It’s not just cricket…

…it’s Joe Root.

Scotland beat England at Twickenham for the first time since 1973. The Calcutta Cup is the oldest rugby fixture. What a game!

What a day!…

Africa was declared polio free today. That is such great news. And Anderson took his 600th wicket in the test against Pakistan. Few have achieved that, so he is quite the hero.

I have written another piece as Jake Reilly has been left paralysed after being shot repeatedly at close quarters in front of his children. Another very painful episode in American history. I despair. I feel so heartbroken about it all.

All of us who write creatively need to repond to this incident. We need to engage in order to change hearts and minds. I cannot express how much I want T++++ out of the Whitehouse.

It is stormy here. We had rain earlier, and now the wind is so strong. There are very dark clouds overhead.

I am well.

A blah sort of day…

It has rained quite hard today and I’ve stayed in. It’s great for my garden, and much needed.

I have napped, in fact last night I fell asleep at around 7.30pm and woke just after ten. I went back to bed at midnight and slept through until almost eight this morning.

This is in stark contrast with how I began the summer. Rising before 6 am to water the garden. I can no longer sustain late nights and early mornings, even when the lateness is driven by inability to sleep.

I could have put some plants outside which arrived yesterday, but I have felt so tired.

I am intreagued that it has taken Boris Johnson so long to realise that being overweight is a comorbidity for Covid-19. It is a comorbidity for anything. Being overweight is a risk for cancer, diabetes, heart attack, stroke, anything. Even flu can be leathal if one is overweight.

I feel sorry for anyone who has not taken the opportunity to lose weight during lockdown. The opportunities to walk, cycle, and alter ones diet were as never before. Some eat a healthy diet but drink too much. Those are the worst calories of all as the habit leads to alcoholism and all that is entailed with that.

Spain has apparently started a second spike. I am surprised as it is too hot. I think it is the first wave popping up after lockdown being lifted to early. We must all be cautious.

Good that we are leading in the second Test against the West Indies. I love cricket.

Falling over…

I just took some recycling out to the blue bin. I used my trolley, and forgot to turn it off and part of my touched the reverse gear so I lay flat on my back. I wasn’t hurt but lay there for a moment to get my bearings. I half wondered if someone had seen me as I flipped my skirt down to hide my knickers.

I got up, finished putting the recycling in and went to water the garden. I am thrilled that some of my tomatoes are changing to an orange colour. So I took some more leaves off, to encourage more of this and then I found I have some blueberries on my little bush. They won’t ripen for ages, but it’s a joy.

My strawberries are getting beautifully red, so will go out with a bowl tomorrow. And there are more blooms so another crop will follow. The figs are growing but so is the tree, I suddenly have more branches and leaves. In the autumn I need to prune it hard.

I am writing this early as I feel tired. The weather has been windy and grey. They forecast rain tonight and tomorrow but I’m not relying on that. They’ve got it wrong so many times.

My left foot is painful at times. I saw some socks called Dr Soothers. Said they take away pain and improve circulation. What I imagined I don’t know. They are compression socks without toes. When I finally managed to get one on, it felt very strange. I wore one to bed and took it off as soon as I woke. As the day went on my foot felt better and better. I was surprised, but pleased. I will wear it when ever my foot feels achy or painful. (During the night.)

It’s been lovely to watch Test cricket highlights on terrestial TV. I love cricket. England v West Indies is always good. Brian Lara, W. I. legend, retired the summer my daughter was born. Her father and I talked about asking if one of his jackets with his surname on it was available, but we never got around to it. She has plenty of other places and music etc famous for her name.

At the weekend, over 100 hundred people looked up my blog on their browser before 9am. These figures aren’t unusual, but that early in the morning is odd. I’m given up being freaked out by the numbers who visit here. I’m doing nothing wrong.

I’ll relax now. Kick back and enjoy the evening.

Tired but happy…

• 

Today I planned to get away for the day on the bus. On my way to get on a bus, I started getting texts from someone I’m friendly with telling me he was being harassed because of a review I wrote about another shop. Yes that’s weird isn’t it? So I tried to delete my review which didn’t delete and in the end I had to mark the shop as ‘no longer there’. I went to speak to security and was given an email address for the person who is responsible for tenancy etc of shops in the mall. I emailed her to raise concerns. Then I set out for the bus again.

Two hours had passed. I was no longer going to have time to get to where I wanted to go. So I went to Bournemouth. I had intended to go to the Square where there are musicians throughout August. However I was distracted by a department store, and mooched around it for a while. I went to the Pleasure Gardens and enjoyed the green grass, plants and trees. I wanted to go as far as the pier, but realised time was against me, so started to go back along the way I came, and then my bus appeared so I got on.

I got towards home and got off the bus early so I could go through the park, it was so beautiful and bought back happy memories of some of my daughter’s birthday parties. There was a cricket match playing, so I watched for a while.

It’s now Tuesday lunch time. I had planned to go out with friends last night, but decided that I was too tired and cried off. I had a fairly relaxing evening. I drank some rum with juice to alleviate pain in my neck which becomes almost intolerable. For quite a few years now I have used alcohol as a supplement to painkillers. I don’t recommend this, as it is very easy to become alcohol dependent. I am always just as happy to not drink alcohol as I am to enjoy it. I am not dependent and know the type of pain that conventional medicine doesn’t touch. I prefer natural painkillers like good sex, massage, hemp, and an alcoholic drink. Heat is very good too for back and neck pain.