2 January 2026 (Friday) - Didn't See The Deer

I had a decent night’s sleep for once. Admittedly I went to the loo at four o’clock, but got straight back to sleep. The dogs were still, no one threw up on the duvet, the bin men didn’t make any noise… let’s hope this continues.

 

I made toast and had a look at the Internet. There were two posts in the Upstairs Downstairs Facebook group that had been reported for review and possible removal. Someone had taken exception that someone else had described a TV channel showing episodes out of sequence as “annoying”. How on Earth does that cause offence. And another person didn’t like a photo of the cast in rehearsals and had reported that as spam.

Someone had posted a photo of a pencil cell onto one of the work-related Facebook groups, and loads of people were very confidently identifying it as something else.  It bothers me that so many so-called medical professionals can be so wrong. Hopefully these people will learn from these photos?

And it would seem there was snow overnight thirty miles away in Hastings and in the Medway towns.

 

I got dressed. The first fruit of my loin had bought me some Calvin Klein undercrackers for Christmas so I thought I’d give them a go. We then got the dogs into coats and on leads and I drove them up to Kings Wood. As we drove the pundits on the radio were talking about civil unrest in Iran, and President Trump threatening to get involved. You’d think he’d have learned from the mistakes of history wouldn’t you? Mind you bearing in mind his track record, maybe not.

We got to the woods and walked our usual four and a bit miles. There were a lot of squirrels active today, and quite a few deer too… not that the dogs noticed the deer at all. Morgan nearly had a wren, but fortunately it got away.

We started our walk at half past eight and there was only one other car in the car park. As we walked we didn’t see anyone for the first three miles, but as we got closer to the end so we saw more and more people, and the car park was heaving when we got back to the car. Clearly everyone was making the most of the last day of the holiday.

 

We came home. I cleaned the fish tank filter to give the snails a hand. And then did dog flea treatments. Back in the day they used to run and hide from the treatments; now they just sit and take it. But clearly under protest.

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up a cuppa for us both, and I sent out over fifty invites to the caching meet-up that I’ve organised for a couple weeks’ time. Sadly it seems that loads of people have already organised stuff for that weekend.

I wrote up some CPD, then did several puzzles and lessons on chess dot com. Apparently it is a year since I first signed up on there, and as a special treat they unlocked all the stuff which I only get sparingly as a non-paying member.

 

I spent much of the afternoon doing the ironing whilst watching episodes of “Four in a Bed” in which some pretentious old biddy who’d given everyone else the thumbs down (for the most trivial and petty reasons) had the right hump when no one liked her (relatively) dire establishment, and she had the seriously right hump when she came last.

Over a rather good bit of dinner we watched the second episode of “The Traitors” in which an innocent got the heave-ho, and then the second episode of “The Traitors Uncloaked” in which various celebrities pontificated on that about which they clearly hadn’t a clue. This evening’s celebrities were two people of whom I’d never heard, Jethro Palmer (from Viz magazine) and some foxy bimbo with legs that went all the way up to her bum. I have no idea who she was, but “er indoors ^TM” assures me she was once a contestant in a previous season.

Call me a beast if you will, but I’d like to think I would have remembered the legs, if not her.

1 January 2026 (Thursday) - New Year's Day

I was so tired yesterday evening. I spent much of our Zoom meeting dozing off, and went off to bed almost at the stroke of midnight…

 

We had a rather auspicious start to the year; I woke at five o’clock to find “er indoors ^TM” clearing dog sick from the bed. I took the dog sick downstairs to flush away only to find the kitchen mat was soaking in the bath. One of the dogs (probably Treacle judging by the quantity) had had a little (frankly epic) accident.

Having been up for half an hour dealing with dog issues, “er indoors ^TM” went back to that bit of the bedding which wasn’t in the washing machine. I gave up, made toast and watched a couple of episodes of “The Young Ones” before sparking up my lap-top.

Back in the day New Year’s Eve saw a flurry of text messages wishing all the best for the New Year. This morning I had a flurry of WhatsApp messages wishing all the best. I suppose that’s a sign of the times. Who sends texts any more?

There wasn’t much happening on-line at half past six. Presumably everyone was sleeping off the excesses of last night. I’d had a rather good evening playing “Ticket to Ride” until half past ten, then nodding off during our Zoom meeting. I’d rather have stayed awake, but you can’t have everything.

