Wednesday 5th November 2025

Wednesday, and the biggest day of the kitchen replacement other than the first day when the old one was ripped out.

Today, Howdens would be coming to fit the stone worktops, having measured everything with lasers, and cutting the stone with water jet cutters, we only hoped they had got it all measured OK.

No gym first thing as I had gone the day before, but Jools went into town for her regular Chinese keep fit class, so I was left to man the fort, looking after cats and listening to the bangs and knocks coming from the kitchen.

At ten past ten, another van reversed down the drive, and two guys began to unload the worktops, then place them on the right frames before gluing them in glace.

Even through the closed door there was a strong smell of solvents, but work continued apace.

Crain fitted the new toilet/washroom door, and bit by bit the work surfaces were fitted.

By one, the work surfaces were in place, then the gas fitter arrived to connect and test the hob before that was pushed into place in the worktop.

We were told that the now installed sink and hob could not be used for 24 hours as the solvents needed to set, so we decided to go out for lunch one last time.

We ended up going to the Lydden Bell, a good place and just a ten minute drive down the Dour Valley.

The Horse Chestnuts down Whitfield Hill were a riot of golds and browns as autumn took hold, sadly the sun wasn't out to make the colours really pop, and with me driving I couldn't take shots.

One parking space at the pub, and we took a table near the back. Jools had chicken with some herbed sauce, and I had twice cooked lamb with crackling and both with season vegetables.

They even had a beer from Norfolk on draught: Woodforde's Once Bitten, of which I drank two pints.

Back home with Jools driving, my head spinning as I also finished up with an Irish coffee, the dull conditions meaning the trees colours popped even less.

I took shots anyway.

Back at Chez Jelltex the oven was being pushed back into place, the hob was tested and again with the heating on.

All good.

With one last coat of paint applied, Craig finished at half five, with the full moon already high in the sky, having cleared the layer of cloud. And all around the first fireworks of Bonfire Night fizzed and banged.

Nothing needed for supper, so we had a brew, then there was yet more football to fill the evening, with Norwich playing the only team below them in the league, Sheffield Wednesday.

A must win game, for both teams.

And Wednesday scored a goal within three minutes of the start, a screamer from Barry Bannon.

Norwich were awful, and could have been three down at half time, maybe should have been.

In the second Wednesday tired, and Norwich played better. Could hardly have been worse. And scored thanks to a fine team goal.

But no winner came for either team, even with City giving the ball away at every opportunity.

Tuesday 4th November 2025

When two events clash!

Just under a year ago, we arranged and booked to stay in Battle for their fireworks and bonfire night.

Two nights way, fried breakfasts, pyrotechnics and pyromania!

Then earlier last year, my old RAF trade asked for volunteers to take past in the Remembrance Day parage past the Cenotaph.

I volunteered.

So far, so good.

Its so rare we plan anything far in advance that we need to put it on the calendar.

You can see where this is going.......

So, at the end of October we filled in the dates for November, and sure enough both were taking place the 8th and 9th.

So, it was agreed that Jools will go to Battle on Friday evening, and I will stay home so I can get up to that London, and in the meantime I will cat sit Friday and Saturday.

So it goes. So it goes.

So, to Tuesday.

And I was up at half five, got dressed and Jools had a brew waiting, then off to the sports centre just after six, so I could be back in time for Jools to have the car at quarter to eight to go to her new fitness class.

I seem to be one of the new hard core folks, on the machines and weights before it was light outside.

I get on the bike, do forty minutes cycling round the Champagne region of France, whilst listening to podcasts rather than music.

Time flew.

I was done after forty minutes, so down the stairs and back out into the chill morning air, to drive back home arriving at quarter past seven.

There is something satisfying about leaving the sports centre having done your session as the lollygagging bleary-eyed late risers arrive.

And then the usual stuff.

Have another brew, then wait for Craig to arrive to beginning day 12 of the kitchen replacement. We can nearly see the end of it now!

I read some of the Map Men book, mess around online and generally make the morning vanish.

