#unblogged — Public Fediverse posts

On the blog this afternoon, "Unblogged September", being some notes on thought and happenings from this last month that I didn't write about elsewhere.

https://zenmischief.com/2026/09/unblogged-september-6/

#personal #September #unblogged #blog #zenmischief

Unblogged September

Verily I say unto thee we happen upon that time for considering things being noteworthy but which forsooth I have not described otherwise.

Sunday 6
We’re six days into the month and the fact that this is the first entry shows just how much I’ve been trying to get done. Why is it that senior professionals, who should know better, are totally unable to plan ahead? And they then expect other people to jump to and dig them out of the shit. They seem to forget that “a lack of planning on your part does not constitute a crisis on mine”. Not for the first time I despair of them. I’ve now just about got back to where I should have been this time last week – not that I stand a lot of chance of getting anything done this coming week as the diary keeps getting clogged up.

Monday 7
What a curious day. First we both had mid-morning appointments with Lee, the osteopath. Part of my treatment involved dry needling (see here to find out about it; it isn’t acupuncture) to try to free up my back. N reckoned that I had 22 acupuncture needles in various parts of my back. Before this Lee had spent quite some time trying to remove N’s left shoulder.
Rather than going home we then went for early lunch at Toulous in Bushey Heath; it’s a really good, and quite busy café. We both indulged in their full English breakfast, which is amongst the very best I’ve ever had and not outrageously expensive.
N then had a quick trip round the two nearby charity shops, while I spent a couple of hours sitting on a bench taking photos – like this exemplary piece of parking.Then it was a 100 metre walk to the dentist where we both had check-ups and hygienist appointments. While N got stung for a filling, I had two very tiny, 1x3mm, shards of tooth removed from my gum – they were obviously left over from the surgery last autumn and had worked their way out; very curious!
So having left home just after 09:00 we got back just after 17:00; and at least £500 poorer.

Tuesday 8
A nice rainy day (at last!); what one of our Irish friends called a “soft day”, which is what it was like when we buried my father. And in great contrast to Saturday 8 September 1979, the day upon which we got married. That’s 47 years – and we still don’t know how we’ve done it!

Thursday 10
We both had one of “those days”. I ended the day more stressed and pissed off than I started.

Friday 11
Another day of unremitting obstruction by the universe. Can I get anything completed? Not a chance. And yet more work comes in: “You may not have time to do this but …”. Then why ask me? Gah!

Saturday 12
Disappointingly not many of us at this morning’s patient group meeting, but some useful discussion nonetheless. Did I, as intended, get the minutes written this afternoon? No, of course not as I went to sleep!

Sunday 13
The gardener cometh? Nay, the gardener feeleth not well, and verily cometh not. I didn’t mind too much as it gave me a chance to catch up a bit; like write the minutes of yesterday’s meeting, and get some urgent updates to the literary society website finally online. Oh, and we had a small amount of rain!

Tuesday 15
Something is very wrong! I actually had a day buggering around and not doing anything work-like. It’s just as tiring though.

Thursday 17
Oh bugger! I’ve put my back out. Properly. Unusually it is the left side of the sacro-iliac, whereas the old injury was to the right side. And I can’t get an osteopath appointment until next Tuesday. Meanwhile I’m even less mobile than normal.
Earlier in the day Tilly was lying on my desk, obstructing work, and I happened to catch this enormous yawn.Those teeth are remarkable for a 13 year old cat.

Friday 18
So N had to take Tilly to the vet on her own this morning; my back just wouldn’t. And then we had a possible attack on the literary society email accounts which mopped up several hours, to both deal with it and calm down the inevitable panics. All in all, not a good day.

Tuesday 22
What a crap few days. I’ve been very down and depressed largely I think because of my back – although it has eased a lot over the last 48 hours, and today’s trip to the osteopath has made a big difference; I actually feel reasonably comfortable again. It’ll get another wrench on Friday, which will hopefully settle it completely. Oh and Lee’s going for the record with the dry needling; he got to 24 in my back today.

Wednesday 23
Last evening, and I wasn’t able to photograph it, off to the west (maybe SW) of us there was cloud which looked furrowed, just like a ploughed field. I’ve never seen it before and had to go and look it up. It turns out to be altocumulus undulatus. It was just like in this image from BBC.It was clear over us and started a little way off, stretching away to the horizon, and much wider than in this image. Really spectacular.

Friday 25
Another totally disrupted day. Supermarket delivery this morning. A trip to the doctors for a blood test at lunchtime. And the this afternoon a trip to the osteopath, in which Lee broke the record with 34 needles in my back and legs. Well while we’re at it we may as well bugger up the whole day. But why are these things so disruptive? I get nothing done in between them.

Saturday 26
Just after lunch, some good discussion on today’s literary society social call. Although we usually only just manage double figures, they’re worth doing as it is an opportunity for those who can’t make events to keep in touch. And after that … I went to sleep!

Sunday 27
Oh well now there’s a surprise! Heathrow Airport reckon that planning and regulatory issues might delay their third runway by up to four years. So if they get planning permission by 2029 the third runway might open by 2039 (not accounting for slippage). This is excellent. Long-term readers will know my view on air travel and Heathrow. The longer everything is delayed, the greater the chance someone will come to their senses and scrap the whole appalling idea. Although given what’s happened with HS2, I wouldn’t hold my breath.

Wednesday 30
Well what do you know? We ended the month with some rain. Not a lot, about a 30 minute (certainly under an hour) shower this morning. Unfortunately not enough to make much difference. But at least the skies haven’t forgotten how to rain – I was beginning to wonder. This was followed by a lovely sunny afternoon.

This evening by "Unblogged August" notes are on my blog.

https://zenmischief.com/2026/08/unblogged-august-6/

#August #blog #personal #unblogged #zenmischief

Unblogged August

A few things from the last month which I didn’t otherwise write about …

Saturday 1
Just how did we get to August?!

Sunday 2
After 10 years this is apparently the last year that the UCL group are doing the Big Wasp Survey. So of course today I had to set my two traps for this years first round, which means I think I’ve taken part in all 10 years! It’s been a wonderful, and very interesting piece of citizen science which has already enabled several academic publications.

Monday 3
We now have five ripe yellow chillies.I’m not sure it’s going to be a bumper year, but a few will be good, although we have loads in the freezer.

Tuesday 4
A miracle! 16:30 this afternoon. RAIN! Only a five minute shower but it’s the first we’ve seen in literally weeks. An odd distant rumble of thunder too. Followed by bright sunshine.

Thursday 6
Phew! Monthly finances day – again. And thankfully we’re solvent again this month. As I had hoped, I even managed to put away the small legacy I got from my aunt.

Sunday 9
Wasp traps taken in today. For once this year wasps in both traps. The trap by the pond was especially good with three common wasps (Vespula vulgaris), but also what look like four either parasitic wasps or sawflies – I can’t identify which. The latter are on the right of the image.Sadly nothing more exciting.

Monday 10
It’s dusk. And our local robin is still singing its heart out in the garden.

Tuesday 11
So having finished the new pavements in the whole road last week, the guys came along this morning and ripped up the area of dropped curb in front of my neighbour’s. Why? I suspect because he didn’t like what they’d done (it was actually OK) and moaned.

Wednesday 12
Solar eclipse day. Sadly not a total eclipse here, but about 95%. And for once I managed to see an astronomical event; there was a clear blue sky and nothing to intervene. Obviously I had got the correct viewing shades. Very nice to watch, especially around maximum. I remember the 1999 eclipse (also only partial) although that day was partly cloudy, so one got some view, without shades, through the cloud. In both cases it was very obvious from the surprising dimming of the light.

Thursday 13
So Heathrow has fallen from being the busiest airport in Europe. Good! Not only do we have to significantly curtail air travel (and filthy shipping, cars, etc.) but it belies the need for the third runway.

Friday 14
New TV installed in the bedroom. Blimey what a fight as we had to change the wall mount which meant even more holes in the wall; luckily concealed by the TV.

Monday 17
Monday gets the week off to a bad start. Stressed early on before hospital appointment, followed by lots of everything conspiring to bugger things up. It’s going to be one of those weeks.

Tuesday 18
Rendered totally incapable today by depression. No obvious reason, but is all of a piece with yesterday. Nothing attempted, so nothing achieved.

Thursday 20
A trip today to a new (to me) hospital. In the 45 years we’ve lived here I’ve never been to the Central Middlesex Hospital although it is only a handful of miles away. Although rebuilt about 10 years ago it is quite a small hospital which does a lot of the local elective surgery. You walk in and the main entrance hall is vast; it feels like you could fit a cathedral in there; and the coffee shop looks big enough to serve a complete army battalion! Outside the main entrance is no different, except that it is a bus station; I lost count of how many bus routes go through there – I counted six without trying. All the staff I came across were really friendly and helpful, which is a refreshing change!

Friday 21
I’ve been really struggling all week, and it’s been a relentless round of appointments etc. It’s not been helped by two consecutive late nights and early morning starts. I know N feels the same, so weekend recuperation is badly needed.

Saturday 22
The Boy Cat has disappeared. I noticed late last evening that he had a huge abscess on the left side of his face, but before we could scoop him up this morning he’d obviously shed drops of blood through the house and gone out in the middle of the night. Writing this evening, he hasn’t been seen since. Oh bugger! Sadly not a lot we can do, except hope he’s OK and will wander back.

Sunday 23
So Boy Cat came in late last evening looking a real mess. He had some attention, a long drink and some food; and buggered off again. He reappeared at lunchtime today looking somewhat less sorry for himself; had a few bits of the ham we were eating, and disappeared again. But he returned at teatime to demolish a bowl of food; and when we were eating he had a lick round the end of the cream tub. If we can, he’d better be kept in tonight until he can go to the V-E-T tomorrow.

Monday 24
So instead of coming with me to the optician, N took Boy Cat to the V-E-T. Boy is OK but has lost quite a bit of weight since Easter, so blood tests done as well as having his face sorted out and sent home with antibiotics and painkillers. And I need new glasses: expensive lenses and expensive frames. The combined cost made a huge dent in the credit card! Ouch!

Friday 28
Today a culinary adventure, which I really should write up. For evening meal I did Chicken Kiev, something I’ve never done before, with a side of pasta with onion, yellow pepper and a little tomato paste. It worked surprisingly well, although the chicken wasn’t exactly beautifully presented – well you try cutting a pocket in a chicken breast without putting the knife through the edges! I followed this with a nectarine and raspberry rustic tart (below), which went down well with cream; and will provide some breakfasts over the coming days.

Sunday 30
Well yesterday it rained steadily, on and off, all day, just as promised. Today we were promised more rain – but where was it? It threatened all day but did nothing. Annoying especially as we hassled around to set the wasp traps for round two of sampling. But while doing the wasp traps I spotted this rather splendid hoverfly.a href=”https://zenmischief.com/wp-content/uploads/hoverfly2.jpg” target=”_blank”>I think it’s probably a Batman Hoverfly (Myathropa florea) so called from the mask on the back of the thorax.

Monday 31
August Bank Holiday. Yet again a promise of rain which didn’t materialise. Yesterday’s hoverfly confirmed by iNaturalist as a Batman Hoverfly (Myathropa florea); not uncommon and I’ve doubtless seen many before and not realised it.