 

In years gone past, the morning of New Year’s Day would feature an early start for a major get-together of the local geocaching community. Someone would put out a series of geocaches and organise for them to go live on New Year’s Day. They’d also organise for everyone to meet up and walk round this series together. I organised one such event ten years ago when we had over thirty people along, and took part in several.  

Sadly we’ve only had one of these New Year’s Day events in the last five years… it’s such a shame that so few people seem to be prepared to organise anything these days. Had there been anything planned I would have gone along. But there wasn’t so I volunteered to work.

 

It was cold and dark as I set off for work. But it was a tad easier scraping the ice off the car this morning than it had been yesterday. As I drove the pundits on the radio were having a special programming about the problems facing parents of small children. I turned that straight off and instead sang along to Ivor Biggun songs. It might be a New Year, but some things stay the same.

As I drove up the motorway I could see the most glorious sunrise in my rear view mirror, but by the time I got to somewhere where I could stop and take a photo so the colours had dulled down. 

 

I got to work and went into the canteen. I thought I might have a cheese scone for brekkie. As today was a Bank Holiday the works canteen weren't doing cheese scones. Instead I had the cooked breakfast. I had exactly the same as I had a week ago on Christmas day for over a pound cheaper. I mentioned the price difference to the woman on the till, but she wasn't overly interested; she didn't want to be working on a Bank Holiday either.

And just like a week ago, the brekkie wasn't all that good and didn't sit well either.

 

I did what I couldn’t avoid on a rather busy morning, but I was only on for the morning. I headed home, collected “er indoors ^TM” and the dogs and we drove down to Broomhill Sands (near Camber) and had a rather good (if rather cold) walk along the beach. A little way along the beach was a geocache which needed a little puzzle to be solved before we could find it. We found the notice board to which we had been directed, found the information we needed, did the sums, and taking care to keep the dogs away from the dead fox we soon had the geocache in hand. And got an e-souvenir too.

It was a shame that Morgan had to tiddle up the sandcastles on the way back down the beach, but there it is.

There was a very nasty crunch as I drove put of the rough car park and didn’t see a pot hole. I’m hoping no damage was done…

 

We came home for a cuppa. I spent a couple of hours alternately reading the first Harry Potter book and falling asleep until “er indoors ^TM” boiled up a very good dinner.

We watched the first episode of the new series of “The Traitors”. Who is a traitor, who is not? Realistically the thing has to be a popularity competition. But like with all the previous series I found myself fascinated with the hostess’s haircut and makeup. Presumably she’s been professionally done up… Someone chose that look.

31 December 2025 (Wednesday) - New Year's Eve

Another rough night. I went to the loo shortly after four o’clock, and then took each dog in turn out. Treacle must have been half asleep when it was her turn; two turds dropped out when she came back in. Have I ever mentioned what delightful creatures dogs can be?

I wasn’t going to get back to sleep after that so I made toast and watched an episode of “The Young Ones” then had a look at the Internet. With less than a day to go, we finally reached our monthly Munzee Clan target. Next month’s Munzee Clan War will be a cause for a squabble. Each month up to ten of us club together to form a clan, and together we have various Munzing to do. The more we Munz, the more in-game rewards we get.

There are various levels for which we can aim in which as well as group challenges, we all have individual targets to reach. Every month everyone regularly achieves all their goals by day fourteen… except one particular player. Every month this one eventually finishes with only hours to spare and doesn’t communicate with anyone at all during the month. And everyone else gets twitchy and worried.

There’s moves to have her hoiked out of the Clan…

 

I set off to work and spent five minutes scraping the ice off of the car. It was a cold one this morning. Flushed with success at yesterday's lunch I went to the co-op again and got more satay sticks, and a chicken salad sandwich.

I then set off up the motorway to work. As I drove the pundits on the radio were talking about how the Eurostar services were resuming. The channel tunnel trains had packed up yesterday with issues with their power. Needless to say everyone who was stranded was kicking off, but as the chap on the radio said, there really isn't any backup to public transport. It was pointed out that the amount of customers who would fill one Eurostar would fill eighteen coaches, and there simply isn't that amount of coaches sitting about just in case they might be needed.

Ironically my cousin had been in Paris over the weekend and had found herself stuck there, and had things to say on Facebook about it.

 

There was also talk about the new Archbishop of Canterbury who will be taking up her post soon. She's only a couple of years older than me, and has already been the country's chief nurse. 

