Monday 15th December 2025

Welcome to the non-working week. Again.

It is Monday, apparently. And for me, a rest day.

Though, Jools was up at five and off to the sports centre before six for a swim. I woke when I heard the car starting, so get up.

The cats were all asleep, so I made myself coffee and checked in on the world.

Then I remembered I had more cards to post, so to catch the early collection in Collingwood, I went for a walk shortly after seven, taking in the chill dawn air.

After swimming, Jools had to drop the car in for a service, now that she doesn't work, using the place next door to Woodings isn't practical, so we chose a place up past the LFB in Coombe Valley.

Jools dropped the car off, then walked back down past the LFB, as was, and past Buckland Hospital to her sisters', Cath's, to drop of presents and hopefully borrow her car.

Which is what happened.

So, by half ten, Jools was back home, having delivered all cards and presents around the town, and then sit around to wait for the call from the garage that the car was ready.

That came at two, but in the meantime I decanted the sloe gin into a fermentation bucket, topped up the sloes with red wine and Madeira, and once Jools was back home, we bottle the 5 litres of sloe gin into bottles for maturing once placed in one of our several empty cupboards in the kitchen.

The sloe port was shaken so the added sugar dissolved, so that was another job done. Just wash up the bucket, jars and ladles used, and clean the drops of pinkish gin that splashed the walls.

Jools drove us to the garage, so I could go in and pay, then drive the car down Coombe Valley Road to collect Jools after she had dropped the key in, then back home to St Maggies, going along Reach Road, and stopping at RAF Swingate to look out over The Channel at the ferries coming and going.

France was lost on the haze, but we'll return on one of the clear days, when Calais is clear enough to make out the buildings in the centre of town.

I sit with Scully and hour, watching Bangers and Cash. Her blood sugar readings were down to normal levels, so she slept most of the day, being woken at eleven for another blood test, some lunch, then back on the sofa to sleep until after four.

Wow.

Dinner was fritters, which I had not cooked for weeks, as the courgettes were nearly two weeks old and just about ready to turn to mush.

We still have half left, as we're not eating so much these days, so it goes, so it goes.

For the evening there was Man Utd v Bournemouth, which was the game of the season thus far, ending in a 4-4 draw. And Bournemouth missed two good chances in added time to win it.