Unblogged July. A little later than usual, some notes on od things which I didn't otherwise write about in July ...

https://zenmischief.com/2026/08/unblogged-july-6/

#July #personal #unblogged #blog #zenmischief

Unblogged July

A little later than usual … A few things which happened, accosted me, or are noteworthy and which I didn’t otherwise write about this month. And it has been quite a month!

Wednesday 1
Blimey, what a day! At the doctors for blood test and to see our (new) young GP. She decides she doesn’t like the look of my swollen leg, which hasn’t responded to the antibiotics and insists I go to the Infectious Diseases unit at the hospital. That afternoon! Thus totally screwing up the whole day. Hospital nurses and young female consultant very helpful. Doctor prescribes short course of stronger antibiotics, and I’m given them on the spot. We’ll see.

Thursday 2
Why is it that hospital departments cannot talk to each other? So today I get a text telling me to come and pick up my prescription from the hospital pharmacy. I ring them, and they are totally unaware that I was given the antibiotics yesterday, and don’t understand (neither do I) why they’ve been asked to dispense them. In fact the consultant yesterday prescribed a 5 day course of antibiotics, and they then gave me a pack sufficient for 14 days! Meanwhile I spent the whole day catching up on what I needed to do yesterday.

Friday 3
What day is it? As usual my brain thinks it’s Saturday, or Sunday. Help!!!

Sunday 5
What a weekend! I spent all Saturday afternoon and half of Sunday afternoon beating up my brain over sorting all our bank accounts and last year’s interest ready to complete our tax returns. It was partly my fault as my records for the last tax year were nowhere near as good as I thought they were (or as my records usually are). But do I have tax statements from all the banks? Of course not, so you have to dig back through the statements. It’s made even worse because with accounts which mature and which you “renew” some banks keep the existing account number, but others give you a new number. Very confusing. We’ll see how well I have it sorted when I get to complete the tax returns.

Tuesday 7
Phew! Another hot day and a trip to the osteopath. I was, for once, so grateful that the car had good aircon.

Wednesday 8
The gardener cometh, and he spent most of the afternoon working out how to get the drawers out of my filing cabinet/desk drawers (no, it wasn’t a simple pull out and lift!) to remove all the crap that had gone down the back.

Thursday 9
After a semi-successful audiology appointment at lunchtime I spend a “happy” afternoon sorting out the contents of my desk drawers and putting things back. I probably got about two-thirds of the way through; the rest will have to wait until tomorrow. And that’s without even thinking about weeding the paper files. Why is such an apparently easy, sitting down, job is so exhausting?

Sunday 12
Totally lost today. Got up very late and the day ran away from there. Had to make myself do some literary society work this afternoon, but found it very hard to concentrate. No brain power; no body power; everything taking extra effort.

Monday 13
Useful, if unofficial, chat with one of the nurses at the doctors’ when I was there for an ECG. A quiet suggestion that I take the rest of the antibiotics I was given by the hospital for my ankle.

Tuesday 14
I had to smile at lunchtime, on the way to the hospital with N for her appointment … there were quite a few teenage nubiles coming out of Cardinal Wiseman School, wearing crop tops and the skimpiest and tightest shorts possible. And why not; it was a hot sunny day. It gladdened the heart! 😉

Wednesday 15
The day started well, with an outing with friends for brunch. From there it went rapidly downhill with GP panicking because she doesn’t like the ECG I had on Monday and demanding that I go to A&E at once to get assessed. We set off about 18:30 and got back home at 02:00. Of course 90% of that time was spent sitting about waiting between more ECGs, blood tests, x-rays and a very thorough examination. Finally sent home with a referral for follow-up, which will decide if I need more investigations. Fortunately N had heroically volunteered to accompany me, which did make things rather more bearable for both of us; it also saved me from the dreaded football.

Thursday 16
Luckily halfway through last evening I managed to text my osteopath and cancel my appointment for this morning. Well at that point I could quite see them keeping me in hospital. Despite getting that time back I’ve spent the whole day chasing my tail trying to catch up – and I still haven’t; I’ve just about got back to where I should have been last evening. And now I’m fairly tired having had only 4-5 hours sleep last night.

Saturday 18
This evening N caught a Jersey Tiger moth in the kitchen. We released it, unharmed, without stopping to take a photo as it wasn’t going to sit still and food was ready. Tom had reported seeing one in the garden yesterday. They are brilliant moths, see my blog entry from 2020; also this from 2016. They’re such striking, gorgeous moths!

Monday 20
Trip to the osteopath this morning, and I had one of the cab drivers I’ve not seen for some weeks. He turned up in a Tesla, which turned out to be a hire car as some female had driven up the back of his usual car (an electric Kia), and the garage has had it for a month. He’s well fed up about it; but hopefully someone else’s insurance is paying for it. The Tesla was a nice smooth ride, but I’m not sure I like the design.

Tuesday 21
Another hospital trip following on from last Wednesday. Another ECG, more blood tests, and more sitting about for very little. End result a referral for an echo cardiogram and consultant referral – fortunately not urgent as wait is likely to be 8 weeks plus. Another complete day lost. Left home at 10:00; back at home about 15:30. I just had to console myself with an ice cream. 😄

Thursday 23
Well I don’t recall seeing that before, although I shouldn’t be surprised. Coming back today from yet another hospital visit (this time for my back), the van in front of us displayed signage “ABNORMAL LOAD ESCORT”. It diverted off towards our local HS2 construction site, where they’re starting and stopping some of the massive tunnelling machines. One wonders what they’re about to move.

Saturday 25
At last, after a hiatus, I completed the next board of Postcrossing cards: that’s numbers 601-650. Somehow I must find some time to get round to sending some more cards.

Sunday 26
Sunday is a day of rest, is it? Not here. I spent the morning preparing for tomorrow’s literary society meeting in central London, and most of the afternoon completing our tax returns. HMRC are real buggers: they reckon we earn too much and are taking our Winter Fuel payments away, on top of which they not only want the outstanding tax for last year paid, but they want a huge chunk of next year’s tax paid in advance – a significant four-figure sum. As N always says “You can be taxed, fleeced, or robbed – and probably all three”. But both our tax returns completed in a couple of hours as I already had all the data ready and it was not a lot more than updating last year’s returns and carefully checking it. Result!

Monday 27
It was nice to get out today, even if it was into central London. A good, very useful meeting at the V&A (in the café) with literary society people. It over a year since I’ve been in central London (and several years before that); apart from an ever increasing number of huge tower blocks on the periphery, not a lot changes. But disappointingly, despite schools and universities being out for summer, and a hot sunny day, there was a remarkable lack of scantily clad nubile in evidence.

Tuesday 28
Yesterday, going into central London by car, I took my proper camera; I need to get back to taking photographs and get my eye back in. I find seeing and taking grab shots from the passenger seat is quite a good way of doing this. Overall yesterday’s car rides weren’t very exciting for this, but I still managed to take about 60 shots, which today I edited down to 14 possibly worth keeping. Enjoy these two, both taken through the car windscreen (hence some of the misty reflections).

Friday 31
The first ripe yellow chilli of the year!

Last evening on my blog: Unblogged June: some things, and thoughts, from June which I didn’t otherwise write about.

https://zenmischief.com/2026/06/unblogged-june-5/

#June #unblogged #personal #blog #zenmischief

Unblogged June

Some things, and thoughts, from June which I didn’t otherwise write about.

Monday 1
Looking at the trail camera shots for the last week I noticed that one of our (at least three) foxes has a striped tail. It was very noticeable side on at a distance, but less so when I saw the fox walking away from the camera. Sadly no useful image as it was low light and a low-res camera.

Tuesday 2
This afternoon we had not one, but two big thunderstorms. The first (about 14:30) was the larger and longer with some really torrential rain. It then drizzled on and off all afternoon until the second storm arrived about 17:00. Then it cleared to leave a nice sunny evening.

Thursday 4
A couple of evenings ago, there was a wonderful fire-breathing dragon in the western sky.Not a brilliant photo as it was a grab shot, through the window with my phone – and a few minutes earlier the cloud had been less linear and more dragon-like.

Sunday 7
What a dismal day. Grey, windy and should have been raining. Inside I felt completely drained, stressed and depressed. Everything enlivened slightly by an evening meal of steak and chips with a bottle of Champagne.

Monday 8
Phew! We’re solvent again this month.

Friday 12
Spent the last few days fighting off an attack of vertigo. Not the worst attack I’ve had, but enough to stop me doing much.

Monday 15
Still trying to get rid of the last vestiges of the vertigo; it’s left me really drained. Meanwhile Boy Cat had the right idea this morning lying in a sunbeam.

Thursday 18
So yesterday I felt fine; vertigo gone away. Awoke this morning with it back with a vengeance; much worse than last week and ended up horizontal for the majority of the day. So now have a call out with the doctors.

Friday 19
Head feeling a bit better. Weather feeling uncomfortably hot and sticky.

Sunday 21
I’m surprised we haven’t got local Ice Cream Van Wars. We have at least three which seem to tour the locality, each with a more irritating jingle than the last. But they never seem to coincide; maybe they have a rota worked out. (Unless, of course, it is one van with three different jingles.)

Monday 22
So Starmer has chickened out of being PM. Idiot. See my blog post for more thoughts.

Tuesday 23
Blimey, I was woken just after 3 this morning by an epic thunderstorm. Lots of very bright lightening, and massive rolls of thunder, although none right overhead. This went on for at least an hour as I dropped off to sleep again about 4. Heaven knows how much rain we had with it. And then today has been relentlessly hot and humid; so uncomfortable.

Wednesday 24
Record breaking temperatures: the UK’s hottest ever June day. Unbearable.

Thursday 25
It hasn’t felt quite so unbearably hot today, possibly because there’s been a nice breeze all day. It’s just as humid and sticky though. And again record breaking temperatures.

Friday 26
The supermarket have cancelled our weekly delivery today. They say they’ve had “system problems”, whatever that means. I’ve put the order in again for Sunday morning, but had to do an expensive “top up” delivery from the local store – which took them forever to organise. And it all wasted the whole morning. Still at least the supermarket have had the grace to give us £10 off our next order; 20% would have been better compensation.

Saturday 27
The buddleia is in full bloom for several days – so early! – and not a butterfly in sight.

Sunday 28
Phew! Well at least today has been significantly cooler – it’s still warm, but just comfortably summer hot, rather than desert hot. And there’s been a good “seaside” breeze for most of the day. Actually not a bad day to play cricket, although some bowlers wouldn’t have relished the breeze.

In other news, customer services at the supermarket got a fairly snotty email today (not that it will do any good). Our rebooked delivery was scheduled for 11:00-12:00 and finally arrived something after 13:00 with a driver who couldn’t have been less interested and engaged with his job. They’ve not had an impressive weekend.

Monday 29
Out yonder we have a small mulberry bush in a tub and today, for the first time after several years, we had a handful of small black mulberries. There really weren’t enough to do anything with, so I put them in a mixed fruit salad with some raspberries and blueberries (plus a little sugar and a tot of peach schnapps). They worked well and added a little something to the other fruit, although I’d be had pressed to describe the actual taste of the mulberries. Mind you, they don’t half stain; it’s taken several good washes to even start getting the purple dye off the fingers.

