boxes they all come in broken down ready for collection in the morning.

What a busy chap was.

Finally, prepare the courgette fritters, open a beer, then fry the patties once the batter was made.

I fry them up, so that they are done as Jools comes in. Drink is poured and we sit down to eat.

It is evening, already dark outside.

Cheers.

And England on the tellybox, playing Greece in Greece where they had not lost in a year. Needless to say, England defied the odds, cruised to a 3-0 win, and played very well indeed.

Scully was happy having company on the sofa again.

Wednesday 13th November 204

It has not rained here in a while. Or I can't remember when it did last. Most of the last two weeks have been spent under huge blankets of thick dark clouds, so that the passing of the days is on the half light of such winter days.

So much so that when the rain began to hammer down yesterday, and in sunshine, I thought it best to grab a short or two, least there b nothing for shot of the day.

So here are all the lads.

Anyway, Wednesday. Same as Tuesday, in that I worked 10 hours and so did not finish until half four.

I had two meetings to host, and more fine turning to my reports. Calls with people and the usual firefighting, so that by the end of the day when I finished, I was tired and it was already dusk outside.

No time to tidy up the border beside the drive, instead prepare dinner of Kyiv, rice and frozen peas and corn. Though defrosted and boiled. And the rice was Moroccan with honey, sultanas, dried apricots and dried dates.

Yummy.

And after that, no football either, so that I wrote, whilst Jools went upstairs to listen to an audio book. I then caught the final edition of Gone Fishing, and it was time for bed again.

Phew.

Tuesday 12th November 2024

I looked out of the bathroom window today, way out across the farm in The Dip, up the other side to where the houses on Kingsdown Road end, and behind the large tree, now partially de-leaved, was the outline of the Dover Patrol Monument.

This means it is now winter, as for most of Spring, Summer and autumn, the foliage on the tree hides the monument.

But not in winter.

Even though I am home this week, I have a pile of work to do, because next week I have been summoned to Arhus to help out in a 3rd party audit, so its nice that my employer appreciates me in ways mere money cannot describe.

So, even though working ten hour days from dawn to dusk, I am at home. Even if the cats sleep pretty much until Jools comes back home now, making it seem I have been neglecting them.

I have two audit reports to write, and documents to review. And there's not enough hours in the day, etc.

Jools was up before me, and she finished the baby blanket she's been making since August. Parts of it came to Tuscany and back with us, now it is done, and will be given to Ange on Saturday for her daughter.

I take a picture of the blanket before Jools leaves for work.

And the day rushes by.

Cats sleep. I work, bird sing and the sun flies across the sky, under cover of clouds, from south east to north west. Bringing darkness by five.

Dinner is defrosted ragu, pasta bought from Folkestone, and the remainder of the focaccia bought from the same shop.

Quick and easy, but delicious. Washed down by a bottle of Le President's best XV.

There was football, what used to be the Freight Rover Trophy, its not engaging, as they have a league there was well, so even if a team lost they might go through.

I give up before penalties start, and go to bed.

The lesson to be learned

By the Labour Party on the Democrats defeat in the US is that not being the other party just isn't enough.

In fairness, the wave of optomism that swept Biden and Harris to power was never going to survive reality.

On jobs and the economy, biden dd a great job, as I understand it.

Thing is, even though data and analysis shows this, the Trumps and Trumpettes spouting the oposite have more traction, and in challenging those lies takes far longer than the spout the lies.

A compicated truth is harder to sell than a simple lie.

And then there is the Middle East. The Democats tied their flag to Israel's, while Israel bombed Gaza and now Lebanon back to the stone age, committing war crimes and crimes against humanity on a daily basis, with the IDF soldiers literally filming their acts as they did so.

All Biden did was sell Israel more weapons to bomb more hospitals, kill more women and children.

There is a large Muslim community in the US as here in UK, and they might have just baulked at the idea of supporting a party that supported and enabled genocide against their kin in Gaza.

Condemming Russia for the same thing in Ukraine while supporting Israel is hyprocritical, and I believe the end of Western Values as we know them.

