Tuesday 31st December 2024

And so to the final day of the year.

And another day with no work or football.

How do they expect us to survive without football?

Beats me.

Our colds are still hanging around, like the uninvited guests they are, but we are hopeful things are improving.

I have no idea what I did all morning, other than put of the stained glass decal that arrived from Diane in NYC the day before. Positioned here, the rays of the rising sun will pour through and fill the room with colour.

Just not this day.

I listen to podcasts, watch videos and am soon all caught up. Jools goes to jJen's to collect some plastic containers in which to freeze our leftover turkey tagine.

Oddly, Chrome is trying to change turkey to Türkiye every time I type it, this is a recent thing. Not that I type it much outside the festive season.

Jools gets rolls on the way home, so we have warmed through pigs in blankets as hot dogs. And beer.

And is a triumph, of course.

Darkness falls, I watch two hours of The Sky at Night, we play Trivial Pursuit then Crib while we have cheese and crackers for supper, before heading to bed at the terribly late time of half nine.

Happy New Year

Monday 30th December 2024

Well, its still December, and we're still both infected with a cold. Or something. Not too bad, nor too good either.

No point going to the gym either, so there would be another day of lollygagging around the house again.

I did go to Tesco though. Turns out we need some stuff.

I went at half eight and found the store in Whitfield nearly empty. I went round and got what we needed, then back home for breakfast of fresh fruit and yogurt.

For the morning, Jools did some gardening until the chill north wind forced her first to the back garden then inside, while I made two large cottage pies with the hunk of roast beef left.

I boiled potatoes, ground the meat, then once the spuds were cooked, I mashed them and added cheese and butter.

These will be for next month, or when we need something hearty and quick for dinner, along with Boston Beans.

Being a Monday. A normal working day Monday, there was no football until the evening, so for the afternoon I made leftover turkey tagine, also adding a handful of pigs in blankets too.

That was ready to eat at six, so I dished two hearty platefuls and opened a bottle of red wine.

Cheers.

The evening had football: Man Utd losing 2-0 to Newcastle and Chelsea losing to Ipswich by the same score.

Utd were dreadful, and should have lost by more. The have changed owners, manager, sporting director and most of the staff at the top of the club, and yet nothing changes.

Sunday 29th December 2024

It was Sunday.

Apparently.

Who knew?

And in a marked change from the day previous, there was going to be one heck of a lot of football all through the day.

After a fog-free night, it returned soon after dawn, and so the village and most of south-east England was shrouded in either mist or fog.

Our colds were not too bad, but had meant we hadn't slept that well so we were not running at 100%, so no trip to the gym took place. Instead we had a slow start, and after breakfast we had showers and a shave for me, so I felt almost human again.

In the fridge there was 3lb of cold turkey, a pound of salt beef, and a good three or four pounds of cold roast beef too. So that "meat mountain", would have to be tackled.

So it was that I cooked a roast over the morning: slices of roast beef were warmed, the remainder of pigs in blankets were cooked, and the leftover roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings warmed up and more vegetables steamed.

Somehow we had a bottle of proper champagne, so we popped that cork, and I dished up, another fine feast.

In fact, it was another large meal, but as we needed vegetables and fibre, it was good to have sprouts and cauliflower along with beef, pigs in blankets and roast potatoes.

In short, we were stuffed. So after listening to Desert Island Discs, we tidied up and I watched Norwich on the tellybox.

City played poorly, went a goal down to QPR, we levelled in the last minute of normal time.

Then came two back to back Premier League games: Everton lost to Forest 2-0, and Liverpool thrashed West Ham in London 0-5.

By which time it was seven in the evening, And the end of the 364th day of the year.

So it goes. So it goes.

40 years

When I was born in 1965, I was grreted by my parents, my paternal Grandmother, both my maternal grandparents and both my maternal great-grandparents.

I can barely remember my Grand-grandfather, and have no real memory of my great-grandmother, other than the house on Clapham Road they lived in. She kept a red grape vine, that according to family legend, she fed with blood from the abattoir.

My Great-Grandmother died about a year after I was born, and then Great-Grandad was diagnosed with terminal cancer, mover in with Nana and Grandad while he got weaker. Until one day he wasn't there, and when we went round, there was a wake with all the furniture moved out of the house, and it being filled with nothing but chairs.

That was my experience with death until Christmas Day 1984.

I had a small family, and it would appear that there were strong genes in both sides of the family, my maternal grandparents livinf into their late 80s, and my other Grandmother until she was 97. Death's cold hand would not touch my family until 1996.

