23.10.2026

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  Friday 23rd 46F/8C [8.50]  Overcast, dark grey and increasingly windy. With rain starting this afternoon. A storm warning for Sunday. [Austen] This is presently battering the Irish coast and heading eastwards.

 Up at 8.15 after waking earlier and drifting. 23C/73F in the room.

 I have a routine phone call today from the hospital heart department. This keeps them updated on my progress. Without my having to travel into the city. I also have a flu and Covid jab this afternoon. 

 9.40 Had my chat with my minder. Off for a walk.

 10.00 Back from my walk. The weather was cool and grey. The wind localized. The little guard dog was back and persistent. The lady owner came out and we chatted. The suggestion of my carrying dog treats were considered risky. Because the dog might follow me home. Which would involve the busy, speeding traffic on the road. I hadn't thought of that. The new neighbours, on the road, are back. With many tins of paint visible in the picture windows. 

 11.25 I've just had my phone talk with the heart specialist at the hospital. He approved of the medicines I am taking and has prescribed for more of the same. It's all done online. I just need to present my health insurance card at the local apotek to get more tablets. The card is more or less an all purpose, digital ID. They have been going for decades. The same size as a credit card. I presume the resistance to such ID in the UK. Is due to a complete lack of trust in the Fabian dictatorship.   

 

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22.10.2026 Yummy!

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  Thursday 22nd 49F/10C [8.15]  A cloudy day. With rain later. Peaking at 11C/51F. Windy from the south.

  A comfortable 22C/72F in the room. Heat pump remote set at 19.5C on the desk.

 Up at 7.40 after a rather disturbed night with weird dreams. Headlights shone into the room several times in the night. Presumably from neighbours at the rear coming and going. Very unusual. I hope there wasn't a medical emergency.

 Cooking class this morning. Some vital grocery shopping required. 

 13.15 Back from cooking class. Where I made a baked carrot dish with Timian. There were Danish meatballs, potatoes and a spicy vegetable stew. For desert there was an apple cake. All very tasty. 

 17.00 Back from the shops in another village. Three different supermarkets just to get basic groceries. The bananas were a black, inedible mush. Unfit to be on display!

 No dinner required. I ate too well at lunch time.

 

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21.10.2026 Rubber fingers.

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 Wednesday 21st 46F/8C [ 8.30] Overcast and showers. Followed by continuous rain.

 A steady 22.5C/72F in the room. 20C/68F in the kitchen.

 Up at 7.45 after waking at 7am. A quiet night.

 After a half hour chat with my minder. I switched on the bright light over my jungle. The 120cm tall rubber plant is leaning heavily towards the window. The Internet says to rotate such plants regularly. Out of ignorance I hadn't been doing that.

 There are three stems in one pot. Perhaps I ought to repot it. Using the huge bamboo support pole I bought. The current, plastic pot is only 17m in diameter at the top. Which always looked far too small to my unskilled eye. 

  The light was sold at a discount. As a builder's working floodlight. Using LEDs to provide a lot of light for comfortably low, power consumption. I fixed the support bracket to the boarded ceiling. Inboard of the south facing windows. Which are covered by the lean-to greenhouse and shaded in summer.

 10.45 Back from my walk. I was going much faster and more upright than usual. No breathlessness. The neighbour's mower was busy again after an absence. The fluffy Alsatian guard dog must be getting old by now. It turned its back on me and wandered away. It has never done that before. Despite years of turning its head away whenever I spoke to it.

 15.30 Following a quick search online. I have repotted the three stem, variegated rubber plant into a ceramic pot. Just one size larger. 22cm x 22cm With a 1.5m tall bamboo, support pole around 25-30mm diameter. I needed only two scoops of fresh potting compost. To fill the small gap around the original root ball. 

 There was no sign of root crowding. So it/they should not suffer from shock. Not with so little extra volume of new soil. I used a thick, soft cord to loop around the stems and pole for gentle support. I was completely breathless after carrying it back indoors. 

 The image was posed to simplify the background. The antique "bodgers" stool is concave in the oak top. So the whole plant can be leaned or leveled at will. If the plant grows even taller the pot can sit on the tiled floor. The advice online is to chop the plants head's off. To make them branch and bushy. I prefer the present "fastigiate" arrangement.

 Dinner was scrambled eggs on toast. With cherry tomatoes. That's what I am calling it and I won't hear any different! 

  

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