Tuesday 30
Yesterday I found myself wearing a pair of shorts almost all day. Yeah, so what? Well it was the first time for a week that I have worn any clothes at all because it has been so hot – except for a couple of hours on Saturday and Sunday when I knew I was likely to have to go to the door. At most times I had a pair of shorts to hand in case the doorbell rang. It’s summer, it’s hot, and I’m always warm (I have a good covering of blubber!), and our house is naturally warm. So why wear clothes? Why not be like this all the time? Oh wait, I do; even in the depths of winter I seldom wear more than a pair of legs and a t-shirt around the house and at this time of year it is at most a pair of shorts. As regular readers will know I can’t be doing with all this fuss about nudity and the like. We all know what’s under each other’s t-shirt and jeans, so really where is the problem. There is no legal prohibition on nudity, either in private or in public, unless one is deliberately causing someone else harassment, alarm or distress, or performing a sexual act – all of which is enshrined in Police and CPS guidance. So be comfortable. Go attired or not as you wish.

This evening on my blog "Unblogged May", being a few notes about stuff that I didn't otherwise write about.

https://zenmischief.com/2026/05/unblogged-may-5/

#May #unblogged #blog #zenmischief

Unblogged May

Big some account of things what I done, but didn’t write about, during the merry month of May.

Saturday 2
So after a lovely dry week or so, this evening it has decided to turn on a deluge. Well of course it did; the gardener put the watering system in yesterday.

Sunday 3
So what happened to the rain we were being promised for today?

Monday 4
Well so much for a holiday weekend. One way and another I’ve spent the whole of the last four days (Friday, Saturday, Sunday and today) working – mostly a combination of literary society stuff and doctors’ patient group stuff, with an added flavouring of household finances and legal thrown in. The literary society people are doing my head in; they cannot follow simple instructions in an email, and cannot think it out for themselves – heaven knows how much time I’ve wasted explaining the obvious to them this weekend.

Wednesday 6
So suddenly the garden is full of roses.

Saturday 9
As usual, according to my brain, yesterday (Friday) was Saturday. When I got up this morning I was convinced it was Monday! And this evening I think it’s Sunday. So now I haven’t a clue. Please send a new brain.

Sunday 10
A report today says that there will be legislation to make GPs and hospitals share their data to create a single patient record, so all the patient’s information is available to every clinician. Well good luck with that. The government tried to make it happen about 30 years ago and failed: it was too difficult and the government wouldn’t listen to advice from the shortlisted IT suppliers. Will it be different this time? I wouldn’t bet on it!

Monday 11
So passenger numbers using Heathrow have fallen 5% in April. And the decrease could be more when the shortage of jet fuel and higher ticket prices really start biting. This is good. We have to stop people (and freight) flying, as it’s the only way to significantly reduce the environmental effects of the airline industry.

Tuesday 12
Over the weekend I completed the next board of 50 Postcrossing cards: here are numbers 551 to 600.You can find all my boards on my website.

Wednesday 13
What a strange day. Off to the solicitors early, but not too bright, for a document signing session. Coffee afterwards and then caught in the first of several torrential hail storms. Back at home, one hail storm at lunchtime covered a surface outside in a complete layer of ice, and the hailstones were bouncing off the leaves of the trees – all the while several tits were in continual procession to and from a feeder. Ended the day hosting another brilliant literary society online talk.

Thursday 14
Looking out of the window this afternoon at the bright sunshine between the showers, and there are small birds flitting everywhere. Great tits, blue tits, coal tits, house sparrows, greenfinches, robin, that I saw; doubtless others too. Including a few young tits, still demanding to be fed. They must all be nesting very close by: from where they were going the coal tits are nesting 3 or 4 gardens to the north and the great tits 3 or 4 gardens to the south.

Friday 15
Why can political parties not stop in-fighting, get their act together, and keep it together? Too many wannabe prima donnas!

Saturday 16
Eurovision. Is this not the most obscene, fatuous waste of money and resources? What purpose does it serve? Oh, OK! It keeps the lower orders amused and therefore away from creating unrest – remember all those medieval peasant revolts: too many slaves with too little to occupy them. Cake and circuses, dear boy, cake and circuses.

Sunday 17
There are days when the Tilly cat seems to alternate her time between ensuring work is suspended and wedging herself on thee windowsill.

Monday 18
More really pretty tulips from the supermarket …… and a gorgeous rambler rose from the garden …

Tuesday 19
Depressed. Anxious. Feeling yeuch. No idea why.

Thursday 21
Still the same as Tuesday, and everything is achy. Bah! Humbug!

Saturday 23
Blimey it’s hot.

Sunday 24
It’s even hotter today than yesterday; one local weather station says it’s been 31.9°C, 2°C hotter than yesterday. And the forecast is even hotter tomorrow and Tuesday; then cooling a bit. I slept most of last night with no bedclothes, and it was so hot today that even a cool shower and pints of cold squash and beer didn’t make any difference. I like it warm but this is too much, especially with the humidity is going up.

Monday 25
The large white phalaenopsis orchid I bought in full bloom on 28 November has finally dropped the last of its flowers. I’ve cut off the flower stems and am trying to propagate them, but never having done this before I’m not hopeful. We’ll see.

Tuesday 26
What is it in the Universe that causes us to have “one of those days” – where everything that can conspire to be difficult, or worse, does?

Wednesday 27
Visit this afternoon from two of the literary society officers to understand the size of the society’s archive etc. as they want to develop a plan for moving it away from us. I think they were somewhat surprised at the amount. But blimey it was unbearably hot in the loft.

Thursday 28
Well it might have been a couple of degrees cooler today, but it feels worse because the humidity must be higher. At least the breeze has got up again this evening; the middle of the day was really still after a good refreshing breeze most of last night. We’re promised another couple of fine, but slightly cooler days, but then atheist 10 days of cooler temperatures, rain and possible thunderstorms – which the gardens certainly need. So you just watch everyone complain because it is cold and wet.

Sunday 31
Here endeth the Merry Month of May, so definitely Sumer is icumen in / Lhude sing cuccu. Not that I’ve heard a cuckoo in years, possibly even since I left Norwich in 1976, which is incredibly sad. But cuckoos are still around in rural areas. Every year BTO catch a few cuckoos and put tiny trackers on them in order to better understand their migration to sub-Saharan Africa.

I’ll leave you with another gorgeous rose from our garden this afternoon.

This evening on my blog: Unblogged April, being notes on a few things from the month I didn't otherwise write about.

https://zenmischief.com/2026/04/unblogged-april-5/

#April #blog #unblogged #zenmischief

Unblogged April

A few notes on things this month I didn’t otherwise write about.

Wednesday 1
Spotted at least four April Fool news items today.

Thursday 2
So we’re due a wine delivery. You tell them not to deliver before 14:00. So what do they do, deliver around 12:30 when we’re both out and leave it with an elderly neighbour. It’s called customer service! Gah!

Saturday 4
Banks! Well actually Building Societies in this case. Yes, you can open an online joint account, but you have to get the second person to complete a printed form and post it to us. Two different variants of this today. So no guys, either it is online or it isn’t. The third Building Society: yes, it is all online and we will send you the final setup details, if possible by email. Guess who gets the business!

Sunday 5
Oh happy Easter day, spent beating our brains out over draft wills and the like documents which should be going back to the solicitor ASAP.

Tuesday 7
What a gorgeous afternoon to be sitting outside the hospital (waiting for my taxi).

Thursday 9
And suddenly the garden is ablaze with bright pink blossom on our columnar crab apple. I must photograph it! (It’s too dark now.)
Later …And this afternoon I looked out at 16 green parakeets sitting neatly arranged in a row on two branches of the oak tree, one above the other. Of course by the time I’d counted them and could get a camera they’d all shuffled untidily about.

Saturday 11
So Artemis II is back on Earth. Now can we go back to something that passes for normality and forget about wasting obscene amounts of money on shooting people and things into space for nothing much more than willy-waving. Think of the waste of money and resources; the environmental damage; how much good that money could do. And no, I don’t just mean America, but the whole world.

Monday 13
Another glorious Spring day, except for a quick light shower at lunchtime. The garden is full of blossom and birds.

Tuesday 14
Why are hospitals so exhausting? This is why … Today I had a 14:15 appointment about my back. I left home about 13:20 and found where I needed to be by 13:50. I was seen at 14:30 (so late) and to be fair then had 45 minutes with the clinician. Having phoned for a cab before 15:30, I got home at 16:20, with not a lot to show for it. Oh and the hospital was boiling hot; but people were still going around in heavy woollen coats and puffer jackets. At one point a fit-looking coloured woman sat down beside me; after 5 minutes she says “It’s really hot in here” and removed her puffer jacket revealing a thick sweater over … well who knows! No wonder she was hot – I was wearing just t-shirt and jeans and was too hot!

Thursday 16
Why, for no obvious reason, does one sometimes have a truly bad night and feel wrecked the next day?

Friday 17
Got my Spring Covid jab today. The pharmacy I go to is a couple of miles away, but I go there because they are just so efficient. Left home at 13:45, back home by 14:25 – and at the pharmacy for 10 minutes! OK they weren’t busy – two in front of me and only one lady doing injections – but they’re set up for this and have I think five stations for injections. It is a well oiled, very efficient system. If only everywhere was as efficient!

Saturday 18
Awake just before six this morning. Looking out of the window at the trees, the air was absolutely still; not a leaf moving. Very very unusual. There was a little breeze by mid-morning, but then it was almost dead calm again by teatime.

Wednesday 22
So relaxed today that my blood pressure was getting low.

Thursday 23
So what happened to St George’s Day? Scarcely a mention of it online and in the media. Yet St Patrick’s Day (especially) is always wall-to-wall coverage. And that’s just in London!

Friday 24
Sitting in the sun outside the hospital this afternoon, there’s a jumbo jet flying over out of Heathrow. And up there too a bird against the clear blue sky; looking as if about to collide with the plane. It looked tiny and was drifting in the breeze, but clearly well below the plane. No it isn’t a red kite, that’s one of the local peregrines drifting slowly around looking for some hapless pigeon for tea.
Other than that, very much a reprise of Tuesday, ten days ago.

Saturday 25
Now the daffodils have finished, we’ve recently been getting some really gorgeous tulips from the supermarket. OK, they aren’t dirt cheap (unlike the daffs; how can they do a bunch for £1?) but they’ve been lasting well, and been really pretty and joyful.

Sunday 26
Today, the first rose of summer. As we would expect on the Lady Hillingdon.Sorry not a brilliant photo as it was taken looking into the light.

Monday 27
Spent the morning cat-wangling, in order to take them to the vet for their annual check-up and jabs. We’ve changed vet to a practice in the same group but which is closer to us, because the senior vet at our old practice has retired. Saw a very nice young lady vet (appears to be at least half Chinese, likely Hong Kong) who had been recommended by the lady from whom we got the Rosie cat. We had some lovely conversation about the cats. All three felines were incredibly well behaved – they didn’t even swear at any of the dogs! – and got a clean bill of health. Tilly was said to be in wonderful condition for a 13-year-old cat, with no sign of dental problems at all and has put on a little weight since last year; Boy has a grazed ear, likely from scrapping with the cat next door; and as we knew Rosie could do with losing a bit of weight. Otherwise they did really well. Although my credit card hurt afterwards!