1984 had been a bad year for me, Conservative economic policies wraught a bitter harvest on my generation. Myself, I had had two jobs that year: one a short order chef for just two short lunchtime shifts. I wasn't asked to go back a third day. And there was the five weeks I was a general help and car cleaner at a garage on Beccles Road.

So, when at half six on Christmas Eve, Marting, Jim and Chris came calling asked if I wanted to go out for the evening. I declined because I had no money, even when they said they would sub me. I have thought there must have been someting on TV I wanted to see, but looking online, because everything is there, there was a film: Once of our Dinosaurs is Missing, Only Fools and Horses, Cagney and Lacey and later, Val Doonican(!)

Details are misty now, 40 years distance, but at about 03:00, Martin was driving back past the college, and there was a taxi parked on the side of the road with headlights on full beam. Martin assumed, the taxi was on the right hand side of it, so went left, but instead mounted the pavement where a few yards on there was a very solid lamp post in the middle of the footway, and the car hit it doing (probably) more than 30mph.

Martin was thrown clear, and so survived, but Chris and Jim suffered fatal injuries.

Jim lived next door to us, so at half eight, Greta, his Mother, came round to tell me that James and Chris had been killed, as wel as (wrongly) Charlie. Could I go round to friends to tell them the news.

Not the job I thought I was going to do that morning.

First job was to go and tell Charlie's parents we thought their son had been killed. This turned out to not be the case when they went to his room to wake him up. I saw Simon on the way back, so flagged him down, then to Trevor's to ruin is Christmas as was best friends with both.

Charlie had bailed early so thing i would probably have done had I gone too

Early in January there were two huge finerals, pretty much the last time we, us friends, got to be together until 2009 when we had a reunion.

I puta post of the former pupil's Facebook group this year. In the past I would put messages in the local paper, but those papers are a thing of the past now. And 40 years does blur the memories, people posting the few photos they have in the Facebook group helps us to remember.

Christmas wasn't the best time to learn about death, but then worse for Jim and Chris's familes.

Travel

In June 2005, I left work at RAF Coltishall for the lst time and began the transition to being a civillian once again.

I ended up spending nine weeks or so, travelling across America; staying with the friend in New Hampshire, driving to Niagara Falls, calling in at Lake Placid and Ben and Jerry's on the way back. Then flying to Seattle, staying their three days, driving then along Route 101 west, then down the Pacific Coast, calling in at Mt Rainier, Mt St Helens, the Olympic Peninsular, Portland, Crater Lake, down the Oregon Coast, San Francisco, the Redwood forests to LA, before flying to stay with friends in Arkansas and as well spending by 40th birthday in Las Vegas.

I have never added up the cost of that trip, and it is detailed somwhere in these posts possibly about a decade ago, but in the following year, I nearly went bankrupt, and in a very low moment said to Mum that perhaps I should have paid off my mortgage rather than travelling.

She disagreed, and said that travel and their experiences can never be replaced, no matter how financially secure I might have ended up.

In the end, it matter not a jot as life turned round quickly, I met Jools and we began to travel, mostly to new places, but to some that we had both been to, or one of us had.

Those experiences are proceless: watching the eclipse from the badlands in the middle of Wyoming for one, and that is something I will never regret.

So, as we are about to embark on life's last great adventure, to stop working and do lots of stuff we want to, a lot of what we will do is travel. Because, we love it.

First up is India in April next year. More details of that to come in the coming weeks, but it is very close now, so close we have actually paid the full cost of the trip.

Then there should be the long-delayed trip to New Zealand, hopefully next winter. We shall see. We won't look into that until after we come back from India and our retirement will have begun by then, but that is what we hope to.

After that, maybe Mexico, Switzerland and maybe Japan again.

We won't stop traveling, or don't plan to, any time soon.

Saturday 28th December 2024

It is the middle of Twixmas. The period between Christmas and New Year, when we have no idea what day of the week it is.

Its even harder because yesterday was a Saturday, and yet the was no league football.

Our sore throats had begun to show on Friday night, and got a little worse through the day, but that meant no gym, though Jools did go for a walk and litter pick, I stayed inside and guarded the house against intruders.

The fog and mist had cleared over night, though there was no sunshine to brighten the day.

With the port back open, all queues and jams had vanished, so we could go out. My plan was for some snaps on the Old High Street and maybe a beer at Kipps Alehouse.

I messaged a Flickrfriend to see he wanted to meet up. He did, so we would meet at half four, by which time the sun should have set and it dark or near dark.

We watched the Christmas Special of Gone Fishing, and laughed like drains at mostly Bob as they fished in the Lot Valley.

Then time to go out

A quiet drive down Jubilee Way, then along Townwall Street before taking the road up Shakespeare.

Folkestone was quite busy, though many were preparing to eave as the day came to an end. I found a place to park, then went wandering about with the camera ready to snap.