Appointments like this bother me. What possible transferrable skills can a boss nurse have that might be useful to an archbishop? I suspect that (like so many others these days) she is a professional manager whose skill is in bossing around those who actually do the job. I could be doing her a disservice... perhaps I am. But from the country's boss nurse to the country's boss vicar? To do both would be something of a meteoric career.

Interestingly she is the first woman to be Archbishop of Canterbury... and theologians are bending over backwards to gloss over that the bit in the Bible (1 Corinthians 14:34-35) which actually says "Women should remain silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church".

Personally I'm all up for equal rights for all, but when you actually take the time to read it, the Bible isn't. 

Don't take my word for it - go read it for yourself. You’ll be surprised…

 

I got to work and bashed on the door. I'd forgotten to pick up my pass card this morning. Eventually I got let in. I did my bit, and at mid-morning “er indoors ^TM” sent a message to say that the snails (for the fish tank) that I'd ordered on Amazon had arrived.

Back in the day New Year's Eve would have been an incredibly quiet day... Not any more. Back in the day we would all have been going home at least a couple of hours early. I actually stayed late this evening.

 

I came home and had a look at my new pets. I’d paid for five little snails; I got six. Hopefully they will clean up the fish tank. Time will tell; it always does.

 

“er indoors ^TM” boiled up a rather good bit of scran which we devoured whilst watching another episode of “Motherland” then had a little go on the Infinity Table before joining friends on a New Year’s Zoom meet. Back in the day we always used to spend New Year with Jose and Maria, but over the last few years since lockdown we’ve started having New Year Zoom meets. If nothing else it’s a lot less work for Maria.

 

And that's it for another year. I've lost three stone in weight. I've had a very good holiday in the New Forest. We’ve started a monthly games night which I rather (very much) enjoy. it's not been *all* bad. But a lot of it has been… shall I say “less than ideal”.

I describe this diary as “recording history as I see it” and consequently I can choose not to record the bits I don’t want to dwell on. And so I suspect many of my loyal readers will be surprised to find out that 2025 was something of a pisser.

It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to realise that I’ve not once mentioned my favourite little girl since April 9^th when I was rather cryptic. She remains my favourite person. It’s time to say something on the matter…

 

To cut a very long and very painful story short, the state in its infinite wisdom has decreed that she should go for adoption. This was decided in April, and much of the year has been spent unsuccessfully fighting the system.

Obviously I (together with our family and some of the social workers) disagree entirely but I shall gloss over the specifics for fear of finding myself accused of libel. Talking totally hypothetically of course, having seen the British justice system in action I can imagine myself being found guilty in a libel case in which what I have said would have been the actual truth, and in which those who have lied to my face and to others (and have been caught out doing so) would continue to do so with impunity. Talking totally hypothetically of course…

If anyone disagrees with my cynicism, here’s a few examples of British justice. And if you’d like to stand me a pint or two I’ll regale you the stories of two dear friends of mine who both went to prison for a year when they shouldn’t have done. Or the tale of the fraudster who despite being as guilty as sin was let off with a “not guilty” verdict.

British justice, eh…

In the meantime I’ve been told that as a grandparent I have absolutely no right to see my smallest grandchild whatsoever. From here on in I will have “indirect contact” once a year. Which means I shall get a letter on her birthday, and realistically the next time I can hope to see her will be when she comes of age… in April 2040… *if* she wants to see her birth family.

It would seem that I’ve got a better than even chance (about sixty-six per cent) of living till then, but I’ve written her a letter just in case. I shall add to it as time goes by.

I would also make the observation that if you or anyone you know is finding parenting hard, under no circumstances whatsoever would I ever recommend asking for (so-called) professional help.

 

That’s all rather depressing, isn’t it? One of the things that *seriously* boils my piss is when the sententious tell me off for being intolerant because I don’t know what battles others might be fighting… Up till now I’ve avoided getting into a “my life is shittier than yours” argument, but were I to do so I suspect I would win hands-down against most people right now.

Well, that was my battle of the last year. Christmas has been particularly hard, but I shall put my smiley face back on… and move onward and upward.

I don’t do miserable very well. I’ve sulked enough.

30 December 2025 (Tuesday) - Satay Sticks, Toilet Ghosts

I slept through till half past four which, bearing in mind I had an alarm set, wasn’t bad at all. I was wide awake, so I got up, made toast and watched an episode of “The Young Ones”. As I watched I sorted the undercrackers which I’d washed and dried last night. “er indoors ^TM” sorts dinner, I sort the undercrackers. It suits me just fine.