Wednesday 29
Now that’s what I call service. I spent the morning at the dentist, when I had expected most of the day! He needed to replace one of my crowns. I arrive for a 09:45 appointment about 09:15 and I’m seen within 10 minutes. Old crown removed and tidied up. He then waves a little scanner wand around my mouth, and uses the scans to design the crown on his system (basically a CAD system) while I watch on the screen. As I’ve said before they now have a very clever (but noisy) machine which sculpts the crown from a ceramic blank to the design it is sent. That’ll take about an hour and a half, says dentist; we’ll ring you when we want you back here; so we may be done before lunch (I was expecting the sometime in the afternoon and having hours to kill). Noreen had come with me and gone off to the local charity shops. So about 10:00 I’m ringing her, and we meet at the café for a really excellent, and large, full English breakfast. We wander back to the dentist about 11:30. Again he sees me within about 10 minutes. Crown adjusted and glued on; I’ve paid (very ouch, again!) and we’re on our way home by 12:15. So I get a free afternoon! Definite result!

This evening on the blog: Unblogged March, being things I've not otherwise written about.

https://zenmischief.com/2026/03/unblogged-march-5/

#March #personal #unblogged #blolg #zenmischief

Unblogged March

Some things from this month that I didn’t write about before.

Sunday 1
Very pleasant Sunday lunch with friends, including plenty of wine. Must repeat more often.

Tuesday 3
It was one of those days.

Thursday 5
Today my father would have been 106. It was warm and sunny, and I felt relaxed for once. It was nice to be able to go out in sandals and t-shirt and not get frozen.

Friday 6
After a lovely day yesterday, it was dull and rainy today. But then it is only early March. Although things are beginning to move. In the last few days I’ve seen the squirrel(s) going determinedly in and out of the drey in the top of our oldest silver birch – it was started last year by the magpies and the squirrels have taken it over and made a des res.
Also this morning there were two crows in the top of the far silver birch, tearing twigs off it – so they’re obviously nesting somewhere nearby.

Monday 9
So they’re going to completely close the A40 Westway between White City and Marylebone for 6 weeks: late March to end April. That’s our only sensible car route into central London. It will be chaos and the traffic will be a nightmare across the whole of west London. Fortunately I’m not committed to any hospital appointments or the like in central London in that period; just a Saturday pub meet.

Wednesday 11
I hosted another good literary society Zoom talk this evening. We do always seem to get a good number attending and some interesting talks. Now I just need to wind down and recover my stamina for next week, which is full (and I mean full) of meetings and medical appointments.

Thursday 12
You go to the osteopath and you come home with your arm taped together with zombies.The tape is intended to take some of the strain off the tendons in my damaged wrist.

Friday 13
Blimey, that was a marathon! Packing orders for the literary society took both of us all afternoon, and the job still isn’t finished – I still have some of the postage and all the finance logs to complete. It doesn’t help that Royal Mail’s website is a complete nightmare to use; totally unfriendly and unresponsive so you end up doing things by the backdoor just to get the job done. And by tomorrow there will no doubt be more to do.

Sunday 15
Why are hearing aid batteries such a pain – apart from being such small fiddly things? This morning I had to put new batteries in my hearing aids as they’d died late yesterday. It took 8 batteries before I got two that worked for more than 10 minutes. It doesn’t seem to matter whether I buy better quality branded batteries, or use the cheap ones provided by the NHS. Yes, the batteries are always in date; I always clean new batteries to degrease them, don’t handle then with sticky fingers, and try to ensure the contacts are clean. Even so it is almost a certainty that at least one of a new pair will be effectively dead on arrival – but eight is I think a record. OK they cost only 20p-25p each, but it is such a waste, and a pain.

Monday 16
What a super view of the Kew Gardens Pagoda across Old Deer Park.

Wednesday 18
A glorious day. Wall-to-wall sunshine; blue sky; and warm. A trip up to central London for a routine hospital check-up, with all the cherries and magnolias in full bloom, and all the trees starting to break into leaf. Absolutely delightful.

Thursday 19
Hot water? We have none. Error code on the boiler. Boiler man supposed to come this afternoon; now coming tomorrow afternoon, allegedly. Well it was a good excuse to cancel my hospital appointment that I didn’t want to go to anyway and get a load of odd jobs (like filing) done.

Friday 20
Yes, the boiler man did come. He fixed the boiler (it sounded like a dead sensor) and did a service. It took about an hour. Then he emptied my wallet.

Saturday 21
Another glorious Spring day. And a really good doctor’s patient group meeting to go with it. Marred only by news that one of our members had died, although he was well over 80 and hadn’t been well for a couple of years.

Sunday 22
This orchid has been amazing. I bought it on 28 November from our local flower shop; it was in full flower with two or three unopened buds. It is still in full flower having opened those buds and dropped maybe four flowers. I know these phalaenopsis orchids normally flower for about six weeks but this is over 16 weeks with even more to come! Just incredible!

Monday 23
This morning there was one very secure and relaxed Boy Cat!

Wednesday 25
Sitting over lunch I realised just how well off we are for breeding wildlife. Just over lunch we had a pair of coal tits, a pair of great tits, and a solitary blue tit – three species of tit which are likely nesting within 100m or so. Add to that we have a pair of robins, a pair of woodpigeons and a pair of collared doves which must also be nesting close by; likewise the magpies. Some, at least will e nesting in the rampant ivy cover growing up our hawthorn and one of our silver birches. In addition we have at least a pair of squirrels with a drey in the top of the silver birch (see earlier). Plus our local foxes; and who knows where they have their den. And that’s what we know about; there’s likely more.
I’ve also seen a report today that the peregrines nesting on Ealing Hospital (so maybe 5.5km away) now have four eggs; which likely means they’ll fledge one, two if they’re lucky.

Friday 27
Yes! Much to my surprise and delight we got some early English asparagus in today’s supermarket delivery. OK, so it will doubtless have been grown in polytunnels as it’s almost a month before the real season kicks off. But I’ll accept that for English asparagus, as it is the only type we’ll buy (it’s fresher and hasn’t been shipped across the world). So hopefully lots of good asparagus for the next three months or so.

Tuesday 31
After a hiatus earlier in the year (see earlier posts) in the last few days I’ve finally completed the next board of 50 Postcrossing cards (numbers 501 to 550). It’s as eccentric as usual!

Also now on my blog "February Unblogged" being things I didn't otherwise write about this month -- and featuring a conference of magpies.

https://zenmischief.com/2026/02/february-unblogged/

#unblogged #February #magpies #corvids #crows #naturalhistory #blog #zenmischief

February Unblogged

So here we are, another month bites the dust, which means it’s time for a look at some of the things which impinged on me but which I didn’t otherwise write about.

Sunday 1
It’s tedious but sadly it’s necessary.

Tuesday 3
Did it stop raining at any point today? If it did, I certainly didn’t notice.

Wednesday 4
In contrast to yesterday, today was a lovely sunny day. Looking out of the bedroom window this morning, there were two goldfinches in the street tree outside – very nice; although they are usually around. But what is that? Flying steadily some way off, across a clear blue sky, and going south was a single swan: large, white with a long neck; quite unmistakeable. Not something one sees very often.

Sunday 8
There seems to be nothing happening at present. Everything is dull, dreary and wet. Motivation has disappeared today if only because I woke up feeling very depressed. That caused me to cancel my hospital appointment on Tuesday as I just can’t face the hassle – the appointment isn’t urgent anyway, it’s just a quick 15 minute check-up which will waste most of the day.

Monday 9
Image stolen from the internet

Wednesday 11
Sitting over lunch we looked out of the window to see not one, but two red kites gliding over, very low. They really are big birds. No wonder the pigeons scattered!

Friday 13
There are days when you have lots of sugar, and days when you don’t have any. Given my diabetes the latter should be the norm. But today was one of the former; I seem to have spent the day guzzling cake and fizzy pop. Well it would be rude not to! At least once in a while.

Saturday 14
Sunshine! Lots of sunshine! A glorious sunny morning, although cold. And the afternoon was good too, although it did gradually cloud up. Doesn’t it make everything feel so much better.

Sunday 15
Only a day late for our Valentine’s Day dinner. Something simple: sirloin steak with garlic roast potatoes and a tray of roast veg (tomato, fennel, pepper, mushroom, onion). Washed down with the obligatory bottle of Champagne. No starter; no pudding; the main course was enough. Despite all, food remains one of the pleasures of life.
We were remembering our first Valentine’s Day together in 1979. It was bitterly cold and snowy; we were at my parents. We went the 2-3 miles to a restaurant, despite 2 inches of ice on the roads (somehow the buses were still running!). The restaurant were glad to see us as almost everyone else had cancelled due to the freezing weather. Starters, main course and wine plus a Calvados each cost £50 – which was a fortune; probably the equivalent of paying near £500 now. Looking at the menu, which N has kept, a gastro pub starter now costs the same as a main course then. It felt like something we really couldn’t afford at the time, but looking back it was, in many ways, a great investment.”

Monday 16

Tuesday 17
Hang on! This isn’t right. We had another essentially dry day and some sunshine. It’s definitely helping lift my depression.

Thursday 19
What an interesting day. The osteopath mauling my hand and back was the least of it! A trip to the doctors this afternoon produced two “amusements”, Firstly one of the receptionists asks me if the patient group could fund-raise as the nurses want an ECG machine – errrrr, maybe, but do the powers know about this? Then to see the nurse for my RSV jab, when she discovers the supply is out of date – rescued by one of the other nurses finding some OK stock well hidden in the back of the fridge. After witch tidying up the books in the book exchange was a piece of cake!

Friday 20
Felt distinctly mucky all day – and through into Saturday morning – which I put down to yesterday’s RSV jab.

Saturday 21
Well that’s a nice first for many years … this morning two (and sadly only two) greenfinches sitting in the top of the silver birch. They’ve been devastated in recent years by “trichomoniasis, a parasite-induced disease that prevents the birds from feeding properly”. In consequence I’ve not see them around for many years, so wonderful to have them back, however briefly. Add to that, a couple of days ago we had two redwings; they’re winter visitors and it isn’t unusual to occasionally see the odd one or two, probably in transit. Also this week we now have four squirrels!

Sunday 22
For the last several weeks we’ve been getting some really cheerful daffodils and narcissi from the supermarket – and they’re British grown!They’re ridiculously cheap; in fact I’d say too cheap. But they do give a cheering lift to the dining table. And given the recent weather, I’ll take that.

Tuesday 24
Just after 18:00 I opened the study window. It was pitch dark, but there was still a robin singing its heart out somewhere close by.

Thursday 26
Walking out of the hospital to get my cab early this afternoon after my audiology appointment … the hospital entrance is blocked by at least three police cars, three fire trucks and an ambulance, all with flashing blue lights. Chaos; no-one can get in, but you can get out. Fortunately they all backed off after about 20 minutes so my cab was able to finally get to pick me up. And horrible traffic on the way home meant I finally got lunch at 15:15!

Saturday 28
They clearly know something we don’t! I don’t know what was happening, but somewhere around mid-afternoon I looked out the study window and the tree at the back of us, a couple of houses along, was full of magpies. And I mean full. One or two went away and a couple of others joined the throng. At one point I think I counted 20 birds sitting in the tree, without any that were flying around. Here’s the proof …Count them: 19 magpies
[Click the image for a larger view]

On my blog this evening: Unblogged January, being a few notes of things I didn't otherwise write about. It's been a tough month.

https://zenmischief.com/2026/01/unblogged-january-5/

#personal #unblogged #January #zenmischief

Unblogged January

Here begins this year’s series of “Unblogged” posts, being notes of things I didn’t otherwise write about.

Thursday 1
Why is there an empty Champagne bottle by the bed? And an empty crisp packet?
Was it just me or were London’s New Year fireworks particularly dull and uninspired this year? They’re usually much more varied and colourful.
Why is New Year’s Day always dull and grey, even if the previous day was bright sunshine?