A group of drunks down on Tontine Street were making merry, dancing across the road, blocking cars as they danced to a tiny tinny wi-fi speaker.

The sound faded as they climbed onto a bus and headed into town.

I walked back up the Old High Street, it still wasn't very dark. Jools appeared, so we went to Steep Hill Café for a coffee and a slice of cake, which needless to say was over-sweet.

The only free table was in a small corner, with just enough room for me and the table, looking out into the café.

At half four we left and walked up the remainder of the Old High Street to Kipps. I took a few shots, as it was the blue hour, before stepping into the humid, hot atmosphere of the alehouse.

Steve appeared, so I ordered a couple of pints of red ale, and we sat down to catch up.

The glasses were emptied, then new ones filled with Brugges Zot.

An hour passed.

To be honest, I could not force another down, so we bed Steve farewell, and we walked back down the cobbled street and back to the car. I grabbed on more shot.

Jools drove us back home, the A20 quiet enough, then along to the port and back up Jubilee Way.

2024: How was it for you?

I am writing this three days early on Saturday, as there is no football on the tellybox today, despite it being a Saturday. The festive period is different every year, so games at weekends, Boxing Day, New Year's Day and all that, so fitting four or five games in two weeks means gams on different days, sometimes. So, with games on Thursday and Friday, a break occurs today, then there is pretty much a full program on Sunday, and again on Thursday and again next weekend.

So there will be lots of football. If not today.

So, we have come to yet another year, so it is time to look back. But really, we are mostly looking forward to what 2025 will bring, as a couple of leisure.

Health has been the main feature of the year, and a few injuries, which were probably linked, really cutting down on me going out a the photographs I would be taking.

It was the 26th January, a Friday afternoon, and once work was done, I put on the wellington boots and went for a stomp. But soon after reaching the farm at the end of the track over the fields and past Fleet House, my knee began to really ache and then hurt.

I had been handbagging going out much through the winter, waiting for what I thought was perfect weather for taking shots. The upshot being I had hardly gone out. My physio told me knee tendons had lost strength, and in the end failed to keep my knee in the right shape, thus tearing my Cartlidge.

This took place a week before we were due to go to Iceland on holiday, so not the best time. But with care, it began to heal, then taking the cases to the car for the drive to the airport, I tore it again. Then when in Iceland, each time I slipped on the ice, it tore more.

I did most of what I wanted, but the Sunday I was in so much pain, I didn't walk much so spent the afternoon in the Irish bar.

As the knee healed, I had apparently changed the way I walked, thus putting strain on my ankle, so that one day filling up the bird feeders, I turned the ankle over. There was a click. And pain.

In the months between the two incidents, my leg muscles had tried to keep all in place, but were hyper-extended, this very prone to cramp, especially when on sloping ground, like downs when hunting orchids.

As it turned out, the ankle was the final act, but it took another trip to the physio to confirm it was nothing serious.

By then it was July, and the orchid season was nearly over, the walking pole I used up to that point was no longer needed, and I even made it up Temple Ewell Down at the beginning of August to look for ALTs.

We had been to Ireland at the end of May so I could see three very localised species on the west coast, and my knee had really meant I couldn't do as much as I wanted, but Sean and Mike were very understanding as leaders, as were others on the tour as I did my best and saw all species and got the shots I wanted.

As the year drew to an end, I am now suffering from mild sciatica, which is literally a pain, and means sitting down at regular intervals on walks to "reset" my back. This might be down to my weight, it certainly doesn't help, so this is why we have started going to the gym infrequently. We plan to make it frequent.

We shall see.

I am hopeful for the future, but aware of how badly I have let things slip.

We shall see.

So, three vacations, all with fine memories to live off for years: Iceland, Ireland than the road trip to Tuscany in September. All wonderful in their ways, but who doesn't love Tuscany? At least away from the crowds.

Yes, crowds.

It seems that the pandemic meant that people, now that all restrictions have been lifted, want to travel, and everywhere is busier than before. Florence was a nightmare to be honest, and a pleasure to get out, despite not going inside the Cathedral. Pienza was crazy busy too, but others places were not, and once we learned to get to places before midday, it meant getting car park spaces, and less crowded experiences.

Also, driving rather than flying made it a very different holiday. More relaxed and enjoyable, without going to Heathrow or Gatwick, then checking in and all that, and then in Pisa going through immigration, getting a hire car and then driving down to Roccastrada.

Was much, much cheaper too. And on the return we were able to bring back wine, cheese and the other stuff we bought in Tuscany and on the way back through France.

And then there was work.