So, for Labour, must show that the policies they bring do make the country better and that people are made aware of how much better things really are. They have mis-stepped, allowing the Mail to highlight the failings, and at times, hypocrisy. The country has been promised jam tomorrow my the previous Tory Governments for 14 years, and things got worse, a lot worse.

Highlighting where all the money went might help, and getting as much of it back would also help.

But the press is not on Labour's side, so trying to please the editor of the Mail will not work, might as well really piss him off by doing policies that really make poor people better off, that will save the NHS not add profits to Prvate Health Providers.

Bear in Mind, we could still be two months from the end of Sunak's Government, had he not called for the election.

Monday 11th November 2024

Shots with shallow depths of field is what happens when you have the camera on the wrong program setting.

Sigh.

But Monday, lots of rain and work.

I slept through the alarm, so woke at ten past six with it just about getting light. Well, not light, but some milky light showing round the sides of the curtains.

Up and dressed, then down ready for work at quarter past six, and a week of audit reports, audit status and follow up chasing.

Eyes down.

At least the weather was changeable enough so that I wasn't tempted to go for a walk, but guilty come half four when it was getting dark that I hadn't.

So it goes, so it goes.

Other than that, a day much as any other working from home, though I did make potato bread to go with the soup we bought, which counted for several of my one a five a day.

Another Monday with Jools going splashing, so nothing to cook, just pork pies when she came home, so I watch videos and listen to podcasts until she comes home, had coffee and leaves again.

No football to watch, as its international break. Again. So I listen to music and while away the time.

Sunday 10th November 2024

The Met office said this week that some places had seen as little as 18 minutes of sunshine in 11 days. So, it was something of a surprise to have almost clear blue skies Sunday morning, and a situation that would last most of the day.

We got up late, had coffee and breakfast, so that at quarter past nine we went out to Folkestone so I could have a hair cut.

Traffic is light this time of the year, and Folkestone quiet too. We found a place to park, then I walked up the top part of the Old High Street and up to the New High Street and the barbers, which had just opened, and I got the second chair.

The guy got the chainsaw out and began hacking away at the month's growth.

Half an hour later and it was done. I was lovely. I paid and left, Jools was waiting outside, so we walked back down to the car, calling in at the new Italian deli for some decent pasta and fresh bread.

Back home for a brew, and then do very little indeed.

There was back to back football from half twelve for six hours, so I was sorted as the afternoon grew old.

Though I paused the Chelsea v Arsenal game to make carbonara, which I can rustle up in twenty minutes, fifteen of which is the pasta cooking. The bread reheated, all dished up, and with a fresh glass of red, we go to eat and resumed the football.

The game ended up 1-1, just about fair. Though earlier Ipswich won at Spurs, thus getting their first three points of the season and moving out of the bottom three.

Outside, darkness had fallen, and owls called to each other. We closed the curtains, washed up and went to bed.

So, I have tweeted my last

It is possibe that Elon Musk will be given a role in Trump's new administration.

Musk's role in Trump's re-election should not be underestimated, the amplification of lies and hatred, and the muting of the alternative.

And so, we have to decide where the red line is, and what to do when crossed.

I stopped Tweeting in October last year, moved to BlueSky, yet kept my account on Twitter open to follow news and sports.

But last week when I went to France, I only took my work computer, and only had Flickr and BlueSky on it, no Facebook and no Twitter.

On Tuesday was the elction, Trump declared the winner, so I shut down my account.

Twitter became a hallsite for racists and nazis, they revelled in it so they could "own the Libs", so I suggest we leave them to it so they have there own Twitter Echo Chamber, and in time will turn on each other.

They will cause damage no doubt, in America, to NATO, to Ukraine and Europe in general, these will be hard years for us all.

Stupidity and hate has won. For a time.

It will be reversed.

Both Trump and Musk are stupid people's idea of clever folk, when they are both quite dumb as fuck. In Tesla, there was a department whose only job was to explain to Musk why his latest good idea would not work.

As for Trump.

As I said, people saw the stupidity, hatered and death in his first four years, and decided they want for more years of that.

THe people have spoken, and they have been dumb as an anvil.

God help us all.

Poppy rage season is over

Rage is all the rage.

Rage at the war on Easter Eggs.

The war of Christmas.

The war on poppies.

That for some reasong, the global wokerati don't want you to do something or the other.