Friday 2
Endless paperwork and admin, day 2. New Year is such a pain like this.

Saturday 3
Endless paperwork and admin, day 3.

Sunday 4
What a wonderful bright full moon in the western sky at 05:00, with Jupiter shining brightly below it. No sign of Quadrantid meteors though, but really needed to be looking NE rather than W.

Monday 5
Hi-ho! Hi-ho! It’s off to work you go. Not so fast. You can if you want to but this one’s not playing. If only because struggling for motivation.

Tuesday 6
Snee. Not a lot first thing in the morning and all gone by lunchtime. Then very wet overnight.

Wednesday 7
I don’t want to be here: depressed, anxious, stressed and panicking. Surprising? No, not with N in hospital.

Thursday 8
Despite everything I slept really well last night – right through from 00:30 to 07:00, then to 08:30 when the radio came on. A tot of Armagnac last thing certainly helped.

Sunday 11
Yes, it’s my birthday. But it is not a happy one with N in intensive care and the medics scratching their heads over the cause. Not conducive to jollity.

Monday 12
Better news today. N much improved though still in ICU. At least when visited she was awake and conversing, although not totally cogently. Medics still scratching their heads though.

Tuesday 13
It’s been raining here fairly solidly for days. Boy Cat has just come in and left a wonderful trail of muddy pawmarks across my desk. He now wants his tea, for which he’s two hours late.

Wednesday 14
N now on a general ward, and seems to be improving slowly.

Thursday 15
Another soaking wet day; really horrible. I still don’t understand cat feet. How can they come in, walk across the kitchen and hall, up the stairs, across the landing and bedroom (all carpeted except the kitchen) and still have wet muddy feet when they arrive on the bed?

Tuesday 20
After two weeks, N has been let out of hospital. S&Z very kindly went and picked her up at teatime. She’s obviously glad to be home, even if still feeling fragile. It’s been a tough couple of weeks (for both of us) and it isn’t over yet (if it ever will be). All our friends have been incredibly helpful and supportive in all sorts of ways. So thank you to you all (you know who you are!).

Wednesday 21
Biblical rain. All day. There’s a lake in the back garden large enough to float Noah’s Ark.

Thursday 22
Gorgeous crescent moon on it’s back in the western sky this evening – through gaps in the cloud.

Friday 23
We now have a handrail on the stairs, although a couple of sections to be completed.

Sunday 25
It’s a marsh.

Tuesday 27
That was an incredibly fast cash machine. Everything processed like lightning; three times the speed of most that I use.

Saturday 31
Well Spring must be here! Suddenly our lawn is a sea of pale mauve crocuses. Sorry no photo as I don’t fancy lying on the marsh masquerading as the lawn.

This evening on my blog: Unblogged December, being a few notes of things that I didn't otherwise write about.

https://zenmischief.com/2025/12/unblogged-december-5/

#December #personal #unblogged #zenmischief

Unblogged December

And so to notes of things I didn’t otherwise blog about earlier in December.

Tuesday 2
Last Friday on the way home from the osteopath, I stopped at our local flower shop, to procure a large bouquet of chrysanthemums for N. They also had some large Phalaenopsis orchids; some white, some a slightly striped mauve. I indulged in in an orchid for myself! Last evening I looked at it on the bedroom windowsill in the light of my bedside lamp and was struck by the oblique lighting effect. So with my mobile to hand I grabbed a couple of photos.
People think orchids are difficult, and have to be thrown out when they’ve finished flowering. But this is not true of Phalaenopsis. They just have to be treated the right, but simple, way. Although you may never achieve the floral magnificence which the commercial grower achieved, you can get them to repeat flower once or twice a year, for years. Orchids are fairly expensive, so don’t just throw that investment away after a few weeks.

Wednesday 3
Cracked open the first bottle of 2024 Tavel (see https://zenmischief.com/2017/11/rose/ for my first post about Tavel). Verdict: really lovely and only a little behind the 2021, which for me was the best vintage ever.

Thursday 4
I managed to opt out of accompanying N to her hospital eye appointment – and by all accounts it’s as well I did as it would have been time wasted because she just got a round of boring tests. So I stayed extra long in the nice warm, comfortable bed, and then failed to do everything I needed to get done.

Friday 5
Gorgeous pink and apricot sunrise this morning.

Sunday 7
Its raining. It’s dull and dreary. It’s miserable. It’s December. And yet we still have roses trying to flower!

Monday 8
Eating lunch today and there appears a squirrel to sit two feet outside the window. What on earth is it carrying? Oh, the remains of an avocado (it’s obviously raided the compost bucket). And it sits there, quite nonchalantly, destroying the skin of this half avocado and throwing fragments everywhere – there can’t have been a lot of flesh left on it, but it was clearly worthwhile.

Wednesday 10
Phew! That was a couple of days slog getting cards and parcels organised and (mostly) away. So nice this morning to drop round to friends for pre-Christmas coffee and mince pies, take their presents, and relax.

Sunday 14
My trail cameras are driving me nuts. They’re set to take photos during darkness. The newest one will not take enough pictures; just a few during the evening and nothing after midnight. It works fine indoors, but not outside. The old one takes pictures OK, but fewer than I would expect, but enough to show the new one doesn’t work well. WTF is going on? Still one thing they produced this week was three foxes in the garden, up near the house; they looked as if one (at least) was an intruder on an established territory.

Monday 15
Last night there were two crane flies on the bedroom ceiling. Why? I know it is fairly mild, but it really isn’t the right time of year. They were obviously Tiger Craneflies (Nephrotoma spp.) from the almost unbelievable, and unexpected, colouring – clearly pretending to be a wasp!

Wednesday 17
Weird pink fog! Very foggy at 04:00 and still foggy when I got up just before 08:00, which was roughly sunrise. Looking east the fog was distinctly pink, presumably due to scattered light from the rising sun. But a very odd effect.
PS. I was indeed right about the pink fog, see for instance this Guardian report.

Thursday 18
Today arrived two Postcrossing postcards. They completed my latest board and take my total to 500 cards received I under three years. I was wondering if I would manage to complete the board before Christmas, but I had expected it to be a bit more finely judged than this.

Sunday 21
This evening we had roast half shoulder of lamb which we’d had sitting in the freezer for a while. And guess what? All three cats came along for a share! None had a lot, just two or three morsels – just a little taster so we’re sure that the humans have been out hunting for us.

Tuesday 23
We saw the gardener today. He was livid with his GP and his specialists – and rightly. They demand this that and the other tests, scans etc.; don’t explain why; and don’t tell him the results without him demanding. Oh and they don’t talk to each other either; but when they do they don’t read the correspondence; and he’s left as a channel for information – especially as he’s caught between three different health authorities! I had to remind him that (a) it is his body and his results so he is entitled to know and should be told; (b) if they can’t provide a good reason for a test (like he has a symptom of something) then he is entitled to refuse to go along with it (you’re entitled to decline anyway); and (c) his GP is the one who retains overall responsibility for his total healthcare. Admittedly I have only his word for all this, but it looks like a classic example of how not to care for your patient. Some body(s) need the application of an Exocet suppository.

Wednesday 24
Last evening we had a small amount of mashed potato left over, which we knew we’d not use in the next couple of days. So with some scraps it was put out for the fox. This morning, everything had disappeared. Who knew that foxes like mashed potato? I’m always surprised at the things the foxes will eat – like digestive biscuits! But we do know that cats like prawns; so needless to say our three felines helped this evening with our prawns. Sorry, foxes, you didn’t get a chance.

Thursday 25
Christmas Day, and what a glorious sunny morning with not a cloud in the sky – but breezy and chilly. An Alpine day, except there’s no snow. And it has been deathly quiet here all day.

Friday 26
Boxing Day, and still the commercial world are pushing out routine emails. Yesterday (Christmas Day!) and today I’ve had four emails about our bank accounts, several about upcoming auctions, and at least one reminding me of an upcoming subscription renewal, plus a number of others. All could have waited until Monday.

Sunday 28
This afternoon I unloaded the last two weeks photographs from the trail cameras to find a couple of super shots.
First there was one from 19/12 of the fox going over the 6ft fence to next door, with apparently no effort.The thing is that the guy next door probably thinks that the fox can’t manage his fence.
Then in the small hours of Christmas morning something I’ve not seen before: two foxes having a jousting match (probably over territory).

Tuesday 30
“It was that prolonged, flat, cheerless week that follows Christmas … those latter days of the dying year create an interval, as it were, of moral suspension: one form of life already passed away before another has had time to assert some new, endemic characteristic. Imminent change of direction is for some reason often foreshadowed by such colourless patches of time.”
[Anthony Powell; The Acceptance World]

Wednesday 31
So the old year ends with a bright, sunny, but cold day. Which makes a refreshing change from the rest of this dismal year. Hopefully it’s a good omen for 2026 – I certainly hope so! As usual I’m not making New Year Resolutions as I view them as self-defeating ordinances, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be trying to tweak and enhance things. I’d love to be able to start with killing the depression. Perhaps I need to invest in a few sacrificial Gadarene Swine.

Happy New Year to Everyone
Let’s see if we really can make it better than 2025!

This evening on my blog ... the boringness of Unblogged November.

https://zenmischief.com/2025/11/unblogged-november-5/

#unblogged #November #personal #zenmischief

Unblogged November

Being some notes on things (all too personal as usual) I haven’t otherwise written about this month.

Monday 3
Is anything happening out there? One way and another I just cannot keep up with anything, let alone what the world is doing. To the extent that I missed this evening’s Reading Group call, almost without realising it.

Wednesday 5
I was awake just after 04:00 this morning, to a very pretty moon veiled in some “lumpy” cloud. Difficult to photograph without crashing around to get my big camera, but here’s what I got with my phone through the bedroom window – the double glazing probably accounts for some of the refraction patterns. It was actually a lot more stunning than the photo gives the impression.

I also wasted five minutes playing around to see what my phone would make of a selfie in the dark – but that will make this month’s self-portrait!

Friday 7
Another trip to the osteopath. Back still isn’t right, but is improving very slowly.

Monday 10
And still the work piles up faster than I can clear it, which means this week is going to be a horror as I also have four medical appointments and an evening meeting over the next 3 days, and thus also 3 early mornings. I just feel swamped; totally submerged.

Wednesday 12
Phew! What a day – well morning really. First thing a check-up with the tooth surgeon; as predicted it took 5 minutes to say all OK, go home. After which I spent an hour sitting reading in the hospital before being picked up and whisked off to an osteopath appointment. Different, recommended, osteopath. Very efficient. In fact at one point I had two of them working on me! They do seem to have crunched my back and so far it feels much better. Another appointment next week, and then maybe regular massage. Home for lunch and went to sleep in the afternoon, while N went for an eye appointment. But hey! We’ve made some progress today, which feels good.

Thursday 13
And there’s more medical stuff! Excellent review of everything this morning with my GP. Never let it be said that most GPs won’t give you the time if you need it. I’d asked several weeks ago that we review everything, including starting to discuss care plans. My young lady GP scheduled us 30 minutes, and we actually had 45 minutes. And yes, we did cover everything. I’m going to get a couple of precautionary referrals (6 month waits, here we come); and I have a couple of things to action as well. So another day with a result!

Friday 14
Why is it that no-one can explain why there are days when everything conspires against one? Nothing is straightforward or easy; if something can screw up, fall apart, or drop on your toe, it does!

