A week to forget!

 And what a week it has been. I am not too sure where to begin but wherever I start, my ire knows no bounds. My right heel that was operated on on February 4th is perfectly - almost perfectly good. This is wonderful news and well ahead of schedule. I am proud of my right heel. It is giving me a new lease of life. However, the more I move around on my feet, the more my left heel gives me grief. I had an MRI on it on April 4th. I am still awaiting an appointment to see the outcome of that scan. 

The NHS cancelled my appointment once again and now my new appointment is on January 6th, 2026. Surely the results of the scan won't mean much if I have to wait that long. I know this is not personal. It is symptomatic of a failed system. Meanwhile the government has caved in over disability payments that are bankrupting the country. Surely, if the NHS was more effective, fewer people would need financial support to keep them moving. I am not saying that people shouldn't get the benefits, I just think that their lives have been reduced through poor health care. 

Added to the low level of care, the police aren't doing much of a job either. As you know I volunteer at a Community Orchard. It is a lovely haven and much appreciated by the town community. Each year we put on three events to raise money to keep the orchard ticking over. Our upcoming event on July 12th won't be going ahead as our new gazebos and generator have been stolen. It is taking almost as much time cancelling everything as it would have done had we gone ahead and we won't be getting any income from our efforts.

All this has come at a time when we are sorting an application for a grant for another shed that has been broken into, damaged, and the contents of that shed also stolen. We need surveillance and we need the police to give a bit more support. This is the country I came back to because it is my home. I don't feel proud of my country. It is truly third rate and third world. I am disappointed. I do have a manifesto for when I take over in a peaceful coup. I promise a universal basic income, community initiatives and for people who steal stuff the orchard, I'd lock them up and throw away the key!

Life isn't all bad. I tried my new wetsuit out in the swimming pool in preparation for the open water race next weekend. I looked a bit like a beached whale but I didn't buy it to enhance my good looks so I am not too worried on that front. I realise that other swimmers must have thought me eccentric wearing a wetsuit in an indoor pool. Luckily, I think I got away with it. 

Not everything in my world is bad. My home in the sunshine!

Don't mention the BOOK!

The Book!

I think I mentioned it once but I got away with it. Oh yes, the book  - it will be out in the world for all to see imminently. This thought scares me to be honest. I sometimes can't actually believe I have written it. All I can say is, "He started it... he wanted me to get it down on paper." 

In retrospect the writing was the easy part. Getting it ready for publication has been fraught with decisions like... How to get it published? Who to publish with? ... there have been times I have felt dizzy with all the bits I have had to make decisions on. I am pleased with the book cover - almost proud of it. On release, there will be a website specially for the book promotion and a movie trailer about the book. All this is coming very shortly. This is another scary thought. I anticipated a simple book launch where my friends came and raised a glass to its success and possibly following this with a bit of an after party -  and with reference to a previous blog, I promise not to dance on the table if we do have a shindig.

Thanks to current world affairs in the Middle East, the book is timely. At the time of writing, Israel is blaming Iran for bombing a hospital and have declared it a war crime. This begs the question, why is the bombing of Palestinian hospitals NOT a war crime? No one on the radio commented on this  - probably because the backlash would be an outcry about supporting a terrorist organisation. We are far too woke. 

Again, as in any conflict it is ordinary people who suffer for the hubris of leaders who are self-serving and not there to give their citizens a better life. This is as true of Iran as it is for Israel - two fine examples where the population of the country suffer from poor leadership. There have been recent PMs in the UK for have also shown their sociopathic core in their poor decision making so I am not singling out the Middle East in this respect. We are lucky here that we have checks and balances to keep a fairly even keel. 

I am currently reading a book about the history of Syria. Obviously it deals with previous conflicts in the region. All I can say is that we don't learn from our mistakes. Ever since Israel was instated it has fomented strife for its neighbours. It is now twice the size of what it was when it was first drawn in 1948. This is not a neighbourly way to behave. Why are they still getting away with it? However, I suppose I have Israel to thank for keeping the Middle East in the headlines.

What to do?

What we do when the sun shines!

 As the temperatures in the UK soared to Singapore heights, it seemed that everyone came out to enjoy the sun. It is days like these that we forget that this is climate change on a dangerous scale. In the moment though, it was lovely, I can't deny it. 

On Friday morning I set about attacking the front garden. I won't call it gardening. I was much more brutal. I managed to fill two black bags of "unwanted" plants and I still have to do more to. My garden is on a walking route so everyone who passes, passes comment. When the sun comes out, people become more friendly. They seem to have time to stand and chat whereas on colder days they normally just say "Hello". 

