Walking not football

Ellie was dropped off and the day began in the usual way. After seeing her to the classroom door, we came home. In my case, for breakfast, in Diane's to get ready for Pilates. We were short of players today, so there was no football. 

Diane took the car and headed for Angmering. I walked to the bus stop and caught the bus into Bognor Regis. My plan was to walk eastwards to the Lobster Pot and then double back as far as West Park before returning to catch the bus home. It didn't quite work out. Huge pipes have been installed at the mouth of Aldingbourne Rife (probably as part of the flood alleviation measures that were put in place over the last month or two). The route of the promenade was diverted through a park and along the side streets. I couldn't be bothered with that so performed a smart about turn and headed west.

The westward leg of the walk was into the wind. This made it a little chilly but upped the heart rate. As I approached the pier I remembered that I had read an article last week that explained the original edifice had been 1000 feet long. That's three times the length of the remaining structure. Like so many piers it has been plagued by winter storms, fires, lack of maintenance, and lack of investment. At least they seem to be renewing parts of the deck at the moment.

I carried on along the promenade and then crossed the road into Marine Gardens which took me all of the way to West Park, where I started my return journey.

I timed it to perfection. As I arrived back on Bognor High Street, a bus was waiting. I hopped on, and 10 minutes later I was home. 

Diane had stopped for tea and a chat after Pilates. It was quite a while before she arrived home. We had a quiet afternoon in the Lounge with our Kindles until it was time to collect Ellie from her after-school dance class. She came back with us for some dinner and has just been collected by Zoe (who managed to get away at a sensible time, today).

Plans can Go Awry

Ellie was dropped off soon after 07:00. She was her usual sparkly self and after breakfast and she was washed and dressed, she returned to the kitchen to do some "TT Rockstars". This is a game on the iPad (other tablets and computers are available) that tests the players on their times tables. It is terrific and they score points based on their aptitude. These allow them to compete against other players. With her brain now warmed up, she was ready for school.

I had an email overnight from Lulu (the publisher of my journals). My plan regarding the preparation of some covers for, as-yet, unwritten journals, seems to be flawed. It seems that whilst they will work, it will not be possible to edit them. This meant a frantic spell of downloading the source images for all the existing journals and then the creation of the specific back-matter for the new ones. With that complete, hopefully, the journals will not require any further editing of their cover material.

The rest of the day has been spent working on the 1989 section of the 1980s offering. Gosh, I had forgotten what. a busy year that had been. There is a further 35-40 pages to edit and I will probably re-visit one section that could benefit from more photos.

We collected Ellie from school. She had enjoyed the day and was still eager to work. She did more "TT Rockstars", some reading with Nana, some experiments to do with what floats and what sinks (part of the Titanic project), and started looking for a suitable map on which she could plot the route of the doomed ship. AT that point, Zoe arrived to collect her.

Now that is better

It was incredibly misty when I got up. I double-checked that I was wearing my glasses but had to conclude it was the weather, not my eyesight. I popped around the corner to walk Ellie to school and then came home for breakfast. Zoe hoped to hear about her new posting this morning, but that has been postponed until Thursday lunchtime, so we are waiting for the white smoke.

After a few domestic chores, Diane settled down to her sewing. I returned to the journals. With the proposed changes to the "Lulu" interface and particularly the cover creation tools, I created some dummy books with the correct covers. These can then be revised with the proper content when it is ready, without changing the covers.

Talking of the journals, I returned to the full edit of the 1980s. This has taken me most of the day but is not finished. Though I have got as far as 1989, I still have 60 pages to go.

The doorbell rang. It was the postman and clutched in his hand was the printed version of the 2023 journal. I grabbed the post and quickly unboxed the journal. I was delighted with the way it turned out. I am particularly pleased with the section dealing with our cruise and the way that the photos enhance the text. I just hope that the last few journals are as successful.

 

Again

When we got home last night, a package was waiting for us. It was the finished journal for the 1970s. I had a quick flick through and saw some improvements that could be made to the layout. I spent the morning going back through the pages and optimising the use of space (eliminating any large blank areas), adding some more photos, and adding some more text from my old diaries. Job done, I have now sent this off for printing.