Jools comes back, so we have a pasty to eat, then with the kitchen out of bounds, we go into town for a coffee and cake at the new place near the Market Square.

There's always parking downtown now as there are very few actual shops, so past St Mary's where there is a fine knitted display of poppies, and across the road to the café.

I have an americano and a large slice of lemon tart, and we sit at the table in the window watching the world go by.

Back out, and with nothing else to do, back to the car to drive home via Reach Road along the cliffs, getting back at half two.

And then the struggle to stay awake on the sofa as I tried to read, but my eyes began to droop.

Craig worked to half five, all was now ready for the delivery and fitting of the worktops on Wednesday, and we could carry the microwave to the temporary counter to heat a pot of soup for our tea.

Dinner.

Supper.

And that was that.

An evening of European and domestic football, with one of them on the radio and the other on TV.

Norwich didn't lose, as they play Wednesday.

Deep Joy.

Liverpool beat Real and Ipswich drew with Watford. Both good games.

Monday 3rd November 2025

Welcome to the working week.

Without work.

It is Monday somewhere in the world, but not in Chez Jelltex, or at least until Craig turns up.

No gym for me, so I could lay in, and did so until twenty past six, when Jools left for a swim.

I had two hours to get up, make a brew and tidy up.

I'm not sure what I did all morning, but it took me all morning to do it.

I caught up on pod casts, videos and then read a little before going for a shower.

Once Jools came back we had another brew, then with the knowledge that the hob would not be working until Wednesday evening at the earliest, and nothing to cook in the oven, we went out for lunch.

I did some googleing, and found a nice place in Deal that did vegetable curries and bowls, because as we had lots of carbs over the weekend we though some more vegetables would be good.

An easy drive into Walmer then Deal, lots of parking now the school holidays are over, then cut through to the High Street and walk 50m to The Lounge.

We had never been here before, and the decor was interesting: an army of Ronald McDonlads landing on a beach was the largest piece in the front section (!), but towards the back there were prints of sea shells and crustaceans.

We took a table, but as we had studied the menu at home, knew what we were going to have, so ordered straight away and with drinks too.

Then waited.

And people watched.

Looked like someone from head office was in, she had set up a desk on one of the corner tables, then took members of staff out the back, possibly for a chat or interview or appraisal.

The food came, and was really tasty, not bad for a chain. I had a Thai curry with spinach and chickpeas, which was good. And balanced out by the portion of cheesy fries I ordered to go with it.

I did not eat all the rice!

And once we had eaten, walk back to the car and drive home, via Kingsdown as apparently some roadworks had been set up in Upper Walmer and the queue was nearly half a mile long.

Back home, and then to read for a while.

Craig finished at three: the paint wouldn't dry, so would have to wait for the morning, meaning the house returned to quiet and the cats came out asking for dinner.

Two hours, dears.

Nothing for supper, except Christmas spiced peanuts and a bottle of chocolate porter, and settle down for the evening's football: Sunderland v Everton, which was a good game, ending 1-1.

Sunday 2nd November 2025

Jools got up at five to test Scully, then inject her with insulin before feeding her and the other three cats.

Then went back to bed.

So she was sleeping deeply when my alarm went off, so I got up, got dressed and was off to the gym just before seven.

Arriving so early there was still a queue to get in at opening, but once I had parked and walked to the entrance, the line was gone, so I could go upstairs to the gym where I was only the third person in.

So I did my 40 minutes, though was hard as it was my second session of the day, but did OK, cycling up and down Hollywood Boulevard filmed at a time when there was no vehicles allowed.

I got a coffee when I was done, so sat and supped that, so it was twenty past nine when I got back home, to find Jools up and making brews.

She was going to go out for a walk, but the forecast was for heavy rain from nine, which arrived ten minutes early, and continued the rest of the morning into the afternoon.

By which time the sun was shining, and we had had our fruit-filled breakfast, and there was football to watch.

Task of the day was to burn in the twin ovens, putting them both on high for half an hour, then as it was ready for use, I cooked two pizzas we had bought the day before.