Wednesday 19
So I looked up at about 08:30 this morning to see large lumps of snow falling, which was rather unexpected. It was however disappearing as soon as it made contact with the ground. Within an hour it had turned to rain, which then stopped by lunchtime; and there was actually some sunshine during the afternoon.

Thursday 20
Blimey it’s been cold today. The cab driver earlier was complaining of the cold, and I struggled to get warm this afternoon. Although our postman said he thought it was warmer this morning, mainly as yesterday’s wind had died down. And it looks tonight we’re in for the first frost of the winter.

Friday 21
As predicted there was a good frost last night, around -2°C, followed by a clear sunny morning.
As often on a Friday evening the pussys got fresh cooked cod for tea. Boy Cat appeared in the kitchen about 17:00 singing for his cod – he only does it for cod – long before it was going to be cooked (we were getting our tea in the oven). How does he know there’s cod for tea this week? One can only think he must hear it arrive through the front door!

Monday 24
There’s something odd happening. I’m growing horns! Arrowed in the photo. (Click the image if you really want a larger view.)

Tuesday 25
Another of those days where anything that can be unobliging is so.

Thursday 27
So what we had yesterday was a budget was it? From a purely parochial point of view one is not impressed. We get shafted. Income tax thresholds not increasing until 2031! Well I shall get stung for higher rate next year, if not this year! Plus increased rates on share dividend income (although that’s scarcely even chicken feed for us) and savings income. OK, so state pension goes up, but I’ll lose all of that, and more, in tax. Alcohol will cost more, but (at least in theory) energy bills might come down marginally. I get the feeling (I’ve not had the wherewithal to calculate it yet) that from April my net annual take-home will go down fairly sharply; and certainly, given that bills keep escalating, disposable income will take a hit. Moreover I’m already having horrors at the thought of what my medical insurance is going to cost; it’s already astronomical! Yet I shouldn’t really be complaining (except maybe about the medical insurance); after all we can actually afford to pay a bit more tax. But not impressed. Bah! Humbug!

Saturday 29
I keep thinking of little snippets to write here – and then forgetting them!
One nice thing at sunset today was a gorgeous fiery pink layer of cloud making a line right along the eastern sky, with above it a misty quarter moon. Rather stunning.

Sunday 30
It’s the first Sunday in Advent. Just where has that year gone?

#november #personal #unblogged #zenmischief

This evening on my blog, the usual round-up of things which happened that I didn’t otherwise write about: Unblogged October.

https://zenmischief.com/2025/10/unblogged-october-5/

#october #unblogged #blog #zenmischief

Unblogged October

The usual round-up of things which happened that I didn’t otherwise write about.

Wednesday 1
As usual the first of the month was busy with household etc. admin. It was made worse by two things. First it was one of those days when everything did its best to conspire against any and every activity. Secondly the gardener was here. Having him here is so disruptive, even when all he’s doing is beavering away in the garden. As N observed we never get anything done when he’s here; certainly it is difficult to concentrate on anything significant.

Thursday 2
Another day struggling against the depression, achieving little, and failing to get to the bottom of the pile of paperwork on my desk. Seldom has there been such a rubbish week. And next week isn’t looking too good either.

Friday 3
Got my new hearing aids today. 14:30 appointment; arrived at 14:00; seen at 14:10; out by 14:20 and home at 14:45. Now that’s what I call service! First impressions are that they are much clearer than the old ones – and more comfortable.

Saturday 4
Today is N’s birthday, but as she’ll be at the hospital for a large chunk of the day (and home late) the major celebration will be tomorrow – although presents this evening accompanied by pizza.

Sunday 5
N’s birthday, Part 2. A culinary day. First off we finished the Sweet & Spicy Apple Cheese – we’d cooked down the small or damaged apples from our crop on Friday, and now sieved and jammed it. (I should write it up!) Then I sieved out the proto-tomato soup, ready to be finished for lunch tomorrow. Dinner was duck and avocado salad, followed by peaches in alcohol with cream, washed down with a bottle of Champagne. Result!

Monday 6
What a curious and interesting day. It started just before 05:00 with a gorgeous full moon setting in the SW, at times draped in thin ethereal cloud; couldn’t photograph it because it was right above an annoying street light. Then off for Covid & flu jabs, and get a new passport photo. Home to find that author Jilly Cooper has died; she was a long time friend of Anthony Powell and a great supported of the Society; we last saw her at the anniversary lunch in June. Fell asleep for a good part of the afternoon. Finally this evening a good reading group call.

Wednesday 8
Two or three days ago the moon was rising in the early evening at about due East. This evening it is rising a good 45° to the north, ie. around NE. How has the orbit moved so far in only half a handful of days? Well, checking it out, it seems like it does! The direction of moonrise has moved 44° since last Saturday!

Thursday 9
Off to see the senior partner at my GPs this afternoon as he does minor surgery. As I suspected he decided to scalp my infected elbow. Apparently there’s no obvious underlying problem. Seen 15 minutes early, and all done, in and out, in 20 minutes. Job done. Result!

Friday 10
It is Saturday, isn’t it? Really depressed; feeling completely drained and unable.

Saturday 11
It doesn’t help that I’ve done something to my back. Not sure if it’s the old injury or a trapped nerve. Anyway I’ve managed to get an osteopath appointment for Monday afternoon. And this on top of still feeling really depressed and incapable.

Sunday 12
Keep your elbow dry in the shower they said. Hah! Some chance. Well at least we tried: taped a protective plastic film over the area, but of course it comes off as soon as you flex your elbow in the wet. But it did make me remove the dressing, which I’d been told to keep on for 2-3 days. The wound looks quite good, although oozing slightly (probably because it got wet). An hour later and it’s almost dried up, which is good. Just don’t lean on it!!!!

Monday 13
Comes the gardener. In tidying up the front garden he discovered a very well hidden wasps’ nest. Basically they’ve hollowed out one of the railway sleepers used as border edging; at least two large entrance holes, but the actual nest is well hidden as you cannot see it! Still quite a few wasps around the entrance. We will, of course, leave it alone.

Tuesday 14
Feel dreadful. Back not really any better. Trapped nerve pain in front of right thigh. Can’t get comfortable; didn’t sleep well. And no power in fingers/hands. This despite osteopath yesterday.

Wednesday 15
Also last Saturday I completed the latest board of Postcrossing postcards: numbers 401-450. The display (below) was taken down today to make way for the new set.

Friday 17
Still in trouble with back & right leg, so another trip to osteopath. Not sure how I managed the journey through the pain and panic attack – but I did.

Monday 20
Time for the Paraffinian’s Autumn campaign, although they never seem to make any advance. As is traditional, the campaign started this weekend with Diwali.

Wednesday 22
Quick medical update. Back is improving, but leg still painful: but all seems to improve with each visit to osteopath (which done again today). Elbow healing up well; scab beginning to peel off. Having lost a lot of power and dexterity in my right fingers, this evening I realised what may well have caused it: using a potato ricer to extract the juice from cooked apples for the apple cheese a couple of weeks ago – it was certainly hurting my hand at the time. New hearing aids working well, and more comfortable than the old ones.

Thursday 23
The house is littered with well-loved and beaten-up catnip mice, which wander the house courtesy of our 3 felines. Today I found a couple of new catnip mice and gave Tilly one. This was the result …

Saturday 25
N came in from dialysis about 19:15; when she got upstairs she was very shaky and uncommunicative. Wouldn’t/couldn’t tell me anything. So an ambulance was called. Impressive response time about 15 minutes. Well checked over by 3 paramedics and taken off to hospital. Probably an infection as high temperature. We’ll see. Now I can’t do anything.

Sunday 26
A day struggling not to be completely paralysed with stress, depression and panic. N still in hospital; may be out tomorrow if she continues to recover.

Monday 27
Last evening I caught a late BBC weather bulletin. The presenter is already wearing a Remembrance poppy. Come on guys, it’s still two weeks to Remembrance Sunday. Gah!
[As long-time readers will know, I majorly dislike Remembrance Day; I wrote about it 15 years ago!]

Wednesday 29
N finally home from hospital about 18:30. She’s glad to be home, although still a bit weary. She’s under instruction (from me) to get to bed early and rest – the question is, will she take any notice?

Friday 31
It’s been one of those months, and it ended with yet another such day. I still have a stack of stuff to do, which should have been done ages ago but I can’t get to – for lots of reasons – so I’m well behind. I shall be glad to see the back of October; I just hope November is better.

#blog #october #unblogged #zenmischief

New this evening on my blog ... Unblogged September, being notes on a few things from this month that I didn't otherwise write about.

https://zenmischief.com/2025/09/unblogged-september-5/

#unblogged #personal #Septemberun #blog #zenmischief

Unblogged September

Being some things noted in this last month which I’ve not otherwise written about.

Monday 1
Blimey, what a day! It started on dodgy ground, with too much to squeeze in, and went down hill all the way from there.
Follow-up call from GP first thing: Can I come in today? No. Forced an arrangement which much better suits me as I don’t think this is urgent. Downside is I have to go get some blood tests on Wednesday morning.
Then to the optician. We both got away without needing new glasses – result! However the optician spots something in N’s eye(s) that she doesn’t like and insists on her going today to the eye hospital in central London. It takes N ages to get a cab, by which time I’ve had my eye test so I cadge a lift home. Home at 14:00 having gone out at 11:00!
Along the way I forgot to stop and consign the post to a postbox, and drop into the doctors for some sample tubes.
I would have gone with N except we’re due a supermarket delivery between 16:00-17:00. This turns up, unannounced, at 14:35! Gah!
I then forgot all about this evening’s reading group Zoom call.
N finally got home at something well past 21:00 having been buggered around by the cab company!

Tuesday 2
A very unexciting day, which was good after yesterday, and was spent regrouping. A quick dash out first thing to the post and doctors – before the rain arrived. Then, apart from falling asleep for an hour mid-afternoon, spent the rest of the day catching up on admin and paperwork, which should have been done yesterday. Most of the day from mid-morning was punctuated by heavy rain showers – which is good because we really need it.

Wednesday 3
Cometh today the gardener, which was just as well as overnight the metal arch over the path outside the back door has fallen apart (in the wind), and of course taken the honeysuckle and rambler rose with it. We shouldn’t complain as it came from my parents 20 or more years ago, and was not new then, so it’s done well. The rose (which hitherto has not been prolific but which we don’t want to lose) has been propped up, but I suspect we’ll lose one good stem. The honeysuckle has been cut off at about 3 feet for now, and will doubtless come again from the bottom. The upshot was to order a new metal arch. Well it’s only money! And all of a piece with the rest of the week.

Friday 5
Result (I hope)! I discovered I can get this autumn’s Covid booster. The rules say it’s available only to those over 75, but when you read the small print it is anyone who is 75 or over on 31 January 2026. So I creep in by about 2 weeks. I’ve been able to book my Covid and flu jabs for early October, so we’ll see what happens.

Monday 8
8 September 1979 was a gloriously warm and sunny Saturday, so N and I walked the 400m to church to get married.

Tuesday 9
What is happening today? There’s been a lot of helicopter traffic around. We always see a few choppers as we’re close to Northolt airfield, which stables a few including London’s Air Ambulance. But today there’s been much more traffic than usual, including, at about 17:00, three Chinooks in line heading towards Northolt. We normally only see them (and then normally only singly) if there’s some big military event, or a visiting someone who needs extra security. And blimey, they’re huge noisy beasts.