 

I had a look at the internet to see if I’d missed much. I hadn’t really. There was a bit of a squabble on one of the Facebook pages I follow which is about the Poldark books. Someone claiming to be the biggest fan of the series had never actually read any of the books, but had the TV show on DVD…

I sent birthday wishes to my brother – he was the first one to get next year’s birthday video. I wonder if the card we posted yesterday arrived.

I Munzed, and got ready for work. Some people don’t go back for another week… To be honest I’d rather have time off work when it suits me, not when it is cold and it is dark by mid-afternoon.

 

I set off to work through the rain. The weather forecast had been for a dry morning. Ho hum... I stopped off at the co-op to get lunch. Getting lunch at the co-op is something of an adventure in that if I go to Sainsburys they are far better stocked, and I get what I want and consequently I have the same thing every day (coronation chicken sandwich followed by carrot batons with humous dip). The co-op is never well-stocked at half past six, and so I have to have what they've got, and so I get something different each time. This morning it was a cheese and ham sandwich with chicken satay sticks.

 

I drove up the motorway listening to the morning's business news. The business news always amazes me; I really should formally study economics to understand how it all works. Every time I listen to the business news they talk about the share prices and market confidence and the personality of the head honchos of the various firms. They never (and I seriously mean *never*) talk about the actual quality of the products of the companies that are doing well or going under. What these companies sell would seem to be utterly unconnected to their commercial success.

Take Guinness for example. Type "Is the Guinness company doing well?" into Google and you will see that they are laughing all the way to the bank. However over the last few weeks I've tried about ten different stouts, and Guinness is by far the worst of the bunch.  Don't get me wrong - it's not a bad drop. But pints like the Badger brewery's Master Stoat, Hobgoblin's Dark Stout or ever Sainsburys own Taste the Difference Chocolate Orange stout are far better. I've done blind taste tests on Guinness fans recently (last week) who were very surprised to realise just how poor their preferred drink compares to its competitors. However the makers of those competing stouts are clearly doing something wrong as a far better product clearly doesn't make far better profits.

 

And there was a lot of talk about toilet ghosts which would seem to be a big thing in Japan. Apparently Japanese children regularly bang three times on the door of the third toilet stall from the wall in any public lavatory, and chant “Are you there Hanako-san?"... and desperately hope that no one replies. Because if she answers, Hanako-san will ask them to play and will kill them as part of the game. However if she doesn't answer then the children run the risk of being eaten by a three-headed lizard.

Personally I would keep quiet, but what do I know? Harry Potter never had that problem with Moaning Myrtle.

 

And it would seem that the UK hedgehog population is in serious decline.

 

I went in to the early shift and did my thing. We were far busier than we used to be back in the day between Christmas and the New Year, but still nowhere near as busy as usual. A lot of people really do hold off going to see the doctor when it doesn't suit them. I'm reminded of a GP's biography I once read in which a GP with many years of experience claimed that ninety per cent of the patients who came to him would get better anyway regardless of anything he might do.

 

At lunch break I scoffed what I'd bought earlier. It was rather good. And it was then that I had a message from the geo-feds. I thought there would be issues with setting up an EarthCache at Camber Castle... The first hurdle is that the place is a scheduled ancient monument and as such I will need formal permission from English Heritage. It's rather silly because anyone doing the EarthCache would be doing so as they walked along a public footpath. Loads of people do that every day already and don't need any formal permission, but rules is rules. I've sent the nice people at English Heritage an email. I got an automated reply... I didn't expect to get anything back from them properly until the New Year, but when I came home I had a reply saying that my query had been forwarded to the appropriate department, so that’s a step in the right direction. 

 

I’ve got a sore throat… hope I’m not sickening for something…

29 December 2025 (Monday) - Dog Walk, EarthCache

Is it so unreasonable to hope for a decent night’s kip? “er indoors ^TM” took the dogs for a tiddle in the small hours and they all made enough noise to wake the dead. Once I finally nodded off again so the bin men came up the road. They could probably have been noisier if they’d tried, but it would have taken some doing. I eventually got back to sleep only to be woken from a blood-curdling scream from Bailey as one of the other dogs trod on her.

 

I gave up trying to sleep at eight o’clock, got up and made toast. I had my usual look at the Internet.