Thus becoming the first hot meal cooked in the new kitchen.

And so to the football.

It passes the time and means I think about anything other than the dreadful state of the world and where its going.

West Ham beat Newcastle in a game much better than it had any right to be, and that was followed by Citeh v Bournemouth, with the lad Haarland scoring two in a 3-1 win.

And so the weekend drew to a close, the near full moon shone bright and cold on our small piece of Fair Albion.

Apathy in NR1

Last week I wrote about the issues at Carrow Road and the worries I have in relation to how the club is run.

Since then, Norwich played at the weekend and lost to Hull, despite being 0-0 at half time and dominating the first half. The same old story of the team coming out in the second, conceding early and never look like scoring themselves, before a second was rolled in near the end.

Norwich have now lost all seven home games this season. Six in the league and one in the League Cup, and so to be the first club in 35 years to have a home record in the second tier that reads: LLLLLL.

So far, so bad.

Many were expecting the manager, Liam Manning to be fired soon after, but from the club there was silence.

The club is drifting, there appears to be a defective management structure at the club, with no CEO to decide on direction and performance indicators. Fpr me as a management system auditor, or former one, this lack of structure and poor decision making is very worrying. As the same defective decision making process made by the same people will pass judgement on Manning and any possible successor.

If they got the appointment of Johannes Hoff Thorup wrong. I mean they sacked him after ten months. And apparently the appointment of Liam Manning hasn't brought the improvments expected, unless the club is using some performance indicator far removed from the league position (next to bottom) or points won (8) in thirteen games.

I can remember games at Carrow Road with barely ten thousand fans in attendance, going to away games where barely one full coach run by Club Canary arrived. A remarkable change at the club's centenary in 2002 meant that fas began to return, or came for the first time, and the ground began to fill.

Promotions in 2004, 2010, 2015 and 2019 only increased demand. Even relagation to League 1 didn't deminish demand for tickets, as you would have thought.

In 2019, more seats were fitted where there was room, not with the best views, but the club was doing something.

But what we see now are empty seats. Empty seats in all stands, and in parts of the City Stand, areas where twenty or thirty seats in a group were unfilled as on Saturday.

The now paused plan to move the away fans alienated many fans, not just those 3,000 season ticket holders who were affected, but by all fans, as they could be next.

Trust in the club and management took Delia and Michael the best part of two decades to build, and that has been lost in a matter of weeks by Zoe Webber and Ben Knapper​ who apparently report to no one except Mark Attanasio, the majority shareholder who visited the city for three days last week.

With so many empty seats, and some season ticket holders now saying they're not going to renew next season, the club is caught in a downward spiral, with no clear way out of it. Fans now have been treated poorly for several years, bad for compounded with apathy is a toxic mix for the club.

One way out would be to have a winning team. Nothing brings a club, a team and fans togoether like winning lots of football matched. But who can see that happening?

We wait the club's next move, and how "sensible" or considered it is.

Saturday 1st November 2025

It was twenty four hours since we collected the cats. And for the first few hours, at least until we fed them, they all just sat and watched us, and meowed.

A lot.

Even the usually quiet Poppy.

The bed was covered with cats overnight, and their little faces were waiting when we woke up, so we could feed them.

In their eleven day absence, a ginger and white cat has moved in, and one night I caught it in our kitchen. So, I chase it, or scare it when I saw it. Now the three cats are back, marking their territory it should be seen less.

Anyway.

Saturday morning and after a cuppa, we were in the car and to the gym for some phys. Mainly because weekends are quiet, especially at seven in the morning.

So I cycle round the Grand Canyon for forty minutes, then we drive to Tesco to refuel the car and get some supplies. Including pizzas as we aim to road test the new oven.

Once home and we have breakfast, I go upstairs to finish The Rose Field, and Jools vacuums the kitchen and utility room.

Jools wants the book once I'm done with it, and has been reading the start when I have been watching football.

Mulder joins me to help me read, climbing on the back of the office chair then trying to use me as a ladder to reach my lap.