Saturday 13
We seem to have made a habit of of having king prawn salad on a Friday or Saturday evening. And so it came to pass this evening. But who knew cats like prawns? We always keep them two or three prawns, which are divided out between whichever helpers appear when we’re eating. This evening we had all three cats, within two feet of each other, sitting there saying “I do like prawns. Please Mum, are there more?” It’s a good job we always buy plenty of prawns as they probably got through the best part of two large prawns each; and that was after cleaning their bowls of their weekly treat of fresh cooked cod.

Tuesday 16
Make up your bloody minds! Tooth op tomorrow and I was originally given an 11:30 arrival time. Then a few days ago they decided to change it and get all the surgeon’s list in for 07:00, so no food after 02:00! This afternoon it was changed back to 11:30; much more civilised. Apparently the surgeon’s secretary told the hospital they weren’t having patients sitting around all day to no purpose; so some of us were moved back to a sensible time. I must say I was rather relieved, and welcomed the elbow room. And this is private healthcare too!

Wednesday 17
After a few days of panic, the surgery to remove the remains of my molar was easy – apart from still spending too many hours sitting around the hospital and feeling apprehensive (as below).Everyone eventually found their correct hymn sheets and agreed I was having sedation and local anaesthetic, which was brilliant. The sedation turned out to be only like having downed a full bottle of wine!
I was in and out of theatre in 45 minutes – arrive at theatre at 14:20; in Recovery by 15:05; home before 18:15. Yes it’s a bit painful, but I have strong painkillers if I need them.
Along the way the senior theatre nurse spotted my infected elbow (which I’ve had for years). I was robustly told off and ordered to go to my GP.

Thursday 18
I slept well and tooth much better than anticipated. Yes, some pain, but controllable with ibuprofen. Gradually getting back to food: soup and softer things; will likely be almost back to normal tomorrow. Spent the afternoon with friends as, somewhat ridiculously, I was supposed to have a babysitter for 24 hours (and N was at hospital herself) – probably wise as I do still feel somewhat disconnected.

Friday 19
Definitely improving. Eating pretty much normally, although being careful. Almost don’t need painkillers. But still dozy in the head, so nothing accomplished except a request to GPs to look at the elbow.
I was sent home from hospital with antibiotics (because elbow), opioid painkillers (which contain paracetamol and thus conflict with the antibiotics), and some laxative (because opioid painkillers). What a complete waste; I’m taking the antibiotics but not the opioid painkillers and hence not the laxative – so these last two will just end up being taken to the pharmacy and destroyed.

Saturday 20
Blimey; it’s blowing a gale out there this evening. Mind there is a yellow weather warning out, so we can’t say we’re surprised.

Sunday 21
This evening I rescued a small fruit fly from N’s wine. Obviously it was wet and doused in alcohol. Will it survive? Of course it will. It sat on my paper napkin for quite a few minutes. Firstly running around, possibly to clean the feet and get the body working. Then, which I’ve noticed before, it used its front feet to clean its face; and back feet to clean its wings; rinse and repeat many times. After maybe 5 minutes, poof, it was gone. Clearly all systems restored. I continue to be amazed at the delicateness of these creatures; fine thread-like red-brown legs; tiny black heads; black & yellow striped abdomens; delicate transparent wings. At first sight you think they’re just black; but they aren’t. And how you can make something that small, which works, defeats my brain. They’re amazing little creatures.

Monday 22
Today we picked the apples from our two small (planted in large containers) trees. Although they’re not yet fully ripe, many were getting eaten (snails, ants, etc.) so we needed to cut our losses. A huge number from one of the trees (Falstaff), although many are small and will have to be used for chutney or the like. Not so many from the other tree (Pinova), but they are large.
I’m still feeling pretty washed out after the tooth op, which I guess is the body needing to recover from the stress and shock. So taking things gently.

Tuesday 23
It is wonderful to be able to eat fresh, tasty, organic apples – even if they are still slightly tart, which I don’t mind (I have been known to eat Bramleys as a dessert apple!).

Thursday 25
This morning my annual diabetes check-up with the nurse at the doctors. I spent almost 40 minutes with her; we covered a lot of ground, and not just diabetes. Overall she is very happy with me and trusts my numbers on blood pressure, weight etc. No blood tests as key ones were done a few months ago; but she suggested we do them again in December (before Christmas). Moreover she likes the way I track some things and took a couple of my charts away to use with other patients!

Friday 26
Tooth now pretty much back to normal. Just a slight niggle remaining so I’ve not needed any painkillers for at least 48 hours. Still having to be careful with the toothbrush, and not chewing on that side.

Sunday 28
After all this time it does feel slightly odd to be going out socialising. We had a very pleasant lunch today with friends who looked after me 10 days ago – so the treat was on me. They took us to their local tapas restaurant. Surprisingly for Sunday lunchtime it was not packed, with just two other tables occupied, one of four people (as we were too) and the other with a party of, I think, seven. Plenty of plates of tapas shared: salads, whitebait, sardines, sausage, chicken, patatas bravas …; followed by the obligatory churros with chocolate sauce. And it was good; nothing much more needed today; and the healthy eating option satisfied for the week – maybe!

Tuesday 30
I’ll leave you this month with a fairly rubbish photo of Tilly Cat in repose this afternoon amongst the miscellaneous garbage in the study.

#blog #personal #September #unblogged #zenmischief

Earlier today on my blog: Unblogged August; being notes on things from the past month that I've not written about elsewhere.

https://zenmischief.com/2025/08/unblogged-august-5/

#August #unblogged #blog #zenmischief

Unblogged August

My usual round up of things I didn’t otherwise write about this month.

Saturday 2
Everything is so early this year. Today I noticed the first yellow leaves on the Gleditsia in the street outside our house. Now I know it’s the last to come into leaf and the first to turn in the autumn, but this is ridiculously early (like maybe 4 weeks) even for Gleditsia.

Monday 4
So I was sitting on the loo first thing this morning, and felt a tickling on my right leg. Looking there’s a wasp crawling up my shin. It’s fairly dopey, so probably not long for this world. Anyway, I caught it, identified it as a worker Vespula vulgaris (no surprise there) and released it outside into Nature’s care.

Tuesday 5
An interesting, and useful 45 minutes with N’s (new, young) renal consultant today. He says he’s going to be attached to N’s renal centre for 6 months, so maybe we’ll get some stability. If he is as good as he came over then we might make some progress, as he seems happy to try to push things along. Even better he was communicative and took the time to stop and explain things as well as asking some fairly searching questions of N. He was also quite willing to admit that the NHS is very good at finding ways of kicking the can further down the road! I’m hopeful, but I won’t hold my breath.
But why are hospitals such dreadful gloomy places? They try with the main public areas, but once you get off the main thoroughfare you’d have more ambiance in an old submarine. They’re dreadful! They need to be bright and cheerful everywhere; it would help both staff and patients.

Sunday 10
I’m struggling with which radio station to have on the alarm clock. Currently the alarm is BBC Radio 3, so classical music, but I’m getting fed up with them advertising other Radio 3 programmes (and always the same few) between every piece of music – and most of the music they play is boring mainstream classical. I chose Radio 3 because I can’t take loads of adverts, but want music, and not mindless pop. But there seems to be no alternative; every other station is either awash with adverts or mindless music. The clock/radio doesn’t have a CD player, or any connectivity; and music through the Google assistant things sounds dreadful. Where does one go without spending unnecessary cash?

Monday 11
So today comes news that we’ve lost one of the very first literary society members. Well he was 103! An American and a real gentleman, who was part of the American administration in Japan after WW2, and then a Fulbright Scholar in London in the late 1940s/early 1950s. He became a Professor of Public Administration at Syracuse, and was a book collector who had wide-ranging interests across almost all the arts and beyond. Although I didn’t meet him many times, I shall certainly remember him with great affection as a real and erudite gentleman.

Wednesday 13
Blimey, it’s still hot and humid. Although at 27°C it’s several degrees cooler than yesterday. But 79% humidity is on the high side – and it’s going to be worse overnight with the forecast for 89% humidity at dawn tomorrow. Today has been uncomfortable; yesterday was unbearable.

Thursday 14
Yet again a day of getting nothing I wanted done. The get-up-and-go had gone off somewhere else. I did however manage to spend a load of money – but I resisted spending even more, which I guess is a result.

Friday 15
Today is the first ever Home Nudist Day – a low=pressure day dedicated to people who choose to live clothes-free in the privacy of their own space. Whether you’re just lounging around, tending the garden, or working from home in the nude, this lifestyle fosters body acceptance, mental peace, and emotional freedom. For me home nudity is all about being comfortable, liberal, eccentric (which is how I was brought up) and not giving a fuck. After all many, like me, practice their nudism at home because they have no easily accessible social nudist opportunities (eg. clubs, swimming sessions). There’s an article on Home Nudist Day at https://www.planetnude.co/p/a-new-day-for-home-nudists; and I’ve written here about nudism many times, notably at https://zenmischief.com/on-nudity-and-naturism/ (or do a search on “nudism”).

Saturday 16
Now here’s a curiosity. I was eating some cherries for breakfast, and you know how sometimes you find a pair of cherries, and very, very occasionally three, conjoined. Well today I had four joined at the stem. I’ve never seen this before, and even N – who grew up with the fruit trade – said she’d never seen it either.And, yes, I know it’s all to do with where the stems join and how they’re picked, so it’s not entirely natural.

Tuesday 19
What an awful day. One of those where the mood is very depressed and there’s no get up and go. A real struggle to do anything other than fall asleep. Why do I always feel worse when N isn’t here? – something always drags me down.

Wednesday 20
The gardener was here and as it was dry and not cold I spent the afternoon sitting outside repotting some of the larger houseplants. Sent the gardener away with a clutch of Sansevieria to pot on or propagate. A shower was required afterwards!

Thursday 21
Why is it always just before a bank holiday? Today I have a UTI. Luckily I got a phone call with my GP and have some antibiotics on the way. But it doesn’t do anything good for the depression.

Sunday 24
Cannot shift this UTI and its effects. Actual UTI seems better, not best. But still discomfort round bladder; temperature up & down; etc. I see a trip to the GP coming on again.

Wednesday 27
I don’t know. I can’t cope. I’m deeply fed up with it all. Still haven’t fully shifted this UTI and it’s associated crap. Call placed to doctors yesterday, but they’ll not be too interested until I finish the antibiotics tomorrow. Not enough sleep last night isn’t helping. So N has had to go interview her specialist on her own which was not intended. Bugger!

Thursday 28
Early this evening there was some fairly heavy rain together with bright late sunshine. Surprise, surprise, a good rainbow; always easily visible from the study window. I can never remember the suggested exposure settings for rainbows, so inevitably end up grabbing shots on “auto everything”; not ideal but I’d rather capture the moment than lose it looking stuff up, especially knowing I can tweak up the settings digitally. Note the very faint second rainbow on the right.At the same time the hips on the rose which has grown to the top of our silver birch tree were bathed in golden sunlight, looking like strings of red fairy lights. I had to try, although I’ve never been very successful before as the hips are too small. I think this is about the best shot I’ve ever managed.[As usual larger photos by clicking the image.]

