Thursday 11th April 2024

Thursday dawned overcast and foggy. Away in the distance, the sound of the fog horn at Dover could be heard, s it sounded its warning.

Jools was off work, of course, and had plans for her day. I, meanwhile, had work and would be expecting the carpet fitters.

For the last four weeks our house has been turned upside down, as we decorate and update the furniture and fittings of the back room and spare bedroom.

Furniture and objects from each room are stored in other rooms, mainly the bathroom (which has no bath), piles of books, clothes and documents were stacked, sorted and either dumped, recycled or shredded and dumped.

The back room looks great, and last weekend the spare room was decorated, all we needed was the tatty rug that had been in there replaced by fitted carpet. And on Thursday the fitters came with their bag of tools and underlay and carpet to complete the job.

Before then, we had to take the bed apart, a job that was far worse in anticipation than in practice, leaving just the wardrobe for the guys to work round and move about.

They were done in half an hour, amazing really, and once Jools came back from the pool, we put the bed back together, the chest of drawers was carried back in, and so the final stuff out of the bathroom was cleared, the house looked like a home again.

There is a plan going forward, with the upstairs hallway next to be painted and re-carpeted, and maybe next year for the living room then the kitchen.

So, the cats will get used to peace and quiet for a while and not have to hide when the workmen come knocking and banging.

They were gone very quickly, and peace returned to the house.

I vacuumed the new carpet, as it was covered with fluffy bits, and after Cleo sampled some last time, best got get rid.

And move the wardrobe back to its original position.

I then had a meeting, so could not tell Jools when she returned home that the carpet had been laid, instead she discovered it on the way to the back room.

And by five in the afternoon, everything was in its place, and all looked tidy.

I cooked dinner.

And that was that for the day, really. There was football. I mean, there's always football, but the lesser European competitions hold little allure, so I went to bed at half time, thus missing out on the news that Atalanta crushed Liverpool 3-0.

Wednesday 10th April 2024

Wednesday, and a day of stuff.

I could be honest and say the exciting stuff happened after work and that would be that.

But it would not be true.

I played hooky from work for three hours, made up two when I got home, and being a manager gave myself the other hour off for being really, really good.

Or something.

A couple of weeks ago, I missed a second steam railtour over Easter as I got confused with what day of the week it was. When I posted this on a friend's shot, he gave me a week's warning of an unusual working on the 10th, the only Observation Saloon still running was being pushed and pulled round Kent, and sent a link for the timings.

In spotting circles, the saloon, Named Caroline, is famous, and being the only one such vehicle left and is usually being pushed by a big locomotive, which looks wrong.

Anyway.

It was due at twenty to eleven on Wednesday. I got Jen's car to use so I didn't need to take Jools to work and collect her in the evening.

So, all was set.

And it was a fine, warm sunny Spring morning, Shepherdwell a fifteen minute drive, if that, away. So I left at ten, there by ten fifteen, and waiting for it to emerge from Lydden Tunnel

On the platform, a dozen or so people arrived for the 10:28 to Victoria, which got cancelled, so folks either had to wait an hour or go home. Most went home.

In the end, the failed EMU did rattle through ten minutes after it should have, though did not stop as I guess it was on the way to the depot for repairs. And five minutes later, the lights went green and lights could be seen entering the tunnel half a wile away.

Sadly, Caroline was being dragged, not pushed, so it was the long nose of the 37 that emerged from the darkness, dragging the saloon.

In seconds it was below us, then away, accelerating up the hill, past the sidings and entrance to the East Kent Railway, growling its way back to Victoria.

Myself and half a dozen others, all looked at our cameras to check on the shots, then turned and walked back to our cars.

Now, I could have driven back home and knuckled down to work, but where's the fun in that?

No, I drove back to the A2, up to Bridge and across to the little layby at Yockletts.

I was going to do the full circle, but in the end, due my knee complaining, I turned back at the road, but saw more than enough.

A good few Early Purples on the climb to the lower meadow, plenty of Fly Orchid spikes behind the seat, though none in flower.

But further on, down at the fallen tree, inspection of every spike revealed the usual earl spike to have a single flower open. I found a second, emerging from the sheathed stem, further on.

Common Twayblades in partial flower everywhere, both species of Bee Fly seen within a few steps, though just the fleeting glimpse of a butterfly, gliding across the lower meadow which makes me believe it was a Large Tortoiseshell.

Lady Orchids close, and the Spike of a Greater Butterfly a good four inches high.

But I turned round, walked a while along the upper path before turning back down and going back to the car.