The annual Rememberance Day has in my lifetime morphed into something so much more encompassing. Even in something like football, where teams wear special shirts with a poppy logo, members of the Armed Forces walk the teams out, the minute silence and the demanding of the wearng of a poppy.

People join the Armed Forces for many reasons, I did get broaden my horizons and to serve my country. In UK terms, I am a Republican, in that I want to scrap the Ryal Family, so I don't say I served the Queen. I served my country. But that's me.

I koined up to defend our values, to defend freedom of speech and the freedm of choice. If people do not want to wear a poppy, stand in silence at 11 on the 11th, then that is fine. I joined up to defend their freedom of choice.

There should be no shaming of those who do not want to wear a poppy, in the same way there is no war on poppies.

I remember the fallen, that my Grandfather nearly didn't make it back from Dunkirk, or survive D-Day or Operation Market Garden. So if he hadn't survivrd, I wouldn't be here. He saw and did things he never spoke about, maybe only a few things to me.

Does the nation owe those who served, died or suffered a debt, of gratitude? Yes. Yes it does. But that doesn't mean we all have to pay it.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

Seeing my colleagues marchhing down Whitehall did give me imense pride, pride for those who march and for my small part in it.

Saturday 9th October 2024

I left Twitter.

I won't call it X, as that would legitimise Space Karen's takeover.

I stopped using it when I went to France last week, didn't look at it when I got back, so cancelled my account. I have 14 days to change my mind.

Twitter is now the main source for misinformation and Russian propaganda, and you either accept that, or leave.

I left.

The right love to "own the libs", if we leave, they will only have each other to own,a nd will eat each other.

If you havene't left already, I suggest you do now.

The weekend after travel is one I am not keen to do much. Jools, having been stuck in the office five days, of course wants to go out and do stuff.

But with one thing and another, we did little.

Up just before half six, time for coffee and waking up, before going to Tesco in Whitfield for the usual, although we have a house-full of stuff now, so just what we need for the week.

The to Preston to the butchers, to get steak for dinner and to put in our Christmas order.

The Met Office stated yesterday that one place in the country had seen 18 minutes of sun in 11 days. Certainly, in east Kent yesterday it was dull and grey.

I got two thick rib-eyes cut , and a few other things before we headed back, across the fields, all now harvested, apart for the cabbages and sprouts, back to Sandwich and along the by-pass to Dover.

After breakfast, we went to see Jen. She is fine, though in quite some pain, and turned out what she really needed was a raised toilet seat. As her thigh muscles with the new hip made getting up so painful. We left to come back and search the net, Jools finding a place in Deal had one, so after bacon butties for lunch, she headed over and dropped it off at Jen's.

Quite the best present ever, we are told later by Jen, as it's one of only two items of furniture its not painful to sit on.

Back home, BBC Football Focus had a big feature on Norwich, as we have now gone 12 months without losing at home, which meant that in today's game, we lot poorly to Bristol City so the record is busted.

Sigh.

Then to the man batch of games, in listening to the radio, I sat with Scully on the sofa, so she purred non-stop for two hours.

Having seasoned the steak well in the morning, I griddled it and then let rest, so served with buttered new potatoes, the last of the fresh corn and some mushrooms, along with some pink fizz.

Made for a very different meal than steak with chips. But still good, and filling.

Funk and soul in the evening, and early to bed at nine.

Friday 8th September 2024

On Wednesday morning, Jen found out her long-time friend, Carole, had passed away in Australia. It was Carole who Jen travelled to see in September to celebrate what was thought going to be her last birthday.

And then on Thursday, Jen went into hospital to have her first hip replacement operation. John took her to Ashford, where se had the op, then stayed overnight to recover.

She was released on Friday afternoon, though was going to rest up, so we would go over the weekend.

In the meantime, i had work.

It was good to just lay in bed and listen to the sounds outside, before getting up for coffee, then once Jools had left for yoga, I put the bins out, then began work.

So, to work, too much to catch up on to write the report from this week's audit, though 90% of it is already done. Phone calls to make, news to share and so on.

Due to the delay coming back from Ireland and travelling last Sunday, I am "owed" two days in leu, but too much work on to be able to take them at the moment.