I also created an album of photos from yesterday's Birthday Lunch for Trevor and shared them with the people who may be interested. 

While Diane spent the afternoon sewing in her study, I made the most of the sunshine and sat in the Orangery, reading. Another book bit the metaphorical dust. A new one has been selected, but not yet started.

Candles

The day started with my usual call with the Empson cousins. Everyone seemed well and on good form. The main event for the day, however, was a trip to Jane and Trevor's.

Today was Trevor's birthday and Jane had arranged for us to come for lunch along with John and Sophies, and Mark and Lel. We had a strange trip up to Wokingham, with the SatNav trying to reroute us time and again, but always showing that the original route had a similar ETA. This made the purpose of the alternate route seem questionable. I stuck with route one.

We were greeted with some very welcome coffee and a chance to chat. Mark and the fabled Lel were already there, and it was nice to meet her, finally. 

John and Sophie turned up soon after us. It was the first time we had seen them for ages, and it was nice to have time for a chat.

As usual, Jane laid on a wonderful feast and a great deal of laughter seemed to punctuate the meal (not a reflection on Jane's cooking, I would add). 

After lunch, Trevor and I went for a walk and on our return we all gathered in the living room for some cake and some more chat.

It is Lel's birthday this coming week, so we also wished her a Happy Birthday and she opened some cards and presents.

We left just before 18:00 and had a wonderful run home. We were back by 19:30 and settled down for a quiet evening.

Easing

I slept well and I realised whilst making my coffee that my shoulder had eased a bit overnight. It was still uncomfortable, but not as bad as yesterday. I wandered around the corner to Zoe's and provided the traditional security detail as she walked to school with Ellie.

Back home there was some admin to clear and then I returned to the 1980s journal. Today saw the editing of notes I had written when away in Poughkeepsie, and commentary from a holiday we had in Devon. I am trying to add some illustrative photos, taken at the time, to enhance the text. This, however, is proving time-consuming.

Diane made use of the quiet day by returning to her sewing room and getting on with her project. I spent the afternoon in the warmth of the Orangery, reading my latest book.

There's nothing else to report.

Burdening the Shoulder

A gentle start to the day. Overnight rain had dried and the temperature was pleasant as I walked around to Zoe's to join the school walk. Zoe's back trouble seems to have eased thank goodness and Ellie was busy doing maths challenges on the iMac before we left for school.

I have been struggling with some discomfort in my shoulder/collar. This started a couple of days ago and I assume I had turned awkwardly in bed. Today it is becoming more acute and looking in the mirror I currently have one shoulder higher than the other. I hope it eases soon as it can be quite limiting.

I may have mentioned that I recently discovered that you can create mail templates in Gmail. Diane regularly has to send her blood test results to the hospital along with answers to several questions. This seemed like a prime candidate for one of these templates. I grabbed her MacBook and created a "draft" with all the basic information. I then saved it as a template. It seems to work perfectly as you call up the draft and overtype the relevant numbers and answers to send.

We had the usual shopping interlude today.

Most of the afternoon was spent finishing my latest book and starting a new one. Though there are many more books in the series that I have been reading, I need a change of pace and style before going back for more. I downloaded several more books from Kindle Unlimited to have some stacked up.

Toys from Pram

Ellie's walk to school included Grandpa acting as a Sherpa and carrying her model of the Titanic.  She had done an excellent job on it, with guidance from Nana. I look forward to hearing the feedback at some point.

Back home Diane and I got our gear together and headed for Angmering. Diane had Pilates and I was going on to football. She has been taking some new tablets to reduce the discomfort from her knee. She has taken them for a couple of weeks and now feels they are helping, so Pilates was a good test.

