Thursday 27th August 2026

Thursday began like it was the end of the world.

The sky began pink, then went dark pink and then to red.

Angry red.

The actual light was red. Like the earth was on fire, which in some places, it is.

We were up at five so we could do stuff before going to the gym, which we do. Cats tested, jabbed, red, and coffee made.

It is the last week of school holidays, I believe, and there are bleary-eyed kids being dragged to the pool still in their PJs, possibly for a gala soon.

The gym was quiet.

No it wasn't. It was loud, loud playing Euro-pop to no one as we all have headphones on, and the staff had yet to appear.

We get down to our session and peddle like crazy for thirty five minutes. Jools does forty, but I was cooked, so bail five minutes early and go outside to cool down.

Jools joined me five minutes later and we went home.

So began another day in retirement.

Once out of the gum, the sky was black with the promise of rain. A promise which was delivered a couple of minutes later as we drove back to St Maggies to vote.

By the time we got to the village hall, it was proper bouncing it down, and we got soaked running from the car to the entrance.

There were four of us waiting to vote at a minute past seven, voting for new local councillor as one had stepped down a few weeks back. The parties had taken this very seriously, with all parties dropping lies, I mean leaflets through our door. Some I chased up the drive giving them short shrift.

That done we drove home, and the rain eased, though there was thunder near Canterbury, here the skies cleared and the sun came out.

I collected the clippings from the lawnmeadow, bagged them up, and do other chores around the house, as well as writing, editing shots, and listening to podcasts, so that the morning slipped by.

We had an early lunch so that I could watch more cycling from Spain, waiting an hour after it started then watching it on delay, so I could zip forward through the ads.

The afternoon flew by.

We finished up the cheese and crackers for supper, and the evening, well, that slipped by too.

And we were both in bed by half eight, as it was already dark.