It was quick to drive back to Bridge, up the hill and backonto the A2, calling in at Tesco on my way home for lunch and a few other essentials, and some not-quite-so essentials too.

Back home, and I log on eating a cold Cornish pasty and supping on a pint of fizzy squash. No one missed me, apparently. A couple of mails to follow up on, and that was that.

But I stayed online until five, then packing away and coating boned thighs for buttermilk chicken, which I cooked and put in rolls.

Then there was yet more football in the evening: more Champions League, and more Championship games. Though with me drinking less beer this time.

The evening grew old, some lost, some won, some drew.

Tuesday 9th April 2024

Tuesday.

Market day in King's Lynn.

Not in St Maggies though.

But we do have things to do. Or Jools does, as she is off work, or has one of her non-working days.

First she went to the tip with the old carpets and rug from the small bedroom, then went swimming and stayed in the pool for aquafit and a session in the sauna.

She came home for lunch, when we made the rest of the shepherd's pie vanish, warmed in the oven so the cheesy crust was crustier.

I worked and drunk coffee and tea.

And worked.

Actually had a productive day, closed six audit findings and made a plan for the rest.

We might have gone out for a walk, but there was wind and rain and so we listened to podcasts instead.

In the afternoon, we drove to Jen's to pick up her car for reasons.

It had been glorious all day, but as we drove along the A2 to Whitfield, the skies darkened and soon it was throwing it down.

It seemed right to take this shot.

The one hundredth day of the year, meaning we are well into spring, and as a treat as we're doing up the house, I get a new office chair.

The old one is pretty worn out, but this one, bearing the name "Leather-faced manager chair"

Ahem.

I wouldn't like to see any of my old managers in a leather face or mask.

But anyway.

This arrived in the afternoon and we put it together, with some swearing, in the evening, so I could follow the evening's football from my new throne.

Which was nice, if upsetting for Scully who growled her displeasure all through the evening.

Norwich took a 2-0 lead early on, and all seemed set, but switched off in the last quarter and conceded twice to draw 2-2 with Wednesday who are still, just, in the bottom three.

Monday 8th April 2024

There can be no doubt it is spring now. It looks like spring, smells like spring and is warm like spring.

Though saying that we are getting unseasonable storms, and two over the weekend swept through, and as we went to bed, a huge thunderstorm drifted up across northern France, making us jump when a crack went out within three miles of the house.

Elsewhere, there was another eclipse in the US, though we never discussed going this time. In the evening I watched NASA's live feed, though with the sound down and the fake excitement of the presenters was a little too high pitched for me.

And it was back to work too.

A week until the great gathering in Denmark, our boss travelled back to DK from India, only for her flight to be delayed and when we joined the department meeting, she was still on a train heading for Copenhagen from the airport.

I decided to tackle my knee, so did three sessions with the ice pack, and walked very little, though the heavy rain showers and gusty winds helped somewhat.

The guy from the carpet shop came round to measure up the little bedroom, and he also measured up the hallway in preparation for yet more updating of the house.

In other news, Mulder is listless, and laid asleep until eight in the evening before waking and then only taking little food.

No splashing for Jools, so I made shepherds pie from the lamb we had over the weekend, topped with mash made with salted herbs from Canada and topped with a quarter pound of grated cheddar.

It was good, and more than enough to have another day for a meal, with the crispiest, cheesiest part to go back into the oven for yet more baking.

No football in the evening, though planning for trips meant we filled the evening well, and so went to bed at half eight, filled with dreams of country lanes, vineyards and stinky cheeses.

Sunday 7th April 2024

With the decorator coming round a second day, Jools said she'd stay behind, meaning I could head out for the whole morning, if I wanted.

If I wanted.

My knee said otherwise.

Truth is, I've not been using the ice pack so much as I should, wrongly believing I was over the worse. And so walking around the city, even for a short while, became painful.

Thing about Canterbury at half eight on a Sunday morning is that it is quiet.

Very quiet.

I parked near Westgate, then walked round it to get shots of the riverside garden, and over the bridge to my target: the new mural depicting two success stories in nature conservation: The Heath Fritillary and the White Spot Sable moth, the mural having only been completed a few days ago.

That done, I walked up St Peter's Street towards the Pilgrims Hospital, amazed that there were so few people about.

I walked round past the new Marlowe Theatre and back to the car, by which point my knee was asking what the heck did I think I was doing.

From there I drove to the inner ring road, then out over the A2 to Thannington and out along the Stour Valley.

