A couple of weeks or so ago, I was writing what I thought was a rather lengthy but amusing blog, when annoyingly the screen on my PC suddenly turned blue and the computer began to buzz loudly. The hard drive had gone caput! The automatic save draft facility apparently doesn’t work when the drive becomes toast. Feeling depressed I couldn’t face writing it again, so I went for a chat with the wise apple tree in the garden and told it all about my problems. I felt better about it.

After a few days, I eventually got around to starting the blog again on my laptop and this is what I can remember:

I have discovered that beetroot juice is good for you and I make a lot of it. Usually, all the little seeds in the packet germinate and I can’t bear to see any go to waste so I transplant all the thinnings into new rows and this inevitably means I have a huge surplus.

Sue had a birthday (I won’t say which) and I took her to Manchester to see her Uncle Stan, we stayed the night in a dead posh hotel from the DeVere chain and she had her birthday meal in its restaurant. We could tell that it was popular with the rich, Man. U.FC  and Man. City FC players eat there and also play golf on its exclusive course, many of them conveniently have their homes/mansions set around the grounds. The following day, on our exit from the hotel we noticed that 2 out of every 3 of these luxurious properties had a for sale sign outside. Such is the life of professional footballers and a busy transfer market.

I now have an allotment located inconveniently on the north side of the town. Sue isn’t too happy about it as she much prefers her vegetables wrapped in cellophane or already frozen and packaged. Jamie informed me that he is planning to build a house on it.

I now eat Manuka Honey. It is supposed to be very good for your health and I think it seems to be working, but it is early days, so I shall reserve judgement for a few weeks yet. Its benefits are controversial, but I expect to outlive Tutankhamun (but then most people have).

Ellis is growing quickly and will be following in his granddad’s footsteps (or side steps and crunching tackles) and be joining Harborough RUFC soon.

The Newarks are soon to be Desborians. Suraj has now got a job working for Northamptonshire Council, he finishes work with Newark this week and begins in Wellingborough, Thrapston and Kettering on next Monday. It will entail a lot of driving. We are expecting that he will stay with us during the working week, returning home on Fridays. They have bought a new house in Desborough, though it is not been built yet. They have been given a date for completion sometime in the winter months by the house builders Persimmon, who have also bought their property in Newark on an exchange scheme. Suraj and Charlotte are busy deciding on kitchens/doors/sockets etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. Its a very exciting time for them.

Jamie and Harley are still seeing each other. I think he is keen to get a place of his own and at present has plans to move in with a friend who has a bungalow, but nothing seems to come of it at present. He still enjoys spending any spare money on his car and it has new racing cams as well as a new oil cooler. Fitting them was fraught with difficulty and was quite traumatic for him, but they did eventually get fitted and work as they should. I can’t face explaining how we managed to fix them into the engine, but it involved a lot of oil being sprayed everywhere in my nice clean garage.

After Suraj attempted cutting Lucas’s hair, thankfully it is growing again and he looks less like Yul Brynner.

One evening, Sue persuaded me to accompany her and see a very boring period costume drama at Harborough Theatre. After half an hour of tedious posturing in over elegant clothing and listening to the inane dialogue she fell asleep, and annoyingly I did not! Nudging her, she would briefly wake, utter she was resting her eyes, then slump again on the chair in front! Despite protesting she hadn’t been sleeping, I was quizzed on the journey home as to what had happened. Tongue in cheek made it up.

Nan, Roger and I will fly off to Bulgaria to see my step-brother David tomorrow. I am looking forward to staying at David’s, but guiding  Nan through security, passport control and a budget airline fills me with concern. Especially, as Roger said he would keep an eye on her while I was sorting out a safe passage. But who I ask will be keeping an eye on him?