Sammi phoned. It was his thirtieth birthday. That my youngest is now thirty, makes my realise I am old! I showed off my hard work on the video call. I thought he was in Italy. Not so, he had got to Corsica. The weather there was just the same as the weather here. Glorious. In my youth I remember holidays on the British coast where it seemed to rain every day. My garden could do with a bit of that rain we used to have. I get regular emails from Anglian Water telling me how to save water. Most of the things I am advised to do, I do already and now Danielle does the same. We water our plants with grey water. As Anglian Water says, "Every little helps". Perhaps they should do their bit too and invest in better systems. Just a thought. 

After gardening, I had a little hit on the tennis court. The surgeon promised I would be back in action in nine months. I am getting there and it has been just over four months. I am not up to playing a match but I can hit a ball still. I am working up to a whole hour. So with energy in reserve I then went for a walk along the canal to Great Linford with Sophie. And, surprise, surprise we stopped off for a little drink. The pub was heaving. Everybody gets to a pub and sits in the garden when the sun comes out. This is the best bit of being in Britain. Delightful!

In the rest of the world, God help us. Trump is locking up senators, organising a military parade and doing all sorts of terrible things. Israel has got its teeth into Iran, Putin is still being a complete dickhead and while all this is happening we  - and I mean governments - just sit by and say how bad it all is. What to do? 

When words don't mean much

Say it with flowers!

 I'm having a Victor Meldrew moment as I write this. I must be out of step with the rest of the world. Starting with the biggest and most ridiculous, I'll tell you about Milton Keynes Hospital. This weekend I became more than acquainted with it. On Friday, Danielle phoned me up to say she wasn't well. I told her to phone 111. She did. Their advice was to go to the Urgent Care Unit at the hospital. I went round on Friday evening but Danielle did not want to go to the hospital as the girls needed to go to bed. She phoned me at early o'clock the next day to say she was worse and needed to go to the hospital. We transferred all the baby gear to my car and set off. We were there by 8am on a Saturday morning and we were already in a queue. The waiting room is less than congenial for extended waits, especially when you have young children. 

"Urgent" Care Unit does not fit the description. Danielle did not get seen to with any sense of urgency. In all she was at the hospital for 8 hours. Ezra-Mae ended up eating crappy food from the vending machine and I took Mattaya for a walk around the grounds in her stroller to get her asleep. At one point I spied a sign, "KEEP OFF THE GRASS". This is a reasonable enough request except there was no grass. There were weeds and bare soil and  bits of litter but my expert eye saw not one blade of grass. Perhaps it was a reference to not smoking a joint. Maybe that sign was a health warning inside the hospital. As for Danielle, she has to go back on Monday for a scan which is just as well as the prescription couldn't be filled by the chemist as it had no details of what quantity of antibiotics were needed!  Argh!

While I am on the topic of Milton Keynes Hospital, I noticed how badly designed it is. I think the word "design" does not paint the right picture for the haphazard heap of temporary-looking buildings that make up the hospital. Both the inside and the outside are in need of TLC. It really is a camel of a building. I walked around the outside of it while pushing Mattaya in the stroller. Nothing about it is in the least bit appealing. 

I had planned to continue my gardening this weekend and then go out to a music festival, All my planned plans went out the window. I got to use one of my birthday presents early this week. It is a kneeling mat for gardening. At first I couldn't bring myself to put it on the ground as it looks so lovely. As it has been raining, the damp soil stuck to the bottom of it and now it doesn't look quite so nice. There is a big dilemma... you get given beautiful things and when you use them, you feel sad that you have spoiled something beautiful. 

On a completely different note, I am training for a 5k open water race in Brighton. I am not training to "race" I just want to complete the course and this time, I don't mind if I come last. My racing days are over. I have also tried tennis this week! Well, not actually tennis. I stood on the court and hit a few balls to Naser who was very patient with me. I lasted just about 30 minutes but it is a start. I won't be ready for Wimbledon, unfortunately! 

As for world news this week. Don't get me started. The big, beautiful bill has been the crux of the most idiotic spat in history. Trump's words don't mean much even though he is probably the most powerful man on Earth. He never sticks to anything he says and his "Truth" Social is straight out of 1984 doublespeak. This was especially so when he publicly argued with the richest man on Earth. Both men threw their dummies out of the pram. Not a pretty site. God help us! 

