Oneupmanship

Mattaya and the rainbow cake

Mattaya, my grand daughter turned one this week. Danielle organised a DIY picnic at Willen Lake. It turned out to be a lovely lunch in glorious sunshine. For my contribution, I made a quiche and some rhubarb muffins - the ingredients of which were home grown. I exaggerate, just the tomatoes in the quiche and the rhubarb in the muffins were grown in my little garden. The bubbly I brought along was definitely not home grown in any way. This was my contribution to one-upmanship. 

We had a couple of blankets and some chairs, a cool box, and a wheelie cart which was a really useful piece of picnic equipment. Having seen Sophie's wheelie cart in action, I think I need one too. Sophie had the edge on the organisation front! As I offered my food around, I mentioned several times that some bits of my dishes were home grown. Sophie, for her part said her sausage rolls came from a reputable local supermarket and were freshly baked at home but were not home grown. The tease started, but, with all the effort I had put in to growing bits of my own food, I took it on the chin. 

Present opening and paper eating!

Danielle made a rainbow cake for her rainbow baby. By the time it was served, the colours had melted into each other. The Pollock creation tasted wonderful despite the hot sun! Possibly a couple of glasses of chilled bubbly helped it go down. And now, with two grand daughters over one, I realise how time has whizzed. Ezra-Mae starts full-time school in September and had a taster morning at the village school this week. She loved it. Danielle loved it. As to getting organised for big school, Danielle needs a trailer for her bike so she can cycle the girls along the towpath come September. Failing that, perhaps Sophie's trailer would do! Just a thought. 

The weather has been over-the-top wonderful so I have been having breakfast in the garden this week. Danielle brought the girls over and we sat in the garden surrounded by wilting flowers, drinking coffee  - truly continental, except it was an English Breakfast. 

I even played a tennis match match in the hot sun this week. I am not match fit and still not totally over the op but the team were desperate. So desperate in fact that I got the call up. The match was at Riverside Tennis Club in Bedford. The last time I played there I had a Dunlop Maxply racquet, the balls were white, and I was a junior - just a few years ago! My tennis has gone downhill since the last time I was at that club and despite not coping with four sets, I really enjoyed myself and now I am raring to play again. 

On Sunday my club had a mini Wimbledon Tournament. Initially it was going to be poorly attended so I offered to make up numbers on the basis that I might not last the course. In the end it was over subscribed but I still got to play and I won! Yay. I was drawn to partner Armaan, probably the best player in the club and he was there to make me look good. Even so, winning made me smile despite having to hobble around for the remainder of the day.  For the record, I am willing to play with anyone willing to have me on their team. I see myself as being one of the Knights of Ni - playing to the death, despite bits dropping off me. Beat that for one-upmanship.

Those best laid plans

Me in my wetsuit in the sunshine!

Saturday, 5th July was the 5k pier to pier swim in Brighton. My best laid plans were to rest from swimming from Monday onwards in preparation for this big event. I got up as usual on Monday morning and almost caved in on my plans. I had so much residual energy and an obsession with ploughing up and down the pool, I almost couldn't so without my fix. 

I have been antsy all week. I purposely cut off my outlet for burning my energy reserves. At times I have been unbearable to live with. That is my opinion of me! Then on Thursday I got an email from the race organisers that the swim had been postponed to 27th September due to unfavourable conditions. I have wasted a week of not swimming and for nothing. 

Other parts of my plan to go to Brighton remained as I had already bought my train ticket and Brighton is a good place to visit even so - especially as Sammi is there. In fact, despite the stormy seas and stiff breeze, the weekend was wonderful. I got to have a bit of a swim and did loads of touristy things with Anne. The weather was reminiscent of my childhood holidays walking along the sea front battling high winds. So all in all, not a waste of time and I'll just have to keep up the training until September 27th when the race has been rescheduled for.  

Anne and I on the beach

I have also taken time out from watching Wimbledon highlights to watch Gaza: Doctors Under Attack on All4. This documentary has been banned on BBC because it shows what Israel is doing to Palestinians in Gaza. The horror wrought on those trapped on this small strip doesn't surprise me. Israel has been using disproportionate force against its neighbours since it was first established and this is well-documented.  It is still doing this and it has the complicity of America, Britain and much of the West. We are providing those bombs and bullets that kill Palestinians.

The fact that we all consider the behaviour of the IDF even remotely acceptable is what really galls. Our coverage in the UK is still biased towards Israel. Palestinians are called rats and this excuses Israel their cruelty by saying that Hamas are under every bomb they drop and the recipients of every bullet. I know Bob Vylan was wrong to chant "Death" but our outrage of one person's voice angers me when compared to the fifty odd thousand deaths of Palestinians that have passed without regret or guilt. Is this part of our plans that Palestinians should all be killed. I know this is not the solution to the Middle East problem. And for the record. IDF are illegally occupying parts of Syria. The IDF commit war crimes daily and this is acceptable. Apparently!

Over the weekend there were a number of arrests in London. People wearing badges supporting Palesine and opposing the genocide fell foul of the Terrorist Act of 2000. What is happening is genocide and I believe those Palestinians supporting Hamas have been driven to it because of the mass killings. Those people holding banners calling out the genocide were telling the truth. What would happen if we all wore the same badges or expressed the same opinions as those arrested? Our country is becoming Orwellian and this saddens me. Maybe doublespeak has been part of th great plan all along!

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