We had a 5-a-side game with teams picked by Jack. The sides seemed even and in the end, they proved to be, but not without some drama. I scored the first 2 goals for the yellow team. We then got another. Jack, in orange, was getting very cross and barking his orders at his team (without following them himself). We scored again. Jack threw his toys out of the metaphorical pram, stormed off in disgust, and went home. The orange team immediately scored! At halftime, we tried to rebalance the teams (as it was now 5-v-4). Yellows became the team of 4 having swapped a player to the oranges. We scored again (assist from me). Then the oranges started to claw things back until orange Fred sprained his ankle and had to leave the pitch. The game finished 4-v-4 and the final score was 5-5. There are times when it's a bit like Kindergarten.

I collected Diane from Pilates and we headed home. We had a couple of hours in the orange, making the most of the sunshine. As the sun dropped, we headed for our respective studies to get on with our current projects.

Unsinkable

It was very wet overnight so I had to wear waterproofs when I went to join the trek to school with Ellie and Zoe. Ellie was full of the joys of Spring (a couple of months early). She had a class outing today. They would be going to Southampton to see the Titanic Museum as part of their theme for the term "Unsinkable".

Back home, I grabbed some breakfast, read the news, and then headed for the study. Diane, similarly, headed for her study so that she could get on with her sewing project.

I managed to finish the editing of the 1970s Journal. It was quite sparse in places, but I need contemporaneous notes or photos to retrofit entries. I sent it off for printing and then waded into the 1980s. So far, I have managed to get as far as 1985, covering Pal and Michelle's wedding, Jane and Trevor's wedding, our move to Broom, a business trip to Los Angeles, and joining IBM. There's a long way to go.

Zoe has problems with her back, so Diane and I went to collect Ellie from school. She had clearly enjoyed the day and was full of snippets from the trip. I did ask if she knew the names of all the survivors, yet. She treated the question with the contempt it deserved uttering a withering "Grandpa!".

Going back, going way back

The storm, ISHA, that caused so much disruption across the country had no impact on us. We heard the wind howling around the chimney and the rain beating against the back of the house but that was the only impact here. I got up soon after 07:00 and made a coffee. At the allotted time I went around to Zoe's so that I could walk to school with her and Ellie,

Back home with breakfast under our belts, Diane returned to her sewing and I buried myself in the study. The balance for the planned River Cruise had to be paid, and the accounts were updated. After that, I returned to the 1970 journal. I started back at the beginning so that I could do the indexing. There is still a way to go, but progress was good.

After lunch, Diane went to the hairdresser and I settled down in the Orangery with my book. It was wonderfully warm in the direct sunshine and I got a couple of hours reading under my belt. As Diane was out, I went along with Zoe to collect Ellie from school. 

Zoe was having problems printing Ellie's homework. They came to us and I managed to get everything printed. Once home, however, Ellie had a meltdown while doing the homework. Grandpa was summoned. After 10 minutes of talking to her quietly and giving her some long silences, she calmed down and came to give me a hug. All was back on an even keel, and I returned home. Since getting home Zoe has sent us a photo of the completed homework. Crisis averted.

Published

I had a gentle start to the day. Some coffee and toast while reading the news followed by changing for football.

Again I was glad that I left early. The car park was filling rapidly when I arrived. We had 11 players today, so we played 5-v-6. I played on the Orange team of 5. It is always hard work when you are outnumbered, and by halftime, we were 3-1 down and I was tiring.  I had been playing in defence, but ranging forward when I got the chance. In the second half, I focussed on the defence. This seemed to work as we kept a clean sheet while starting to score at the far end. The final score was 6-3 to us. It is clear that I have a long way to go before I am back at my fitness levels of last year.

Back home, Diane was concentrating on her latest sewing project. I returned to the 2023 journal and finally sent it off for printing. I noticed that the quick template "lkulu.com" provided for the book covers is being withdrawn at the end of the month. This troubles me because when I publish this 2024 journal, I will want to use the same cover template as I have for all the previous years.

The rest of the afternoon was spent with my book until it was time for dinner. I cooked steak for dinner tonight and while Diane's one was nice, mine was chewy and full of gristle.

Warmer but Colder

It was cold overnight. It may not be colder than yesterday or the day before but there was a hard frost this morning, unlike the previous crisp, clear mornings.