Our department got a new manager. And she was the micromanager from hell. We tried to give her a chance, but morale slumped, and we all talked of leaving, either for another department or leaving the company.

She took against me pretty bad, and questioned every decision I made until I broke. I was going to resign when we got back from France, but it turns she was fired first.

Oh how we laughed, not at someone's misfortune, but the sheer joy of being released from mental anguish and pressure.

The rest of the year has been fine, lots to do, but with did it all and so can sit back and relax in knowledge of a job well done.

But it turns out I am all out of fight, the strain of a breakdown in 2019 and another mini one this year meant that retirement never looked so tempting.

We sked our advisor if we could retire earlier than planned, to which he said we could retire now if we wanted. So we are going through the process now and should be settled a few weeks into the new year.

Work also meant a return to France and Ireland for follow up activities from last year's visits, so that's not bad. Shame that Ireland was in October rather than May, but I met old friends and went to Northern Ireland too, and on the way back to the airport, had a night out with an old military buddy. We had not seen each other for 31 years.

Also, two trips to Denmark: one for a team event that was so badly organised, but we did get to meet our colleagues from India, and the second to help out in our external audit. Each evening I met friends from Arhus.

I go into the final few months of work in good spirits. Sad that I am letting my colleagues down, but they tell me they would do the same if they could. I have worked with Rune and Henrik for over 12 years. Was their boss for a while, but we now make a formidable team in the global audit department.

But we are over-worked, under-valued. We have fought for four years, fought against ignorance and sloth. And ignored.

So, I give up. I will walk away.

So it goes, so it goes.

I bought no records or CDs this year.

I went to the cinema once, to see Dune II. (it was Life of Brian in space).

We did not go to the theatre.

And I think that our only gig ticket ended up falling on the day I had to fly out to Denmark for the audit, so we could not go to see Bellowhead. And The Skids on my birthday has been postponed to February next year.

So, here we are, at the fag end of the year. All misty and gloomy, but with the promised of a golden and sunny tomorrow. To retire at 60, I feel I have won at life, and am very satisfied with that.

Happy New Year.

Friday 27th December 2024

It's Friday.

Apparently.

But its not bin day.

That's going to be on Monday.

But this is Friday, and the shops are open as normal, if you, somehow, have run out of food.

We have not run out of food.

No, not yet.

We go to bed each evening, at about nine or ten, and so get up between six and half seven.

Depends.

Currently, the whole of the UK is sheltering under a dome of stationary air, so that the whole country is pretty much fog bound, and those who fly are facing huge delays.

I don't mind fog, but what I do mind is the mindless idiots who fail to realise the reason for having headlights and foglights on is to be seen.

I say this, because at ten we went out to the sports centre for a session in the gym, and about one car in five had no lights on, despite visibility being less than 50m.

I flashed every one, but they probably did nothing.

Yes, the sports centre for a while to pump some lard. I did all of mine on one of the recumbent bikes, while Jools did some time on the air rower.

I will build to that.

We call in at Aldi for some bread rolls, so once home we can warm up some salt beef for lunch and have a fine lunch.

Effectively Rubin rolls, followed by all butter shortbread and huge brews.

Meanwhile, outside the fog thickened, so we were going nowhere.

We listened to the radio, read while Jools did some crossstitch until it was supper time, where we made more cheese vanish with crackers.

And then there was football.

Football in the mist. But football.

Brighton v Brentford followed by Arsenal v Ipswich, and over more than 180 minutes of football, just one goal was scored, by Arsenal.

The year in Orchids: 2024

Two big pieces of orchid news this year, the first being that longtime friend, Dr Richard Bate, discovered a single Ghost Orchid spike in August of this year.

The previous record was in about 2009, and that was the first sigting for nearly two decades.

It goes without saying that seeing a UK Ghost is the holy grain of UK orchidists, and something almost all of us will never see.

I didn't bother pestering Richard for details, clues or hints on the ocation, as it was the spike was apparently eating within 24 hours of its discovery, and so maybe will be anther decade or two, if ever, one will be seen again.

Kudos to Richard for persistance in keeping on looking.

He's not the only one looking of course, but if the spike is visible for 24 hours, the chances of someone seeing it and recognising it for what it is, are slim, or that those who do seek it, like Jamie, to be there at the right time, despite repeated visits multiple visits year in year out show how difficult if not impossible this is.

Out little orchid bubble usually keeps our news within the small comminity, but even Jen got to hear of the discovery, showing what big news the discovery actually was.

Other good news was word from Jon on his prognosis, and subsequent globetrotting.

But the other big news was that, apart from the Ghost, I have seen all UK and Irish species of hardy orchid, including two Serapias and a Giant.

