Saturday 6th September 2025

It am the weekend.

So, instead of laying in bed, I had set the alarm for ten past six, so we could be up, showered, dressed, drink coffee, feed cats, jab Scully, and be out by half eight.

This was to see and snap the fleet of buses for the East Kent Bus Rally taking place on The Strand in Walmer.

No traffic to talk about, and lots of parking, but most spaces had a time limit of an hour. But I spy a shot on Kingsdown Road, I reverse into that.

It was quarter to eight, we had two hours before the rally was due to start.

We went to a corner store to buy something for breakfast, then sat along the Lifeboat Station to eat and drink.

And wait.

A London Routemaster arrived, but we were mid-breakfast, so I let it go by without taking shots.

Jools went for a walk, leaving me with camera and a short weight of a long stand.

Whatever.

Nothing much happened until ten to ten, bus-wise, but I witnessed the park run which went up and down the prom, and a paraglider did a low level flypast to the amazement of no one.

A flurry of activity up to ten with maybe 5 buses arriving, along with other classic vehicles.

I walk round the vehicles taking shots.

I climb up the Leyland to see if I could find the ECW details, but it was coachwork by somewhere up Lancashire.

I look at the stalls, and decide as nice as a destination blind would be, we had nowhere to put it. So, I buy nothing, remembering that I already had a Lowestoft Corporation bus from my Dad's collection.

I called Jools so we could meet at the car, and once she arrived, we loaded the car and headed home.

Highlight of the rest of the day was the delivery of the new glucose monitor. This came at midday, and required over an hour of studying the instructions on how to set the machine up and calibrate it.

When I did, we could test Scully's levels, and begin from scratch on how her levels are doing. Sunday we will try to measure them for the six hours after the morning insulin injection, once an hour.

I watched the Cambridge match on the tellybox, and thin gruel it was too, with one goal and a goal line clearance from nearly 100 minutes of footy.

Between, I made chilli jam with the glut of chillies supplied by our neighbours. Delia claimed just one and a half chillies were needed for the jam.

At this, I laughed.

I put in maybe eight, blend, add vinegar and tomatoes, then after adding half a pound of sugar, bring to the boil and simmer.

I have three small jars to show for the work.

Will let rest for a week or three, then try.

England played Andorra on ITV, and thin gruel that was too, as England barely got out of neutral, let along 1st gear, and laboured to a 2-0 win.

By which time it was seven, so with the funk and soul show playing, I sat in the garden to watch the moon rise, and jets fly over the hours to places much more glamourous.