After the cousins' call, I settled down with the 2023 journal. I have now managed to complete the editing process. I may have one more quick pass, but suspect that it is ready for submission to "lulu.com" and a print run.

Di spent much of the day in her study working on her latest sewing project. She also spent a great deal of time wading through Amazon selecting a birthday present for her nephew.

I thought that I'd spend an hour in the Orangery with my book. The problem was that it was a lot warmer today (6c) but not as sunny. High clouds filtered the sun. Perversely, this meant that it wasn't as warm in the Orangery as there was little direct, unfiltered sunlight. In the end, I sat in the lounge for an hour, before returning to the computer and the 2023 edit.

Change of Plan

It would be trite to say we had a change of plan. That implies we had a plan to start with. Ellie was unwell last night. and Zoe decided that she should stay away from school and see the doctor. So it was that just before 09:00,  Zoe arrived with Ellie in tow. Ellie would spend the day with us.

Ellie seemed fine, but it is better to be safe than sorry. An appointment with the doctor was arranged for early afternoon. During the morning we did some maths (mainly times tables) and some reading. I have mentioned before that Ellie is making a model of the Titanic for a school project. Much of the balance of the day was spent with Nana painting, cutting, and glueing the model. By this evening, it was almost finished.

I managed to get the first full pass of the 2023 journal complete and also had a chance to review and rework the index. I must now write the notes for the back cover and write a Prologue. I should be able to complete that over the weekend.

After a clean bill of health from the doctor, Ellie has gone off to Pete's for the weekend.

Key to Success

Ellie was dropped off soon after 07:00. Darren had had to wake her and she was still half asleep when she came into us. She soon perked up and we supervised while she had breakfast and prepared for school.

Back home, after breakfast, I decided to make another attempt to solve the problem with Diane's iPad keyboard. I did not believe that there was a problem with the Logitech Slim Folio, but how could I get it to pair with the iPad? Most of the suggestions online offered the same advice. I had tried that multiple times, and each time it failed. I finally found a suggestion that was different from the rest. I tried that and voila we now have a fully functioning keyboard again.

We had the usual shopping excitement with the Ocado delivery and the Sainsbury's top-up. The accounts were brought up to date, and the "must-do" list was finished.

It was gloriously warm in the Orangery. It may have been hovering around 0C outside, but the sun had warmed the inside nicely. We sat and read our books until it was time to collect Ellie. Once home, I sat with her while she did some reading and then Nana helped her with her model of the Titanic while I prepared dinner.

We were just finishing dinner when Zoe arrived to collect Ellie. She has a later start and a shorter day tomorrow, so she will be able to join the walk to school in the morning.

Chatterbox

Ellie had stayed with us overnight. She was awake at 06:30 but didn't disturb us until she heard me in the bathroom. We had the usual pre-school schedule with the addition of preparing her change of clothes for dance class, after school. We dropped her off and returned home.

Diane has been struggling with her knee and didn't feel up to Pilates this week. I left her in the warm, at home, and set off for football. The temperature was hovering around 0C, so it was going to be chilly! Like last week, we played without any goalkeepers, again we were only allowed to score from within the goal area. I rather like this format. The problem we had was that Jack (who is the arbiter of the rules) dynamically changed the rules during the game. He claimed, of course, that he didn't, but it was really quite blatant. Anyway, I managed to score the opening goal and my team ended up with a 7-4 win.

Back home, Diane was working on a sewing pattern and sat down to edit some more of the 2023 journal. I have now completed this through to Diane's birthday in late November. I also managed to get some reading time before collecting Ellie from the dance class. Once we were home I started on dinner. We needed to be finished and clear so that Zoe could collect Ellie and we could go out for the evening.

We drove into town and parked near the Chichester Festival Theatre. Kim had got us tickets to see "Gyles Brandreth Can't Stop Talking".

We had deliberately arrived early and stood in the foyer with a drink while watching the thrum and enjoying the buzz of the place as it filled up. Gyles Brandreth was there in the foyer signing copies of his books and chatting with the customers.