This was only possible to the help and advice from many people: Mark, Jon, Richard, Sean, Jim and dawn, Tad, Tristan, Steve, Duncan, Jules, and many, many others whithout whom I would never have completed the task, or it would have taken much much longer.

Five species we left to see, three in Ireland and two in Norfolk.

I had seen Dense Flowered Orchid in flower on Rhodes two years ago, but seeing them in Ireland was needed for the tick. But ourluc failed us at three sites in Ireland, as it was unseasonably hot the day we arrived a few before, so all the spikes we saw were pretty much burnt to a crisp. One spike did have a flower or two just about present.

The Irish Marsh Orchid is a robust Dacht, and we came across it at two sites, both coastal. Vibrant coloured and thich of spike, a fine orchid with which to round our Irish trip off.

Before that was another Dacht, the Pugsley's Marsh, named after one of the great Victorian botanists. It's description and even existance causes aeguments, and where we saw it as each defining feature, at least one nearby plant refused to show it. Maybe one that will run and run, or as a rapidly evolving family, the dachts might have more surprises for us over the coming years.

That left two speces, and both would be seen in Norfolk the same day in late July.

The story of how a Scottish and northern English orchid species came to be found at the edge of a Norfolk beach shows how biodiversity can spread.

The landowners at nearby Holkham Hall had fir trees planted, and in the soil were orchid seeds.

Nature does the rest.

There are several small colonies around the woods, but this was/is the most accessible.

The reason for driving from Dover to Wells-Next-the-Sea and back was to complete the UK and Irish Orchid set, as it were. As apart from the legendary Ghost Orchid, by the end of Saturday I would have seen all other species.

It has taken some 14 years, twelve if you look outside of Kent, and involved two two-week holidays to Northumberland, and trips to the New Forest, the Welsh coast, Lancashire, Gloucestershire, Essex, Suffolk and this year, Ireland.

How many species, I hear you ask. Well, depends.

As the Lindisfarne Helleborine is no longer considered a separate species from Dune Helleborine, but was when I saw it. And does the Tongue Orchid or Giant Orchid now be considered UK species as they have naturalised?

I don't know.

Exactly.

We left Dover at half five, having to go up the M20, contraflow and heavy traffic, as the M2 was closed until half ten.

It was a glorious morning, lots of sunshine and little traffic, which was a pleasant surprise.

Over the Thames, or rather under it, then along to the M11 and up through Essex, into Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and finally Norfolk.

Traffic in Brandon was light, and sadly no planes seen moving at RAF Lakenheath, up through Breckland, Thetford Forest to Swaffham, Fackenham and Wells.

Queens Anne's Drive is a long car park owned by Holkham, and folks were arriving to go to the beach. We parked, then set off away from the soon to be busy beach, though light woodland, past a pond, then up and over some dune sacks via a boardwalk to the beach.

From here is was 3,300 steps, or so what3words told me, so we wet off west, along the path at the edge of the woods, until we came to a crossing where two paths met, and just the other side were six tiny plants.

This was it.

These were it.

Creeping Lady's Tresses.

Related to Autumn Lady's Tresses, clearly, but hairier, and much rarer.

I lay down to get shots, whilst Jools looked for other plants. None found, so as the temperature rose, we turned round to walk back to the car, the whole hike having taken just under two hours by the time we reached the car, and just about every parking space taken.

According to maps there is an A road that runs along the north Norfolk coast. This is a joke on all those visitors who think its a quick way of getting between Wells and Sheringham or Cromer. We have footpaths wider than this road in Kent.

I should point out that I am a son of Norfolk, and revel in that fact, and love it that the A149 that runs through places like Cley and Blakeney is barely wide enough for a single car, let alone two to pass, or the buses that come along every hour.

The 15 mile drive took best part of 45 minutes, arriving in Sheringham at the busiest time, with the market taking over half the car park beside the North Norfolk Railway.

No matter, we were not going here, our destination was a side road beside a housing estate, on the other side of the road was a nature reserve, Beeston & Sheringham Commons.

On here was my last species, the Marsh Fragrant.

Until a few years ago, all Fragrants were in the same family, then some DNA work was done, and the suspected differences meant that we had three fragrant species: the more common, er, Common (or Chalk), Heath and Marsh.

We have the Chalk in Kent. I had seen a single spike of Heath in Durham a decade back (still counts), so just the Marsh to see, and the Latin name means dense flowered, I though these would be easy to spot, large pink-lilac orchids of majestic height.

The site is large, and of different habitats, and even when on the notice board it confirmed the species here, no hint of where it might be found.

Marsh was the give away, and in the Central Mire we concentrated our search, and after an hour of huffing, puffing and stepping in muddy pools and bogs, I finally found two small spikes.