Yesterday we walked round Beckley Woods. I’m sure I walked round there many years ago. Back in my schooldays one afternoon a week was devoted to sports. We were divided into five sets with the really sporty types being in Set One… I was in Set Five, and after a while it became apparent that there were two distinct types in Set Five. Those who liked sports but were rubbish at it, and those with no interest in sport whatsoever. Together with the rest of the apathetic I was demoted to Set Six and the Latin teacher would take us for walks in the countryside. The boss P.E. teacher clearly saw this as a punishment for not being sporty but I loved it. I can remember some of the routes we took. I can remember walking in Coghurst Woods and over the Firehills as that was where I would play as a child. But we would mostly walk round parts of Sussex countryside that at the time I didn’t know. It would be lovely to know the old routes; if only for somewhere different to take the dogs. Last night I asked on the Facebook page for the school’s old boys to see if anyone remembered the exact routes. Several people had vague ideas, but no one seemed to know exactly where we went.

My cousin was in Paris having a little holiday; I quite liked seeing her photos.

 

We got the dogs organised and went up to the woods. “Daddies’ Little Angel ^TM” had been visiting friends and so Pogo joined us for our morning walk. We went up to Kings Wood where he screamed at quite a few of the normal people. I wish he wouldn’t do that. But Pogo seemed to like the walk; Bailey certainly likes him being along – she gets particularly gobby with other dogs when in Pogo’s company as she knows he’s got her back.

Being between Christmas and the New Year loads of people were off work, and there were loads of people in the woods… I prefer it when it is quieter up there.

 

After four and a half miles we were back at the car. We came home, Munzed and had a go at Wordle. “Along” gave me nothing at all. “Wreck” gave me the “r”. And then I was stuck. Eventually I tried “brush” which turned out to be a step in the right direction. “Druid” got me a bit closer… it was “fruit”. Obvious when you know the answer.

I had a message from the vet telling me it was time for flea and worm treatments so I ordered some. I can collect those tomorrow. The vet’s are odd… if you just walk in and ask for the flea and worm stuff they hand it over there and them. If you phone and ask, they want a whole day’s heads-up to sort it.

 

I then spent the afternoon sitting on the sofa trying to create an Earthcache. A couple of weeks ago we went to Camber Castle. It was a rather interesting place. Putting a geocache there would just be arse-ache for having to go to do maintenance, but I had this plan that I might put an Earthcache based on the geology of the rocks out of which the castle is made…

It kept me quiet for the afternoon… I suspect the geo-feds will find something wrong. The geo-feds who look after the Earthcaches can be difficult, but here’s hoping.

 

I finished up my birthday video for next year. I ordered some snails which (hopefully) will clean up the fish tank. I had a go at chess dot com.

“er indoors ^TM” took “Daddies’ Little Angel ^TM” and Pogo home. I slobbed on the sofa watching episodes of “Red Dwarf” until “er indoors ^TM” came home with pizza which we scoffed whilst watching another episode of “Amandaland”.

 

And I’ll end today with a whinge that I have done to death many times before… At the moment there’s a lot of people on social media banging on about it being that time of year when one day blends into another and you have no idea what day it is… I know what day it is. It’s Day Three of my Christmas break (and I’m part-time) and I’m back at work tomorrow…

28 December 2025 (Sunday) - Beckley Woods

I slept well… again apart from rather vivid dreams which gain might well be down to the “Ticket to Ride” game. Last night I found myself in a rather dubious Eastern European prison for daring to use public transport.

 

I made toast and had a little look at the Internet. There were again endless political rants. As time goes by it is becoming apparent that the biggest problem our government has is the Prime Minister himself. I’m not saying he’s bad. His problem is that he is neither a showman nor an entertainer. Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage and Donald Trump all entertain the masses. Sir Kier is just dull. If he were to smile a bit and throw in a few jokes, his popularity would soar.

I also saw that yesterday some old friends had gone to an afternoon of live Irish folk music. One of them has had a rough time lately; I was glad he’d had a good time. But personally I can’t imagine much worse than an afternoon of live Irish folk music. Each to their own, I suppose.

 

We got ourselves and the dogs organised and set off for a little adventure. A week ago a new series of geocaches had gone live near Beckley and all of them qualified for the latest series of geocaching Treasures, so we thought that might be today’s walk. It was a shame that the sat-nav took us along a rather stupid route through Rye when it would have been quicker to go through Tenterden, but that’s sat nav for you. We got there eventually.