Time ticked by and the auditorium was opened. We took our seats on a side balcony. Our tickets warned of possible restrictions to our view, but in reality, there was no problem.

Gyles took the stage and started to regale us with stories from his childhood, from his forthcoming TV appearances, from his recent TV appearances, from his time in politics as an MP, from his friendships with the Royal Family, and from the theatre. He mercilessly name-dropped throughout.

It was a wonderful evening there was hardly a spare seat in the house and the audience was completely entranced and amused. He opened up the floor for some random questions and went back into full flow - whatever the subject.

We left the theatre at about 22:00 and were home by twenty-past.

Not much

There is not a great deal to report, today. I performed my statutory escort duties, taking Ellie from home to school, with Zoe and returning home for breakfast. The first task after that was to clean the cat vomit from under Ellie's bed. (We had discovered it yesterday. It was clearly old, so it scraped up easily. I soaked it in the carpet cleaner to return to it today). The carpet cleaner powered up and soon had everything clean. The bed was replaced and order was restored.

The rest of the morning was spent editing the 2023 journal. Progress was steady and I'm pleased with the results. Unexpectedly, Kim dropped in. She was on her way back from the gym. She stayed with us for an hour or so and it was nice to catch up and chat. She is looking very well. We hear Jon is very busy at work and getting plenty of overtime. Kim left soon after 13:00.

After lunch, we went and sat in the Orangery. It was the warmest it has been so far this year. We read our Kindles until it was time to collect Ellie. Diane went along to meet with Zoe and get Ellie from school. I stayed put, submitted the week's shopping order, and then returned to editing the journal. I have now managed to complete it through to mid-October, so should finish in a couple of days.

We are expecting Zoe to drop Ellie off soon. She will be staying with us overnight, tonight.

Projects

Ellie was dropped off soon after 07:00. We followed the time-honoured pre-school agenda - breakfast, ablutions, school uniform, and then at the appointed time I walked Ellie to school.

After breakfast, I got on with some chores before retiring to my Study. The editing process for 2023 was picked up where I left it yesterday. May and June were completed before I broke for lunch. Diane, meanwhile was sequestered in her Study, doing further work on the pattern from yesterday.

After lunch, I returned to the editing and completed July and August. I then settled down with my book, in the warmth of the sun-kissed Orangery. I timed it to perfection, turning the last page of the book just as it was time to collect Ellie.

Ellie is learning about the Titanic this term. As a project activity, she is going to make a model of the fated ship. Once she had changed out of her school clothes, she and Diane got stuck into cutting out and painting parts for a model of the sinking ship. It occurred to me that a bowl full of ice might be more appropriate, but that was voted down. They made some good progress before a stop for dinner.

Zoe has just dropped in and collected Ellie.

Boots

I felt that my cough (which won't go away) was sufficiently under control for a football game. My name was put on the list on Thursday. Remembering how busy the Arena can get, I left at 09:00 and whizzed across to Ford. It was a good job I had allowed plenty of time because I took the last parking spot. Never mind, this was my first Sunday game for a long time, and I was looking forward to getting my boots on.

Sometimes, it's the anticipation that kills you. Despite my eagerness to play, I was, at best, mediocre. I just could not click into gear. I defended well and stopped a lot of attacks. I also played some telling passes to my attackers, resulting in goals, but I never quite got my engine running. The game ended up honours even at 10-10, and I went home for a cup of tea and a shower.

Back home, Diane was working on a dress pattern. Once showered, I kept her company by working in the family room on the MacBook. I managed to complete the edit for May and June of 2023. By this point, the sun was streaming through the Orangery so we grabbed our Kindles and sat in the warmth of the weak winter sun reading until the sun dropped below the houses and the temperature dropped with it.

Reset

My day started with the cousins' call. I had come down quietly to install Zoom on the new MacBook so that I could take the call in the kitchen if Diane wanted a lie-in. As it happens, she didn't so I used the iMac as usual.