I had already found Marsh Helleborines, so pretty sure we were in the right place.

Ten yards away were two much larger spikes, worth the wet foot I got from the floating fen.

Job done.

Unlike in a video game, I didn't get an extra life or added powers, just the job done.

The phone lead us back to the car, I was just about done in. 15,000 steps, but no actual pain, just the effort in what was a very warm day.

We drove back to the main road, then down through my old stamping ground around North Walsham, where we stopped off at the pub beside the river in Coltishall, just for all times sake.

Turns our pizza and ice cold amber ale is perfect when munched and supped beside the river in the beer garden.

Then down to the Fine City of Norwich, onto the A47 and down the A11 home.

We had said that we had been very lucky on the day, with no hold ups the whole journey up, and during our time in the Fine County. Turns out fate had been saving things up for our return trip, and on the Crossing at Dartford.

A car had come to grief on the Kent side, and there was just the lane for the A2 London-bound closed. But a combination of this and rubbernecking caused talbacks to Brentwood, and we inched along taking 75 minutes to reach the A2 and free of jams.

We got home 13 hours after leaving, with just enough energy to have cheese and crackers and two bottles of the new beers.

A fine, fine day.

The Kent season was unspectacular, with no news finds, as far as I know. And my season was curtailed due to a series of injuries which started with my torn knee cartlidge back in January and the months that took to repair, and then a bad ankle before things got better.

The first Early Purple I saw was on 1st April. Other had seen then a few weeks before, but I waited as I would not be able to climb many dows that spring.

The first Early Spider was seen at a small seaside SSSI on 12th April, a single open flower, but that counts.

A post on social media alrted me to a small colony of three Green Wing Orchids were seen just up the coast, so a short walk from a car park lead me to spotting the tiny spikes from 10m away.

After several years of low numbers, Samphire Hoe produced thousands of spikes of Early Spider, with this which probably became the most photographed orchid in Kent within a few days. Jon kindly showed me where it lay hidden very much in plain sight.

It was a very early season, with species apparently being found opn on a near daily basis. Lady Orchids were fully out in places before the end of April, Fly out on the 11th of the same month.

We paid our annual visit to Marden on 4th May, and were rewarded with all three meadows to ourselves in the early bright sunshine.

The early Late Spider appeared on 10th May, and what followed was another bumper year for the ultra rare orchid.

Meanwhile, the reserve at Lydden which just over a decade ago showed 70 or so spikes, now boasts thousands over a small area, and there is now barely enough room between them in which to safely step.

I found a new site for Lizards on Thanet, but at the same site the yellow Man are all but extinct, sadly.

Our favourite site yealded twenty three Bird's-nest spikes, which was a surprse as I had been there the day before Terry found them.

So it goes.

Man Orchids were also found at Sandwich Bay, and I was told of a new, but sadly threatened colony of Bee near to Deal.

My orchid eyes did find a Musk spike or two this year after two years drawing a blank.

Our two garden Pyramidals reappeared again, and I have found their wintergreen rosettes over the autumn, so they will both return in 2025 too.

The end of the season came quickly, with Marsh Helleborines out by the end of June, then a pause before the final three species, Broad=leaved and Violet Helleborines and Autumn Lady's Tresses.

For me, the season ended on 5th August when I made it up Lydden Down to see the ALTs in flower.

And that was that.

Thursday 26th December 2024

Every family has its traditions. And our family Christmas in Suffolk was that we had roast turkey on Christmas Day and roast beef on Boxing Day.

If I am honest, I hadn't eaten that much on Christmas Day, just a "normal" roast, really, so today would be the blow out.

And like all the best meals and occasions, this took planning.

Ordering the meat well in advance, getting bones last week then making stock, as well as remembering to order pigs in blankets and St George's Ball (of stuffing), and then the vegetables.

I have even been trying to improve the roast potatoes and Yorkshire Puddings, so had made the pudding batter the day before and let that lay in the fridge overnight.

So, come half nine, when the preparation began, I had everything, including a litre of beef stock.

Potatoes were peeled and left to soak and hour, then boiled to just before they fell apart. Drain and let steam dry back in their pan, before adding a cup of melted beef fat.duck fat mixture, and left to cool.

The beef, all seven pounds of it went in at ten to eleven, and the game was afoot.

Sadly, Jen came down with the flu, but Sean and Ange were coming, but potatoes for five, or was it six or seven, were already done.

Potatoes were put in at half twelve, and the beef was done at one, so then the vegetables were set to steam before finally I made the gravy and Jools used the air fryer for the pigs in blankets and stuffing balls.

Sean and Ange came at quarter to one, so I opened some wine and Sean and I had a glass, before the final bit of cooking, putting the puddings in and cooking until dark golden brown. They rose beyond anything I have done before.