 

We had a very good stroll through woods I think I used to walk some fifty years ago. Some kids used to play football in school games, some played hockey, some played rugby. I was in the group that went for country walks.

Despite it being mid-winter there wasn’t too much mud, and we saw buzzards and robins. We covered just under three miles in just over two hours and would have got round much quicker had the dogs not chased off on missions of their own… three times. When we are in Kings Wood the dogs are as good as gold. When we go somewhere new so they play up. Bailey especially.

Geocache-wise it was an excellent walk with decent sized caches with very good co-ordinates. There was one point where the instructions would have helped us if they’d said to backtrack, but they didn’t so I stomped a straight line through the woods. It was a shame that two of the caches were already damaged. The bag containing one had split,  and someone had been heavy-handed with a 3-d printed Yule Log and snapped it. So we sent a message to the friend who’d hidden it to tell them. Normally I’m only too happy to repair and replace as I go round, but these two needed rather specialized replacements.

We stopped off on the way home to pick up a cache on the way home… and that one was rather special too. Based on a local trig point it was a 3-d printed model in the shape of a trig point.

I took a few photos as we walked.

 

We came home. We decided against stopping off at either of the tap rooms we were passing. We had a cuppa and a cheese roll instead and saved thirty quid.

I spent an hour or so slobbing on the sofa reding my Kindle, then we had a light tea of pizza and chips which we scoffed whilst watching an episode of “Amandaland”; a spin-off of “Motherland” which I loved. How did I miss this spin-off.

And then we played more “Ticket to Ride” in which I got a shade too ambitious.

 

Oh – and today would have been my mum’s ninetieth birthday…

27 December 2025 (Saturday) - A Birthday

I slept reasonably well if not for a particularly vivid dream in which I was trying to get along the south coast by train and finding my journey was constantly hampered by the lack of concessions and propellors. I blame the UK “Ticket to Ride” game we were playing last night.

I made toast and peered into the Internet. Again not much had happened overnight. There were a few people ranting about fox hunting. Whilst it is illegal to hunt foxes with packs of dogs, until recently it has been quite legal to charge round the countryside with packs of dogs supposedly following a pre-laid scent trail and to then act surprised when the dogs “accidentally” catch a fox and rip it to pieces. The law has changed. There are those who feel that it is their god-given right to charge round the countryside and if a fox gets cruelly slaughtered then that’s a shame. There are those who see this for the wanton cruelty that it is and are concerned that the police will continue to refuse to enforce the law. Either way the poor fox remains the loser.

 

I Munzed, then got ready for the morning. As we fiddled about, Steve’s new stand-in was on the radio. He wasn’t the same, but this chap was streets ahead of the previous stand-in.

We drove round to Repton and Dog Club. Admittedly it was cold and it was the Christmas weekend, but I was rather disappointed that there was only one other person (and two other dogs) along. But we had a good time chatting and playing fetch and chase and scoffing treats.

Just as we were leaving so Purdy arrived. I got the distinct impression that Purdy’s mum had made a point of arriving very late to prove a point to her small daughter who had apparently taken a ridiculously long time to get her arse in gear this morning. Some people do take ages in the morning. One thing I’ve learned at camping holidays and taking cubs and scouts away is that not many people can wake up and immediately get on with life like I seem to do. Some people really do seem to need up to an hour to wake up, and they walk round in a trance in the mornings, seeming to be trying to stay asleep even though they are clearly up.

 

We came home, and seeing it was a tad nippy outside we had something of a lazy day. I slobbed on the sofa reading my Kindle for a bit, then we watched a DVD. We’ve seen “The Lady In The Van” before, but I can’t say that I remembered much (if anything) of it. It was rather good.

As I watched I scoffed most of a tub of Cadbury’s Heroes and gave myself a belly ache.

 

We scoffed the last of the leftover Christmas dinner, and then set about the Infinity Table again. Yesterday we played “Ticket to Ride” on the UK maps, and this evening we tried the Europe maps. As well as ferries, this one has tunnels. As we played we set about the port and cheese. I didn’t have *too* much port (only about a third of a bottle) but the half a pound of cheese was arguably a tad keen. It did nothing for the belly ache, and bearing in mind last night’s vivid dreams that might have been a mistake.

 

Oh – and today is a birthday. Our little mis-matched twins are four today. Not that they were any the wiser…