Another Year Older

Death by cake!

As it is all downhill from here on, I shall work on the growing old disgracefully and enjoying every minute. I am working on ignoring all the pains and niggles that come with aging and I'll practice balancing so I don't fall off a table should I ever have the opportunity to dance on one again. There is clearly work to be done. 

I was planning on a quiet day but Danielle had different ideas. We went for a country walk with Sophie and the girls and ended up at the pub for lunch. Who would have thought it? A planned walk that ends up with an opportunity for a drink or two. 

Ezra-Mae taking a break on on walk

Mattaya enjoying cake!

My birthday dinner was the ultimate takeaway. Amira made a wonderful meal and brought it over to my place. So with Danielle, the girls, Naser and Amira we had quite a party. Danielle's "heart attack on a plate" cake topped the lot. My only hope is that my next birthday doesn't roll around so fast as this one seemed to. 

Now that my birthday is well and truly over, I have almost forgiven Antarctica for not remembering me! I am sure there are extenuating circumstances as it is mid winter at this time down there. At least Conversations with Marmite reached Antarctica so I can boast that my blog really did reach the four corners of the world. Sam had a friend working down there so he asked if they would read it just to shut me up. Small things make me happy.

On a sad note, Lucky is literally on his last legs and Sammi is devastated. He is a wonderful dog who has lived life to the full. I think he has walked over half of Scotland. When I took him for walks in St Andrews people would tell me he looked like Lucky. So many people knew him up there. I had to tell them it was Lucky and Sam was my son.

Sunday was Mattaya's Christening. We had a small gathering at my place after the church service to wet the baby's head. Now I am sitting with my feet up and writing this while my head is filled with happy moments. The dishwasher is whirring away and the food has been cleared. You would never have known we had a party! By the way, I didn't get to dance on the table. 

Lucky graduating from St. Andrews

Lucky taking the lion's share of the tent

Lucky being a wimp in a flood

Party time

TRAUMATIZED

Traumatised is how I feel at times and so will you be if you get to the bottom of this blog as it is going to be two week's worth. I set off on my cruise last week for Norway not really knowing what to expect but I was looking forward to getting away. On the book publishing front things were coming together after three edits to get the Americanisms out that had been put in on the first edit. Also, I was on the phone at 2am on the morning of my trip to sort out a few final adjustments. Will it all be worth it? Sometimes I wonder. It is just one more thing to make my hair turn greyer- or is that grayer? 

So, after a lack of shut-eye because I tossed and turned while my head spun with worries all night long, I got to the BIG boat "parked" at Southampton but my first impressions were not good. It was a cross between Witherspoons and Butlins on board - I don't really know either establishment too well but this is what I imagine them to be like. The staff working for the cruise line came from all over the world but they had one common denominator. They were all "Manuels" They knew nothing if you asked a question. My lack of sleep added to my initial irritability. However, the coffee was exceptionally good so things started to look up pretty early on. 

Lester from St. Lucia automatically knew exactly how I liked my coffee. The place where he worked was closest to my cabin so it was naturally where I gravitated to.  He seemed to be on duty and serving at the drinks counter almost all the time. That was amazing customer service. He knew my order and there were thousands on board. Wow.... the super hero of my voyage. To be honest all the crew were friendly, they were just not too au fait with the anything beyond their remit. I  bumped into a cruising barrister  - I just wondered if he was a coffee expert!

I met up with "singles" on board. These were a collection of the widowed, divorced and recently dumped. They made my trip! I could have been alone amidst the horde if it were not for our evening pre-drink chats. We collectively agreed the food was under par - odd in some circumstances. I could have taught them how to make hummus as theirs was just mashed chickpeas! Very odd. I also had an inedible baked brie, the size of a squash ball, that had the texture of a soggy donut. 

The on board entertainment was also a bit suspect. Not sure about the credentials of the choreographer for the dance shows - especially the ABBA one, but as things go, it was entertaining but probably for the wrong reasons. It is easier to talk about the bad bits rather than the things that go well. 

As I thought I was going to be on crutches, I prebooked the onshore excursions. The first one was to a reconstructed Viking Village and then on to a copper mine and museum. The Viking experience was super - there we learnt that the women had control of everything inside the fence and the slaves were not really slaves as there were laws that governed their protection.  The trip to the museum after the morning's experience was done at whirlwind speed  and with far too many participants for comfort. Nobody could look at the exhibits or read anything as the docent kept rushing us to the next bit. She kept saying, "We have a tight skedule." errrrr. Considering how much you pay for the trips, you would have thought time planning would have been better. That trip was to Haugesund.