Diane pointed out that her iPad had been unable to complete the latest software update. It was low on space. I had recently gone through and deleted a lot of junk but needed to clear more additional space. I went through again looking for chunks of storage that could be cleared. Try as I may, I could not clear sufficient space for the update. Plan B was called into action. I did a factory reset on the iPad and rebuilt it from scratch. Further trimming was performed on locally-resident photos and in the end, we had a nice clean build with plenty of space. The update was performed and everything seemed to be hunky-dory.

Oh no, it wasn't! The Logitech keyboard would not pair with the iPad. I read all the advice online, re-read the manual and tried everything I could think of. Nada. The keyboard would not work. At this point, in a fit of pique, I resorted to Plan C. I paired my small, foldable keyboard (the one I used for blogging while we were on the cruise) with the iPad. This worked fine, so for now, we have a working solution. I will have to return to this in the coming days.

We both managed to do some reading this afternoon. I then returned to the new MacBook and edited some more of the 2023 journal.

Two Loos

Ellie was awake at 6:30 and checked that she could play quietly in her room. Of course she could and we could have another 30 minutes in bed. The morning kicked into gear and before we knew it, it was time to take Ellie to school.

Back home we topped up our caffeine levels and had some breakfast. Normally, being Friday, Diane would go to the Cardiac Rehab session. Her knee has been giving her trouble and she has been prescribed a new tablet (as she can't take Ibuprofen) to try and ease the discomfort. The dose increases from now, but so far has not made any appreciable difference. Cardiac Rehab would have to wait, but she went along to the Community Centre to explain to the nurse why she would not be attending.

After I had completed some domestic chores, I settled down to answer some questions that had come in from Brian Kennedy and Mike Nastys. This reminded me that I had not yet booked the flights for our long weekend with Michael in June. It didn't take too long, but we now have flights booked to and from Toulouse. It should be fun.

Diane suggested we look for a cottage or somewhere where we can stay as a family to make sure Ellie gets a proper holiday. There were threats of Zoe taking her abroad, but there has been no movement on getting passports sorted out. I spent a couple of hours looking at rentals on the Isle of Wight and along the Dorset coast. There are several candidates but we will have to discuss them with the wider family.

I collected Ellie from school. She was very proud that she had been awarded the certificate "Star of the Week" and also received the headmistress's award. I laminated the certificate as soon as we got home. She wasn't with us for too long. Pete came to collect her for the weekend.

Tradition

Ellie only disturbed once I was up and dressed. The normal protocols were completed and we walked her to school. Miss Yardley (her teacher) came to us to say that a place had become available in her Wednesday dance class - and Ellie had first refusal. We confirmed, immediately.

Back home, we had the traditional Thursday morning: breakfast, Ocado delivery, and a trip to Sainsbury's. Back home I had a chat with Trevor, who was trying to decide on the best advice for an elderly client, regarding a laptop. After some discussion, the idea of a Chromebook was floated. I then did some research to find some inexpensive candidates that should fit the requirements.

Early afternoon was spent in the sunshine, in the Orangery, and then I returned to my editing of the 2023 journal. I've now completed the first 4 months. 

We collected Ellie from school and I found myself roped into the continued build of a Lego coffee and cake shop. This was fun and occupied an hour or so before I started preparing dinner.

Ellie is in the bath at the moment. She is staying with us again tonight.

Minus

It was cold again overnight, and was only -2C when we got up. Ellie had slept through and didn't stir until we were up and about. We got her ready for school and dropped her off, as usual.

We both had planned exercise this morning. Diane was going to Pilates for the first session this "term" and I was due to play football for the first time in a month. I cleared the frost from the car and we set off for Angmering and Worthing. It was surprising how quiet the traffic was. I didn't have to stop at any traffic lights or roundabouts the whole way. I dropped Di off in Angmering and then continued on to Worthing.

It was clear that they had more snow than we did. The football pitch was still half-covered with icy snow. We played an interesting variation of the rules, today. We had no goalkeepers, we could only score from within the goal area, and we could take as many touches as we liked. It did mean that we would all be far more active and that should keep us warm in the frosty weather. It worked well and turned into a very close game. I scored the opening goal and provided assists for three more. I think the final score was 7-5 to us.

