Saturday 22nd August 2026

 

Woke around 0500. Took a while to nod back off...went through A Poem for Live8 a couple of times in my half sleep! When we next awoke, it was 0945! Got up and breakfasted at the dining table with ma and pa. Watered the tomatoes. Aki and I walked down to The Broadway. Coffee at Number 9. Found ma and pa working in the garden when we got back. Put some lunch together...soup with extra chicken and vegetables. Aki packed and said her farewells, and I drove her to the Central Station, there still being closures on the Metro due to engineering works. I then parked up on Barrack Road...paid for my parking using the PayByPhone app...walked in to town to buy some treats in Fenwick's Food Hall. Town pretty busy. Addicts shouting at each other on Northumberland Street! Walked back to the car, suddenly realising that I hadn't input the registration number of dad's car on the app...I'd paid to park my Golf!!! No sign of a ticket, so think I got away with it! Drove to Dobbies in Ponteland to buy a fish pie for dinner, then on to Waitrose to buy some odds and ends. Sat in the car listening to the dying minutes of the Ipswich v Sunderland game...it was heading for a respectable 1-1 draw until Ipswich scored in the final minute!!! Drove back to High View to find father pruning the plants on the patio. I put a plum tart tatin together, and bunged the fish pie in the oven. Washed up. Watched a bit of telly. Stayed the course and watched the first MOTD of the season...the punters are as annoying as ever, but I was keen to get a handle on new players featuring for each team. Bedtime was somewhat delayed by my finding four or five sizeable moths in my bedroom! Had to capture each one in an upturned glass, and chuck 'em out the bathroom window!!!