This would not be a problem if he curled up and slept, but its a place he can demand maximum attention, and block my view of the book. So I have to move my head this way and that to stop him from climbing past my shoulder.

He does give up and curls up on the floor.

I finished the book at half eleven, sad that the book and series is over, but glad I can get up and do other stuff.

Which is ironic as the next six hours I will spend either watching or listening to football.

Norwich on first on the telly. Home against Hull, and play pretty well in the first half.

Second is the opposite. Hull score within three minutes and Norwich have no idea how to score. Hull's late second was well deserved, and condemns City to their 6th (sixth) straight home defeat from the start of the season, the first time has happened at the second level in 35 years.

I am only surprised how little I am bothered by it, as the club doesn't seem to be either.

Then on the sofa with Scully to listen to radio 5 and watch the scores coming on on Final Score. A perfect two hours as far as I'm concerned.

And in stunning news, we had been invited out for the evening, to a couples' place who I met through Bridge.

They live along a narrow lane in Whitfield, but sadly are soon moving to Oxfordshire.

Ellie cooked salmon pasta bake and a fine roulade for dessert.

We talk before and during the meal, before playing cards for the last hour or so.

Finally, Peter shows us his coin collection and the stories behind half crowns minted around the country as Charles I fought the Civil War.

By then it was half nine and time to go home. Jools drove us back as I had made at least three glasses of wine vanish.

Friday 31st October 2025

All Hallows Eve.

Again.

No gym for us today, though Jools did go to Yoga. I slept through till twenty past six, when she took the bins up to the road before driving into town.

I get up and get dressed. There is still no coffee for me, so I make a tea and check on the world.

Its still a mess.

This is day 10 of the kitchen replacement, and its all starting to come together.

Friday saw the electricians come round to sort the oven out and do all the required checks and issue a certificate.

A worry has been the wire from the fuze box wouldn't take the current, but some testing showed it would. Though wouldn't have taken an induction hob and the oven.

So we are having a gas hob and electric oven. The hob can't be fitted and connected until the stone worktops are fitted, same with the sink, so that's Wednesday.

Until then, we're in limbo.

Jools comes back and so we have breakfast, before I have to go and collect the cats.

The sunshine of early morning gave way to clouds, clouds that produced rain hard enough to have to use the wipers.

At the cattery, their dogs and the dogs in lodging kennels were barking loudly, excited that the car that arrived would take them home.

Instead I had come for Mulder, Cleo and Poppy.

I met the owner, and we began to task of getting them in their baskets. Only trouble was Poppy would sliced my chest as I went to hold her.

I put the baskets in the car, then back to the A2 to Barham, then back on the coastbound side to home, where once released they meow.

And meow.

And meow.

They had been fed, and we have to be careful around Scully. So, the cats come in, go out, come in, go out. Meow at the hedge, the birds, us.

I went to collect Jools from the library where she had been at her art group/gossip gang, and with the rain lashing down suggested we go into town for lunch, as I was very hungry.

I had a plan to go to the Elephant and Hind on the Market Square, as the menu sounded good.

We parked behind Castle Street and rushed through the squall past Chaplins to the bar, and inside.

We both ordered burgers, which came quick, and both were excellent.

The bar itself was quiet, but the barmaid was good and was attentive.

I had a triple smash patty burger, which was large. So large I could not finish it all, though we did have a side of onion rings too.

Outside, the rain had eased, so we walked back to the car and drove back up Jubilee Way and to home.

They all got fed at lunchtime, and they then went to their favourite sleeping places, and silence and peace settled on the house.

The electricians left, and Craig put in the small fridge and did last minute jobs before leaving us at three.

The house was cold. So we closed all the windows and door, put the heating on and I went back to the world of Lyra Silvertongue.

We were still too full to need supper. So I had a beer and some snacks, and that was that, until the football began and Hollywood FC, Wrexham, played Coventry and won, 3-2. Thus inflicting Coventry's first defeat of the season.

Who saw that coming?