Friday 29
Processed the rest of my resent photos, but I’m keeping the best under wraps for now! 😊

Sunday 31
Well I suppose it serves me right for leaving them by an open window … but bugger! My chilli plants are covered in whitefly. They’ve been relegated to the shower and sprayed (one of the few times I will use an insect spray); surroundings in study also given a good spray. I picked the ripe chillies before spraying, so they’re edible; but the 3 or so decent sized ones left on the plants really aren’t so I’ll let them ripen and keep them for seed. After that I think I’ll retire the plants as they’re already in their third summer and not being as productive. Then we can start over next Spring. Not that we need to grow more chillies as we already have a freezer full!

#August #blog #unblogged #zenmischief

New this evening on my blog: Unblogged July, being odd notes about things I've not otherwise written about.

https://zenmischief.com/2025/07/unblogged-july-5/

#unblogged #July #personal #blog #zenmischief

Unblogged July

Being some things what I done, or what happened, during the month of July.

Tuesday 1
OMG! We’re over halfway to Christmas. Already!

Wednesday 2
There’s just been a Cavalcade of Hats going up the road. (There’s a community transport group here called HATS, who use minibuses to deliver disabled children to the school down the road. So every morning, shortly after 09:00, there’s a line of their minibuses promenading up our road.)

Friday 4
And fun was had by all. We needed to swap in N’s new PC. This meant she had to clear the rats nest off her desk, and the one under her desk, then play like a rat to crawl under the desk to find where everything plugged in. Having ripped out all the old cables we put the new machine in, with less, and rather tidier, wiring. We had a countless number of various cables left over. We still have to clear up the remains. Oh and having recovered the space on my desk, I can now start work on our new file server.

Sunday 6
The only trouble with spending Friday humping computers etc. around is that I’ve done my back; and it isn’t settling down. It’s probably the old, old injury, but I don’t now have an osteopath. So tomorrow it will be find a new osteopath.

Monday 7
So today we went a-hunting an osteopath – and captured an appointment for late tomorrow afternoon.

Tuesday 8
Hopefully that trip to the osteopath has fixed my back; although it doesn’t quite feel like it yet.

Wednesday 9
This hot, humid weather makes everything hard work; it’s completely draining. But the butterflies like it. In the last couple of days we’ve had Large White, Small White, Brimstone, Red Admiral, Peacock, and Comma on the buddleia outside the dining room window – not as many as there used to be, just odd ones, but better than none.

Sunday 13
We sat down to evening meal, and suddenly there were two small whiskered faces looking up at us. As so often, word had got round amongst the felines that the humans were about to devour cold chicken (well make that any chicken). I think the only thing which out-ranks poultry are prawns – they hear them come in the door!

Monday 14
The evening of the two tarts. (No, not that sort!) We had gooseberries (albeit from the supermarket), we had blackberries from the garden, and we had some very ripe nectarines. We also had two sheets of puff pastry. Sheet one was used flat with gooseberries in a layer on it; no need to pre-cook the fruit, just sprinkle with sugar. Sheet two had blackberries and nectarine piled in the centre and the ends folded over, to make a sort of rustic pie-cum-pasty (again sugar applied). The gooseberry was delicious, still warm, with some cream. Haven’t tried the blackberry yet as it was still too hot. As N said, they’ll make breakfasts for the next several mornings.

Tuesday 15
Rain! We have rain! Only short sharp showers, but it’s water from the sky, which we desperately need. And if you believe the weather forecast we’re likely to have rain on and off for the next week.

Wednesday 16
So the gardener cometh not, which verily was a nuisance as we had lots that needed doing. On the other hand it gave us a “free day” in which to savour the delights of completing this year’s tax returns. And ouch! How much to we owe HMRC?

Thursday 17
It’s been one of those days when everything is a struggle. I wish I understood why this happens – what in the Universe controls it – then I might be able to circumvent it. Otherwise it is very annoying and depressing.

Friday 18
And suddenly there was on my desk a small Common Green Lacewing (Chrysoperla carnea). They’re surprisingly pretty (note the red eyes) – and their larva are great aphid eaters.

Saturday 19
A good doctors’ patient group meeting this morning. Only half a dozen of us with the Practice Manager, but sane and sensible considering the recent appalling patient survey results. The Practice Manager and I were both dreading the meeting. Basically something has to happen to improve the front of house, which we’ve been bleating about for ages. Meanwhile: we have rain! Lots of rain! Just as forecast. And badly needed.

Sunday 20
In the kitchen this evening, a very lively ichneumon wasp. I think a Woodland Darwin Wasp (Echthrus reluctator) but I’m sure the experts on iNaturalist will confirm (or not). Also found a very dead, melanistic ladybird; confirmed later on iNaturalist as a melanistic Harlequin.Oh, and this afternoon, three greenfinches in the top of the silver birch. Haven’t seen greenfinches for some years as they’ve been almost wiped out by a virus; so great to see them again.

Monday 21
So what happened to all this rain and thunderstorms we were supposed to be having? Well we had a few heavy drops of rain, but hardly enough to properly wet the pavement.

Tuesday 22
Do other people have days where they just feel totally incapable of doing anything? Because I had one of those days today. Apart from starting the supermarket order, I spent the day fiddling about because I could not get down to do anything. Very irritating.

Friday 25
I’ve spent a large part of the last couple of days striping apart several old laptops and PCs. If nothing else I wanted to get the hard drives out of them so I could clean off the data. I can’t get over what hard work it was to get them apart: hundreds of tiny screws, half of which you can’t move; and then plastic components clipped together and equally recalcitrant. Any way I’ve eventually got them stripped down to recyclable electronic components, several chassis, miscellaneous metal which can also be recycled, and a bin bag full of garbage plastic. All the hard drives have been added to my collection of “spares”; all two dozen of them. Mind, all that work has created almost no free space! Now I’m wondering what we’ve got hidden in the loft!

Sunday 27
Just how did the England girlies manage to win the European football? They never seemed to have been in a winning position, always coming from behind, and then somehow mesmerising the opposition when it came to the penalty shootout. Did they deserve to win? I have no idea. Am I surprised? Yes, very. I guess at the end of the day it all comes down to who has the best self-belief and can keep the cooler head. On that score: well done Lionesses!

Monday 28
Is there no end to the excitement? Today, for both of us, the 6-monthly trip to the dentist for a check-up and the hygienist. Clean bill of health for both of us; so we’re just booked again for January.

Tuesday 29
Rescued this morning, one Harlequin Ladybird, which was trying to drown itself in a sink of soapy water. It seemed to recover OK and, having had a rest, was released outside.

Wednesday 30
It’s a medical week. Dentist on Monday (as above). Audiology for a new hearing test yesterday; followed by a call from my doctor’s to book my annual diabetes check-up. And this afternoon N and I were round at the doctors for a couple of hours – in our patient group capacity to talk to patients in the waiting area. We never talk to many people (most just want to sit and zone out) but the conversations we do have always provide useful feedback. At the same time we tidy up the book exchange and check over the noticeboards etc.

Thursday 31
Today the first sizeable chilli harvest of the year … I picked 15 Hot Lemon chillies; the largest are about 4cm long. OK they’re not huge, and this isn’t a gigantic haul (although we have already had two or three smaller picks), but it’s from two plants crammed in a pot on the study windowsill, and now in their third season.Considering the number chillies, both these and scotch bonnets, we have in the freezer it wouldn’t matter if we never grew another plant. These Hot Lemon Chillies aren’t very hot if you remove the seeds/pith, but if used raw do have a slight citrussy flavour.

#blog #July #personal #unblogged #zenmischief

This evening on my blog, Unblogged June: being notes about some things I didn't write before.

https://zenmischief.com/2025/06/unblogged-june-4/

#unblogged #June #personal #zenmischief #blog

So this being the last day of the month, my Zen Mischief blog has "Unblogged May": being notes on things I didn't otherwise write about.

https://zenmischief.com/2025/05/unblogged-may-4/

#May #personal #unblogged #zenmischief #blog

This evening on the blog ... Unblogged April, being a few things I didn't otherwise write about.

https://zenmischief.com/2025/04/unblogged-april-4/

#unblogged #April #zenmischief #blog

Just now on the blog: Unblogged March, a few things from this month I didn't otherwise write about.

https://zenmischief.com/2025/03/unblogged-march-4/

#unblogged #March #blog #zenmischief #personal

Now on my blog, Unblogged February.

https://zenmischief.com/2025/02/unblogged-february-4/

#February #unblogged #zenmischief #blog

New on my blog: Unblogged January -- being diary-type thoughts on what occurred around here which weren’t otherwise written about.

https://zenmischief.com/2025/01/unblogged-january-4/

#January #unblogged #zenmischief #blog

This evening on the blog: Unblogged December, being some things from the month that I hadn't otherwise blogged about.

https://zenmischief.com/2024/12/unblogged-december-4/

#blog #December #meme #unblogged #zenmischief

Now on my blog: Unblogged October -- being this month's note of things I didn't write about elsewhere.
https://zenmischief.com/2024/10/unblogged-october-4/
#meme #unblogged #october #blog #zenmischief

Unblogged September

Things I didn’t write abut in the last month …

Sunday 1Well that got the second half of the houseplants re-potted – apart from two large (tall) cacti which are probably best left alone. This was mostly the larger plants: aloe vera and sansevieria, all of which needed dividing so lots of bits discarded including an enormous jade plant which was harvested for cuttings. But who knows how much of the offshoots etc. will take, and heaven knows where we’re going to find space for them all.

Monday 2After a lovely warm, even hot, sunny day yesterday, today was dull, dismal and not very warm. Autumn is definitely on the way; the silver birch has started to change colour. It all left one thoroughly demoralised.

Tuesday 3Today my 200th Postcrossing card arrived here. As usual I’ve just managed to get the last 50 on the corkboard, although it’s always a bit of a challenge to fit in the last 2 or 3. Anyway here are numbers 151 through 200.I wonder how soon my 200th card sent will […]

#blog #meme #September #unblogged #zenmischief
https://zenmischief.com/?p=33629

Now on my blog, Unblogged August -- things I did/mulled over this month but didn't otherwise blog about.
https://zenmischief.com/2024/08/unblogged-august-4/
#august #blog #unblogged #zenmischief

Now on my blog: Unblogged July, being things what happened during the month an which I didn't otherwise write about.
https://zenmischief.com/2024/07/unblogged-july-4/
#july #unblogged #blog #zenmischief #memes

Unblogged July

Being miscellaneous things from the past month.

Monday 1Why do these things always happen late at night? Last evening at 11 N says we have no hot water. It was fine in late morning as we both had showers. I check: it’s the same low pressure error that we had last December. But can I remember exactly how to fix it? I’m certainly not confident. Spend 45 minutes hunting for my notes from that previous time – to no avail; they’re not in any of the places they should be. Very annoying; have to leave it to the morning. So this morning I message our boiler guy, who reassures me I had remembered correctly. Problem then fixed in about 2 minutes. Now I’ve made some notes; they’re stored in at least 4 places, and I’ve given N a copy. Also fixed boiler man to come next week to do a service.

Tuesday 2I do just love days like today. I spent the whole afternoon checking that I have all the […]

#111 #blog #July #meme #unblogged #zenmischief
https://zenmischief.com/?p=33518

Now on my blog: Unblogged June, being things I didn't otherwise write about.
https://zenmischief.com/2024/06/unblogged-june-3/
#unblogged #June #blog #zenmischief

On my Zen Mischief blog ... Unblogged January: things I note but which I didn't write about properly.

https://zenmischief.com/2024/01/unblogged-january-3/

#blog #January #memes #unblogged #zenmischief