Back home I enjoyed a long hot shower before we had some lunch and then settled in the Orangery with our books. As long as the sun was on the Orangery, it was quite delightful but as soon as the sun dropped behind the houses the temperature dropped very quickly. 

I collected Ellie from school and we had a chatty couple of hours before dinner. She will be staying with us again tonight.

Chilly

 It was very chilly overnight. Soon after 05:00, Ellie wandered into our room and asked for a time check. How long until she out play in her room. I explained that there was well over an hour to go and that she should return to bed, which she did. At 06;30 she announced that the clock had turned yellow and she could now play. I agreed but impressed on her that it should be quiet play.

We got up at the usual time and went through the usual morning protocol. The only variation was that Lorraine (who had an early meeting at the Hospital) dropped Maddie off. So that we could walk her to school with Ellie.

After the school run and some breakfast we got on with the day. Diane fired up the washing machine for some laundry, and I settled down in the study with the journal edit for last year. I have returned to it several times throughout the day and have now got as far as Mid-April.

After lunch we had some quiet time with our Kindles before I went off to collect Ellie from school. Goodness, it was chilly and it was nice to get back int warm.

Snow!

It was a chilly start to the day. Ellie was dropped off after 7:00 but we soon realised she had left her school shoes behind. I wandered around to Zoe's with a degree of trepidation. Would I be able to find the errant footwear? As it happens, and quite surprisingly, the answer was yes. They were right in the middle of the lounge floor... I'm not sure how they could have been forgotten!

After the school run, we came back for a quiet breakfast. Di had a call scheduled with her friend, Marilyn at 10:00. I went and hid in the study and updated the accounts before returning to the editing of the 2023 Journal. It took a couple of hours, but I have now completed the journal through to the end of February.

At lunchtime, it started to snow. It wasn't heavy, but it was enough to cover the Orangery roof and make the house feel quite dark. The flakes continued for most of the afternoon but they were not settling. I settled down with my Kindle before starting to cook a chicken for dinner.

Ellie was very excited about the snow when I collected her from school. She has been reading her school book to Nana this evening and is now having a bath and hair wash while I write this.

Editing

I had a very lazy start to the day and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast while reading the news aggregators. Once I finally stirred into action I got some household chores out of the way before retiring to the study and returning to the edit of last year's journal. I went back over the entries I had already done, refining them some more and then continued with the entries through to the end of January.

After lunch, Diane popped around to Zoe's. Zoe has a busy week coming up and we offered to look after Ellie all week. I think this way she gets the least disruption, and was pleased to hear that Ellie had agreed to it. 

After an hour or so with my book, I got on with dinner (roast pork), while Diane had a call with Jan Mabbott.

This and that

Not a huge amount to report, today. I had my usual cousins' call first thing. The main topic of conversation was the Post Office Horizon scandal, which has been featured in a TV drama this week. Clearly, all who have seen it are seething with anger at the injustice perpetrated by the liars at the top of the organisation trying to cover it all up. Thank goodness this was another public sector bid that IBM failed to win. I just feel sorry for the IT Staff who blew the whistle and said that the project was not ready.

Much of the day was spent with the final tidying away of the Xmas decorations into their storage boxes and then squirrelling them away in the garage and loft. It is all done, now.

Had a couple of hours with my book this afternoon. I finished one, and have started on another.

Straight

I performed my escort duties, going around to Zoe's and walking with her and Ellie to school. There was a marked chill in the air compared with the last few days. At least it was dry.

Back home, fed and caffeinated I retrieved the last boxes from the garage and started removing the Christmas decorations. This started with the outside lights which were carefully spooled onto wiring frames and prepared for storage. The Christmas tree was stripped of all its baubles and then the lights were spooled for storage. The tree was dismantled and the three parts were wrestled into the relevant storage box or polythene bags. A pile of nearly dead batteries had formed and were put to one side for recycling. Meanwhile, Diane was working through all of the baubles and ornaments and stowing them in their boxes.