Some super-human sized swords waiting for Arthur

Utstein Monastery- direct translation by me.. out rock

Dive bombing gull

Haugesund

The next trip I did was in Flaam. The tour guide on our coach had a lovely way with English. She told us the safety rules before we set off and pointed out the red hammers in the bus which could be used to break our glasses. I think they would also have broken our noses had we tried them out. My excursion went up a mountain to a hotel  just so we could taste weak coffee and have a Danish. We were there for the spectacular view but the mist enveloped us and this was followed by a brief flurry of snow. An American sitting near me all but blamed the tour company for the lack of view due to the weather. Oh yeah!. The cruise through the little Fjord was lovely and fortunately for the American, nothing was obscured by mist or snow at any point along the way.  Gulls circled and dive-bombed us almost down to deck level. One man said he would go to the Casino that evening if he was hit. I am not sure whether he wanted to be hit by the gulls' poo or not. Perhaps luck was on his side! 

The final tour in Stavanger took us to the Utstein Monastery. It is the only surviving monastery in Norway as the reformation brought the destruction of all the others. Our tour guide, Juan, was brilliant and made the trip. His attention to detail and knowledge delivered with humour were spot on. I also now know that Stavanger used to be a smelly place because of all the fishing. In the sunshine, it certainly looked like a pretty good place to settle. Of all the places we saw, I think this one was my favourite. I picked up a few local words. They are written in a way that makes it clear what they describe. It is as easy as en, to, tre.   On a cruise, you really don't get to feel a place though, as you are always short of time. Maybe for this reason, cruising is not for me. 

Someone is reading a pretty good book onboard 

Cruising is not for everyone. There had been a murder onboard the very boat I was on not two weeks before my trip. Rumour has it that a stag party went awry and the father of the bride came to a sticky end. For this man, cruising was clearly not for him. I just wonder if the marriage went ahead. Maybe there will be a book about it! 

Homeward bound

Now I am home, fully linked to the internet, ready to resume my swim training for the 5k and already in recovery from drinking too many cocktails. This leaves me with just one small question.... after reading all this, are you traumatised?

Very Special

The highlight of this week was the VE80 celebrations. I twisted Danielle's arm to go to the Milton Keynes Rose for the event and beacon lighting ceremony. Ezra-Mae and Mattaya stayed up well after their bedtime for this because I said it was historically important and to keep them happy Danielle bought some street food - a box of chips decorated with wartime photos! 

The brass band and singers entertained with songs from that era and a Ukrainian Group danced and sang for us as well. All in all, it was something I am glad I was a part of. I felt quite emotional even though the war was long since over when I was born. I think the idea that when that war finished, people expected a better world and this made that day so special for all generations. We got the NHS, promises of peace and a new world order that made all those lost in action worth the sacrifice; but when I look at our world today, we are in such a mess and we are heading for bigger and worse. Probably the biggliest bad thing ever. Who knows? It is as if we forget history and learn nothing from it. 

I enjoyed myself so much at the event, I did not realise how much I had overdone the walking and standing up. Once again I struggled and lost the ability to walk. Poor Danielle drove me home when she was exhausted and then had to get back to her place, get the girls indoors and sort the car out. I became a total wimp and did not walk at all on Friday. I couldn't. Rest has helped and I am getting back to normal. Silly me!!!

In the car on the way back, we tried some cold chips, or rather a cold chip. Definitely not to be recommended even when the late night munches attack. All in all, happy memories - Danielle will remember my singing, if only to laugh about it.  I am sure! 

I looked after Shadow this week too. She is a quiet old girl who is a trip hazard around the house. I woke her up early in the morning and she nearly jumped out of her skin. Danielle bought me a bottle of crocodile pee as a thank you. I think it might taste of gin. Watch this space!

One Sunday, I went over to Stevenage. It is five years since Mike died of COVID. Ann scattered the remainder of his ashes while we stood around and remembered him. It was a lovely day, Thank you, Ann!

Remembering Mike

In contrast to all the bad things that are happening in the world, the weather has been kind and my garden is full of colour. I now have alliums bursting into bloom all over my courtyard and I am almost at the point where I'll need a machete to beat a path to my door. When Sophie popped over on Saturday morning we sat outside and had our coffee. The birds were singing in the background and all was well with the world. Well, almost. If only there wasn't war! 

My beautiful garden