Monday 8th June 2026

Monday.

And I was still tired.

I slept through until nearly nine, by which time Jools was dressed, fed the cats, tested Scully, and was ready to walk to Kingsdown.

I was barely able to string two words together, so I drank coffee and big Jools farewell as she started her 90 minute walk along to Fleet House, down the Dip, along Otty Bottom Road to Kingsdown.

I was to pick her up, maybe, sometime after eight.

There was pods to listen to, videos to watch, and the minutes and hours slipped by, until I got a message that Jools would meet me at Ringwould, having got a bus into Deal, had breakfast and had caught the bus home towards St Maggies, at least until Ringwould.

I drove to meet her and found a place to park, saw the bus cruise past, and then the figure of Jools come walking up the path.

I went to meet her, turned round, then headed back along to Deal Road to the Duke of Yorks roundabout, although the restaurant that bears that name shut down two weeks back.

We turned right along the A2 to Whitfield, then along to Jen's, where she and Sylv were just up, and preparing to go to yoga.

We all hug, swap news and I take a shot of Sylv's budgie, then bid them farewell to drive home for a late breakfast and another brew.

Jools went to collect Twiggy for more admin, so I retired upstairs to read another book that Cam had given me over the weekend, and gave me cause to ponder the Norfolk, Norwich and East Anglia lost since I was a lad over half a century ago.

No more are reeds harvested, wind pumps and windmills lay silent and broken, and even the Broads themselves, once lauded by Bowie himself, are empty.

How I miss those huge skies and lazy winds. When I'm inside beside the fire.

I begin to cook chorizo hash, so Jools takes Twiggy home, and the kitchen is soon filled with the stream from boiled potatoes and the smell of cooking vegetables and sliced chorizo.

We eat at three, over half the day gone. But the day has clouded over again, and is cool in the shadow from the sun.

I wanted an early night, but Scully's blood readings at eight and nine meant I had to stay up until the numbers climbed again after ten o'clock.

By which time it was dark, and downright chilly.