This had taken several hours. The house was straight, but the Orangery was filled with boxes of decorations. They will have to wait until tomorrow when Di has finished sorting through before I stow them in the garage.

Had a quiet hour with my Kindle before walking to school to collect Ellie. Di would have come, but Denise had phoned and they were still in full swing! Ellie came home and got on with some Maths until Pete came to collect her for the weekend.

Settling Influence

Ellie sleeping here last night was clearly a settling influence on Jasper. Other than a couple of plaintiff cries, he didn't disturb us. Ellie woke soon after 06:30 but remained in her room until 07:00, then the day kicked into gear. Having dropped Ellie at school we returned home for breakfast and prepared for the shopping. 

Ocado arrived at the start of their timeslot and soon after we were heading for Sainsbury's for the top-up. The rest of the morning was spent on admin. The early afternoon saw the Kindle flashing from page to page as I read my latest book. Outside, the rain was thrashing down, so I told Diane to stay put when the school pickup time approached. We may only be 5 minutes walk from the school but Ellie and I were completely soaked by the time we arrived home.

Once she had dried off and changed, she did some maths and some reading with Diane while I prepared dinner. She has just gone home with Zoe.

Pottering

It has been a day devoted to pottering about. Nothing strenuous after the interrupted night we had, courtesy of Jasper. At 02:00 this morning he waltzed into our bedroom and vomited all over the floor. So it was that in the early hours, we were scraping up his mess and spraying the carpet.  We tried to settle. He didn't. He went into full choral mode and wouldn't shut up until Diane went and opened his breakfast bowl. Jasper is very unpopular at present.

During the morning I managed to retrieve the storage boxes from the garage. I then started to remove some of the decorations. Many will have to wait for tomorrow, but we've made a start.

We chatted with Jane and Trevor. We were considering our next cruise. We narrowed it down to the Canaries and three particular sailings. Trevor then chatted with our Agent and with her help we managed to get the sort of suite we prefer and isolated one sailing. After a few calls, a deposit was paid and we are all set for September 2025.

Ellie is staying with us tonight. She is reading with Nana as I write this and will soon be left to sleep.

Back to School

 For Ellie, it was "back to school". She seemed a bit withdrawn when I went around to walk her to school, but I'm sure she would have picked up as soon as class began.

Much of the morning was spent looking through the cruise shortlist we had created last year. I was able to update it with the latest prices and offers and took the opportunity to review some of the YouTube reviews. There is a big disparity in the prices for the cruises on the list. We sat and chatted about the options and concluded that some of the prices were silly and that we could do two cruises for the price of the more extreme sailings.

As you would expect I spent some time on the accounts and have now extended the 2024 spreadsheet to include all the months of the year. (I usually start the spreadsheet with just January and February until I am sure everything is working the way I want).

The afternoon was spent with my Kindle as I homed in on the last chapter or so of my latest book.

New Year

As we were both feeling under the weather, we went to bed early and slept through the traditional NYE celebrations. We needed a good night's sleep. Jasper had other ideas. He was aware that another exhibition of his operatic talents would not be appreciated so, instead, he gobbled down his food and at 03:20 this morning vomited it up over the landing and our bedroom carpet. Our first conscious activity of 2024 was cleaning up cat vomit.

Despite the interrupted night, I managed to sleep in until 07:30.

The day has been very low-key. Diane caught up on some laundry and I exercised the carpet cleaner on the marks from last night. Fortunately, the stains seem to have lifted. 

I extracted the whole journal/blog for 2023 and converted it from HTML to MsWord format. I started to apply the various formatting and style changes required to create the hardcopy journal. It is a slow process but I have managed to get the first couple of weeks of January 2023 formatted and ready. There's just 50 more weeks to go!

In the early afternoon, I managed to get an hour or two with my latest book before starting to prepare dinner. I heard from Trevor. He wants to revisit our cruise options. We'll try to have a joint Zoom call on Wednesday.