And I had to get the car back to the office on Townwall Street, and then get home. I arranged to be there at nine, and there should have been someone there.

The l10 is not the worse car I have driven, but its not in the top 40 either. For a small car, it was an automatic, and was fairly economic.

But glad to get rid of it.

An old friend from the office, Emma, drove me back. I say old, she's been there four year, though Friday was her last day as she's being moved to Ashford. So we chatted on the short journey home.

I had lunch, hosted a meeting at logged off. It was half twelve.

So I packed away the office, went upstairs for a shave and shower, then settled down next to Scully once dressed to read the new edition of WSC, which is where Jools found me when she came home.

With no cards, there was a blank space, so she went swimming at the centre, me reading more of the magazine, as the daylight faded.

News came that Jen was discharged, so that worry was allayed, but we would go on Saturday.

There was yet more bread and cheese for supper. And a bottle of Chocolate Quad(ruple) Belgian beer, which was stunning. Smooth and strong, with strong coffee notes, and 11%.

Jools went to bed at half seven, I tried to watch football, but was too tired, so bailed at half time.

Phew.

Thursday 7th August 2024

Thursday, and time to go home.

Or at least start the journey.

We found out this year when we drove to Tuscany, just how many hours driving through the country from Calais to the south was.

It was going to take between three and four hours for me to get from Reims to the Tunnel, then check in, wait for a train and so on.

I might be home by two.

I have a shower, get dressed and go to breakfast, have more bread and apricot jam, followed by coffee.

I then go to pack, giving the room one last sweep before going to check out and load the car.

I was going to visit the cathedral in Amiens, so programmed a nearby car park to it on my phone, and set off, out of the compound, over the roundabout and onto the motorway.

It was dull and grey, with a hint of mist in the air, though little wind, so I drove steadily west, following the changes in road made by the phone.

Only issue is that driving a right hand drive car, when I got to the tolls, I had to get out, walk round the car to either collect a ticket of pay the charge. Mostly, drivers of cars behind me thought this very funny indeed.

I reached the outskirts of Amiens, and my overthinking meant I pondered and eventually convinced myself that driving into the centre, finding a place to park and taking hundreds of shots of the cathedral was going to take too much time, so changed direction and turned north towards Calais instead.

Though I still cruised some 20kph below the limit, easy to do with traffic light, and meaning I could listen to the podcasts through the car's speakers.

Soon there were signs suggesting time spent on a beach or on the cliffs, meaning I was near Calais.

The last toll paid, driving past Boulogne, and counting down the junction numbers until I reached exit 44, and the turning for the wine warehouse.

I wasn't here for wine, but for beer, but the Belgian Christmas beers were not yet in stock, so I buy some magnums of my favourite beers, some cider for Jools, and a bottle of liqueur made from grape must.

Next door to the fromagerie, and I point to four different cheeses, buy those before going to the last shop to buy some fresh bread. I should have bought some fancy cakes, but my limited French deserted me.

So, laden with booze, cheese and bread, I drive two junctions back down to the exit for the tunnel, check in, go straight to immigration, and ten minutes later I was in the lounge, having been told there was 20 minutes before loading for the next train closed.

There's free food, so I have a wrap, a sandwich and a can of pop before going to the car, driving to the waiting area, where almost at once we were allowed to board.

And that was the adventure over with. The train pulled out, I didn't notice, then snoozed through the trip under the sea, so that the daylight in Folkestone as we left the tunnel jolted me awake.

Soon we were let off, so I drive off, taking the left hand lane to exit at Dollands Moor, then through Frogholt to the motorway, through the nostril and to Dover.

I fill up at the garage on Townwall Street, then go home, where Mulder and Scully were hungry. One of the bowls was upside down at the bottom of the stairs.

I feed them, and they go to bed.

Happy.

The car was unloaded, dirty laundry put in the machine, and everything else in its place, before boiling the kettle for a brew, and as a treat, have a Halloween cup cake I liberated from the Tunnel.

There was bread and cheese for dinner, so nothing to prepare, just leave the cheese out to "breathe", and sip my brew.