The road follows both the river and railway line to Ashford, so I cruise along until it was time to turn off and head up the wooded downs at Challock, then down the narrow dead end lane the two miles to the church.

I saw more people down this lane than I did in the city, partly explained that there was a service to be held in the church.

I wasn't here for that, but to look for a rare, for Kent, plant: Toothwort.

It used to grow in a small wood beside the church, until someone cut down half the trees and allowed light in that killed off the toothwort and most of the bluebells.

I hoped in the five years since I was last here, it might have recovered.

But sadly not.

The cleared area has been left to scrub over, and now brambles and nettles are thriving where there was a small wood.

I did go and look round the trunks of the few remaining trees, but no toothwort, and just one (hybrid) bluebell. Lots of Townhall Clock plants, though.

As the small congregation gather, I drive the other way, creating traffic problems on the narrow lane. But I make it back to the main road, and then to Ashford, where a young lady in a small Citroen nearly runs into me after she failed to give way at a roundabout, then fail to indicate at the following roundabout or wave an apology at my angry honking horn.

I turn onto the M20, and cruise back to the coast, going down Old Folkestone Road as I was going to call into Little Farthingloe Farm for some potatoes and bread, but it was closed, apparently permanently.

So, back to Tesco it was, and a quick run round with the scanner and to the check outs and home before the shop got too manic.

So, travel and stuff done, I have a brew and make us breakfast, while the guys finish off the little bedroom, now all over white and looking quite different. No shots yet, as the carpet needs doing, but it looks splendid with new curtains.

At midday there was the Old Firm Derby, which ended 3-3, and that was followed by an equally made Man Utd v Liverpool game that ended 2-2. Not high on quality finishing, but compelling.

And because of the train strike on Monday, there was an evening game, Spurs v Forest which produced four more goals, even if I was all footballed out by eight.

Phew.

Saturday 6th April 2024

An exciting, if worrying day ahead.

First up we were getting the decorators in to do up the spare bedroom in preparation for a new carpet laying in a couple of weeks, so one of us was going to have to be in all day.

Jools had done shopping the day before, meaning I go go up the cliffs first thing to look for orchids.

I was last there two weeks back and found only rosettes, and in the meantime hundreds in flower have been recorded in Dorset and on the IoW.

Its just a five minute drive to the car park, and a five minute hobble down the slope, but ten minutes to get back.

Anyway, while the port was busy down below, up on the cliffs, I had them to myself, but despite looking at the best and earliest sites, just rosettes found once again.

Darn it.

I seem to have done my knee again, so have to be careful. So with Storm Margaret due to rip through in the afternoon, best go home to batten down the hatches.

The painter arrived, dropped off by his boss, and he just worked through until four in the afternoon declining any offers of food or drink.

I had a short wait until the stressful part of the day, as at half twelve the Old Farm derby kicked off, Norwich v Ipswich, with Town just six games away from promotion and us clinging onto the final play off spot.

Norwich had not lost in 15 years, but this is a different Ipswich: dynamic and free-scoring, not the agricultural team of Irish Mick.

Anyway, in a turn up, Norwich won, 1-0, with a long range free kick going in. I was too nervous to cheer, but on balance of play thought we deserved it.

That meant a relaxing afternoon and evening listening and then watching the later games, and to make the day perfect, Jools went to collect a Chinese so no cooking for me.

Friday 5th April 2024

News comes from the factory that work is picking up rapidly, and already three people laid off at the beginning of the month have been taken back on, and there is a strong possibility that Jools and Donna could soon be working 5 days a week each again.

Each day is full on, with communication between them when they never meet is a problem. But as hard as the working days are, that is tempered by having the next day off to recharge, and this week it meant Friday off and so a three day weekend.

Jools went shopping before doing two tip runs, while I worked, this means one less thing to do on Saturday, of course.

It was another bright and warmer day, though with a stiff breeze, which is building towards unseasonal storms over the weekend.

I finish at two, after two meetings about audits, wrapping up and suddenly feeling very tired indeed. But no time to waste, as Sean and Ange were coming round, and I was cooking roast leg of lamb, vegetables and lots of roast potatoes.

100 minutes roast the lamb, half an hour to steam the vegetables, and an hour and half for the spuds, and using the stock i made last weekend to make a pint of proper gravy.

And there was wine.

Lots of wine.

A bottle of grande reserve and a bottle they brought, and so between mouthfuls of food and glasses of plonk, we talk and talk.

They left shortly before midnight, meaning we were dirty stop ups.