Which was nice.

Jools and I dished up once I had carved a generous portion of the joint, vegetables, pigs, balls, roasties and puddings were added, gravy put in a jug and more wine opened.

The feast was served, and we tucked in.

Even if I was the cook, let me say it was magnificent.

They left at four, so the telly and radio put on so I could follow the footy, with Norwich already 2-0 up against Millwall. It ended 2-1, but happy with that.

And the evening had two Premier League games, played in mist or fog, while we had some cheese and crackers for supper.

Cheers.

Wednesday 25th December 2024

Christmas Day.

Merry Christmas.

As there is just Jools and myself, and four cats, we laid in bed until half seven, it was getting light, but looking out there was mist/fog lingering, diffusing the light.

There would be no snow this Christmas.

Not much to do other than make coffee, feed the cats, fill the feeders and have breakfast, not much on the radio to listen to, but the morning slipped by.

We had to be round Jen's early, as she needed a big tin for roasting the turkey be got, so we left home laden with tray and wine at half ten, arrived in time for the bird to go into the oven at twenty past eleven.

Potatoes were peeled, vegetables chopped, and all the other tasks needed to make Christmas Christmassy. Jen had laid the table the night before, the tree was lit, and underneath loads of presents spread deep and crisp and even.

Jools went to collect two family friends, Tony and Shirley from their sheltered housing in Dover, and the task then was to keep them hydrated with their glasses of Baileys being topped up.

As the morning turned into the afternoon, more things were needed to be cooked, and once Mike, George and Trinny arrived, Trinny helped Jen and I in the kitchen.

Potatoes boiled, then dried out before being placed in a baking tray and doused with hot oil and put into the oven.

Pigs in blankets and stuffing balls were placed in the other oven, before the vegetables were set to steam.

And it was the vegetables that took the most time as we waited.

In the end, dinner was an hour late, but Jen has a hostess trolley to keep everything warm, so come three, I carved the well-rested meat, plates were filled and finally we sat down with a freshly filled wine glass and toasted each other.

For desert there was trifle or tiramisu. I had neither, but the others filled up further. The cooks rested whilst the others washed up and put tins, plates, pots and pans away.

All done for another year.

Come five, Jools took Tony and Shirley back, then came to pour me into the car and we went home, all ready and with a fresh brew and some dunking shortbread for when Wallace and Gromit came on at ten past six.

Nick Park has maintained standards, and this new feature length episode was full of details, and will need to be watched again and again to take it all in.

Cold sausages and rum for supper. So come nine I was pooped.

Boxing Day, we will do it all again at our place.

Tuesday 24th December 2024

Christmas Eve.

And all preparation was done, all presents and provisions bought and stowed away and/or wrapped.

A Tuesday, apparently, and nothing at all to do.

We had a shower early on, had coffee, then by ten had breakfast and another coffee, and so we were ready to face the world.

Which pretty much involved drinking tea and snacking, watching videos on YouTube and listening to podcasts.

We did not go to the gym, but it had closed by lunchtime.

We did go out for a walk. Jools up to Windy Ridge, but me just up and down the streets of the estate on a new year plant hunt, and easily completed the #winter10 challenge of plants in flower.

Come four in the afternoon, and with shops closing or already closed, I suggested we drive to Deal to look in wonder at the festive lights. And maybe have a beer out.

The roads were already quiet into town, and in the main town car park there were spaces.

I paid for an hour, and we set off to explore.

The lights were on the main street, and street furniture got in the way in places, but I took shots.

Then round to Middle Street, to get shots of the narrow street and fake Victorian lighting, before walking back to the Just Reproach, but finding it full, we went to the car and drove back.

Getting back we had supper of party food, then settled down to watch Interstellar in demand, which was OK, and at least Matt Damon played against type.

At half nine, we went to bed, and so the house fell silent, all ready for Santa's visit.

Happy Christmas to all.

Monday 23rd December 2024

And so the final pre-Christmas act is to go to the butchers for the turkey.

We were going to have beef, but then Jen said she wanted turkey, so we added it to our order, which did mean driving out to Preston first thing.

As the order contained salt beef, we also needed some pretty good fresh bread, which would have meant a trip to the insanity that would have been Tesco, but then we remembered the small bakers in Wingham, which is on the way to Preston.

Despite it not being fully light, the roads were already busy, even off the A2 through Aylesham to Wingham.

I parked on the main road, nipped over and got two packs of crusty rolls before dodging between the traffic back to the car and onwards.

The butchers do just orders at this time of the year, all are bagged and numbered waiting for payment, most of their hard work is now done.