Jools arrives, I slice the bread and we try two of the cheeses, both delicious, and unpasteurised. As they should be. One of which is like two camemberts with some kind of spiced fruit in the middle. No idea what the filling was, but had hints of spice and fruit, maybe like those who have cheese with their Christmas cake?

A lazy evening, listening to Man Utd in Europe, sipping wine and nibbling on Mini Cheddars.

Home

More cruelty

Its not that Trump won.

Its not that he won with wning the popular vote.

Its that people saw the cruel acts his administration did the first time round, and wanted more of it.

Depste many people believe America wasn't that sort of country, turns out it is. Just as the UK turned out to be a nation of petty minded zenophobes with Brexit.

Whether he sees through his "policies", or not, it will embolden the very worst in US society, and minorities will be the ones who suffer, and suffer yet more cruel acts.

Just as with Cameron, May, John, Truss and Sunak, nations get the Governments they deserve, and like it or not, the US deserves Trump.

We will not visit the US while he is in power, which might me, with a family of Trumplings, they's rule for decades. But we have at least the choice ofnot visiting, most Americans will just have to suffer.

Though the cruelty will spread to Europe, there's always enough to go round. Ukraine will be abandoned, NATO will be gutted, and funding and assistance will be cut unless nations pay homage.

Trump will launch a trade war, and there will be more actual war in Europe.

Remember, people like Farage and other Conservatives are cheering on Trump's vicotry, even though they know it will damage the UK.

Wednesday 6th November 2024

I have to remind myself on a regular basis, that I'm here for work.

As Fabian had dropped my off the evening before, he said he would collect me this morning so I didn't have to drive, meaning I could lay in bed until seven, get up, have a shower then get dressed, before walking the twenty five steps past reception to the breakfast room.

That 55 euros a night gets you a double room, en suite with breakfast is remarkable, that you are behind a chain fence is another matter.

Choice was limited, and the news playing on the large TV was of Trump's victory in the election.

I ignored it and ate, drank two coffees, and went to wait for a text to say Fabian had arrived.

He did at quarter past eight, and a short blast down the non-motorway dual carriageway to Rethel.

Rethel is a large interesting looking town, but despite having a fine range of bars and restaurants, has no hotels, which is why we stayed 50km away in Reims.

Through the town, over the railway to a small street on an industrial estate, and there was the office and warehouse.

In we go.

After a good morning work, we are taken by the manager to a fine restaurant down by the canal, where half the town were also eating in, but we had a table, and after looking at the fine menu, I had camembert bake, which I thought would come with some bread for dipping.

No, it came with three baked potatoes, a selection of cured meats and salamis along with a full salad.

I thought I had chosen something small.

But it was delicious, all other items on the plate were made better by dipping in molten cheese..

Back to the office for some ad hoc training i had been asked to do, and we were done.

Vanessa, the manager, suggested we go to see a windmill as I was a photographer, so the destination was set, and we drove 40 minutes to the other side of the city to a village in the middle of the finest Champagne vineyards.

We drove through the village, packed with houses and warehouses of the grande Champagne Houses, up to the windmill, and after parking, we saw in the fast fading light, Champagne vines as far as the horizon.

Some 40 years ago, I was stuffing chicken giblets, and here I was surrounded by Champagne.

Its been quite the ride.

A little further along is a lighthouse, though the museum underneath closed for the day, and the tower was shrouded in scaffolding. From its foot, there was yet more Champagne.

Fabian drove us back to the city, to a street lined with bars and restaurants, all brightly lit by neon signs, and after parking we headed to an Irish pub for a tripel I hadn't heard of before, while we watched some rugby on the large screen TV.

We went next door for dinner, it was recommended by Vanessa again. I had Iberian pork with some kind of creamy sauce and fries, while Fabian had a blue local steak. That was followed by, for me, a Special Coffee, which came with four small desserts and an espresso.

We rounded the meal off with a glass of Ratafia Champenois each, a liqueur made of Champagne grape must. The waiter made a great show of using a huge syringe-like device to decant the spirit from the 2 litre bottle into extravagant wine glasses.

Damn, that was some fine eatin and drinkin. And counts as work, for the most part.

Finally, Fabian drove me back home through the brightly lit city to the compound out in the ghetto.

Safe as milk.