14 June 2026 (Sunday) - Frittenden

I was awake far too early this morning, and so put a load of washing in. I went back to bed and dozed on and off, and was hanging the washing out at eight o’clock. I put another load in, made toast and had a look at the Internet. Apparently yesterday was supposed to be a day of showing pride in our country as various far right groups had planned marches and rallies, but from what I could work out they were all incredibly poorly supported and were all trounced by the anti-racist brigade. Am I alone in feeling that those who are trying to make me proud of our country are actually making me shamed of it?
And there was talk about the first games in the football world cup which is taking place. A friend in Australia was telling his pal that “we” were going to get through to the next stage and “you” might not. Almost as though they themselves were playing in the games. People take football so seriously and so personally. I really can’t see the attraction. I don’t know if being immune to it is a good or bad thing?
I Munzed, Wordled from “early” to “sepia” in four goes, got dressed and went into the garden again.
 
I set the aerator in the pond going as today looked to be another hot one. Whilst we were away the lawn had gone mad. I strimmed the edges and mowed the lawn. By the time I hung out the second wash load I was worn out and it was only ten o’clock.
I had a little look-see round the garden. The lawn wasn’t the only thing to have gone mad. The strange plant that I got last year which had gone a bit iffy was doing well. Before we went away I gave it a “kill or cure” pruning which seems to have cured it. And my poggered cordyline seems to have come back from beyond the grave… which is a minor inconvenience. I was going to use its pot to home the lilac that Karl gave me. However I’m told that the lilac wants to sit in its existing pot for a few months, so there’s no immediate rush to sort anything out just yet.
 
We took the dogs out. There was talk of a food and craft festival in Elham, but when I looked it up  there was nothing that really interested me. So instead we took the dogs out to Frittenden where we walked a rather good little series of adventure lab caches finding several of the village’s purple plaques celebrating places of local historical note, and then on to a final geocache. It was an ideal short walk for a warm day; just enough for the dogs.
As we headed home we found a load of plants up for sale in someone’s front garden. We got enough to fill our empty boxes in the garden, and got some rockery plants too.
 
Once home I got the laundry in from the line. That took some doing. We had a cuppa and a bun that we’d bought when out. I couldn’t find a link to “Granny’s Doughnuts”; they looked awful but were nowhere near as bad as I thought. Far better than the offerings of the family-owned bakery down the road.
Bearing in mind it had been a couple of weeks since I’d done it last I ran out the hoses and cleaned the big pond’s filter. And with that cleaned and the waste hose away I left the other hose running for a few minutes to top off the pond as I cleaned out the little pond’s filter.
I hosed round the plants, and felt rather worn out. I never used to feel so knackered after doing so little.
 
I had another cuppa with a slice of Battenburg cake (or bat and bird cake as I’ve heard it called) whilst I struggled with a cryptic crossword. I didn’t have a clue what the cryptic clues meant, but I had a stroke of genius. I copied them into Google and pressed the AI button which came up trumps. There’s a particularly fiendish cryptic crossword in every edition of Viz magazine (or a “craptic” crossword as they call it). I might have a go at the next one if only for the bragging rights of getting my name published for having solved it.
And flushed with success I then had a go at another geo-puzzle and spent a couple of hours trying all sorts of ideas and getting them wrong. In desperation I sent out a message to a pal who’d solved it some time ago… it turned out my first idea was the right one, but my basic arithmetic was at fault. Twenty-one minus three isn’t fifteen. Have I ever mentioned that I’ve got a degree in maths?
And I found the chicken’s feet that we took on holiday. The dogs never got round to eating them.
 
“er indoors ^TM” boiled up a very good curry which we scoffed whilst watching the last episode of “The Orville”. When I first saw the show I wasn’t impressed, but as it went on it got much better.
 
I always say I’m going to have an early night. I really should have one… bet I don’t.