I produce my lottery number, exchange it for the large bag and then remember to pay.

All done.

Back home past Sandwich and Deal on the by-pass, traffic already mad, so it was good to get home, park up and let out a sigh which meant, we've either got everything cos we're not going out again.

After breakfast I boil the bones I bought last week, adding onions and carrots, then after boiling, the huge pan simmers for two or so hours until there was a very fine stock left.

I drain that into a bottle, fill up and put in the salt beef, so that it would be all cooked and hot by supper time to have with the fresh rolls.

So through the day the house filled with the smells of boiling meat, and windows were all steamed up.

We eat the rolls at six, the meat still steaming, all flavoured with wholegrain mustard and pickles.

Very nice indeed.

For the evening we watch Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which was OK, just about. But took itself too seriously, or not enough laughs.

Sunday 22nd December 2024

I am not taking many shots this month.

Not on purpose, just that I have not travelled and weekends just seem good for relaxing in, not churchcrawling and there being little botany abut.

It might be the first month perhaps for nearly 15 years that has less than a hundred shots in its album.

I did try to increase the number last week by visiting a couple of churches, only that neither had a huge amount of detail to record, so neither have more than 30 shots to show for the effort and cost of the visits.

But, I have now increased the number of Kent churches visited to 390, if my calculations are correct, with number yet to do, getting few. Perhaps.

I did make a master list a few years back, of all the listed churches, and notes from John Vigar's talks on Kent churches of those yet to visit.

In the new year there will me many more opportunities for filling in the blanks, so who knows.

And there will be many more sites for orchids and other plants to seek out and explore.

As we come to the end of the year, it is always a time to draw breath, but for Jools and myself, time to think more of the future than we have ever done before: places to visit, old friends to reconnect with.

On Sunday we were going to go out, but in the end, didn't.

I laid in until gone half seven again, and by then the wind was blowing again from the north, too cold for a casual walk or some low key gardening.

We will get round to those tasks at some point.

We have coffee whilst listening to the radio, then have breakfast.

And when Jools goes to visit her sister and drop off presents, I stay home and read the book a friend wrote on the history of our trade in the RAF.

A couple of pleasant hours passed, and seeing familiar names jump out off the page. One name, and accompanying photo was of one of the larger than life characters I bumped into, Jeff "Bonz" Poole.

Jeff is no longer with us, another one who was taken before his time, and I wonder if it was the cocktail of chemicals and other hazardous stuff we were exposed to during our time serving.

I am still here, however.

And there is football. So after a small pork pie salad and some more Belgian Christmas beer, I settled down with Scully on the sofa to watch the two games, and maybe stay awake.

The Fulham v Southampton game ended 0-0, but there was little chance of that score being repeated at the Tottenham Stadium, where Spurs took on LIverpool.

Ended 3-6 to Liverpool, and could have been double that. Entertaining for the neutral for sure, maddening for the Spurs fans who have paid good money to see comical "defending".

We end the day with cheese and crackers, then break out the Trivial Pursuit Jools bought last week, and so the evening drew to a close and we went to bed.

Saturday 21st December 2024

Cheese.

There's room in the fridge that only cheese can fill.

I could have got a cheeseboard from Sainsbury's, but there is No Name Shop.

But to avoid people, we would have to go early.

Jools went swimming, I however, carried on sleeping, not waking up until half seven.

I make coffee, then wait for Jools to return, and once she did, and drunk her coffee, we could go out.

Deal was already busy, but there was spaces in the main carpark, the roads around Sainsbury's (a smaller branch) were already jammed.

A quick walk along Middle Street, then cutting down an alley to High Street to the shop.

We get some fresh bread, but the selection of cheese is now limited, mainly thanks to Brexit, so all available were all pre-packed, rather than the individual small batch artisan stuff they used to sell.

We buy four, and I'm sure they will be great, but also lament the loss of choice for us at home another victim on the altar of Brexit.

We also call in at The Black Pig for some sausages; some venison and spicy pork ones, and back to the car as rain began to fall.

And that was the exciting part of the day done.

We have breakfast, then a bacon butty and sausage sarnie near to midday, both glorious.

We pop round to see Jen, as its been a while since we saw her, all is good there and final arrangements made for Christmas Day.

Back home for the football, the second half of the live Championship game, then sat with Scully to listen to the radio and watch Final Score and the videprinter.

Norwich took the lead at Sunderland, and were still in front at half time. But The Mackems levelled straight after half time, City then had a player sent off, thus allowing Sunderland to net a winner.

Sigh.

Ipswich, however, managed to leak four goals against Newcastle.

Supper was an Iberian cured meats board and the fresh bread bought, all listening to Craig on the wireless and watching Arsenal thrash Palace.