3.01.2026 Walking wounded.

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  Saturday 3rd 19F/-6C (9.30) A cold, bright, sunny morning with snow forecast for after lunch. 60F/16C in the room. 0C/33F in the greenhouse. 40F/4.4C in the greenhouse pond. No more than 1cm or ½" of snow lying locally so far. Elsewhere, in Denmark, up to 24cm or 10" has fallen.

  Up again at 9 am after getting up in the night. I was so fed up with lying awake that I got up at 2.30 and stayed up until 4.30. Feeding a small fire in the stove as I watched YT. Both log baskets were empty by the time I went back to bed. I shall restock in a moment and relight the stove yet again. 

 I am steadily recovering from my Man Cold. For most of yesterday I could feel the improvement. So far this morning I am still trying to clear my nose and chest. I'll try a walk once the stove is going well.   

 10.00 Stove going. I have run out of softwood kindling but have loads of scraps and flakes of dry beech going back years.  A basket full has been brought indoors to dry out further. Providing many days of kindling. Another basket of larger logs will feed the stove all day. I have had a couple of coughing fits. Which left me breathless. It is darker indoors with the snow lying on the lean-to, greenhouse roof. 

 10.40 Back from a short walk along the road. I wore my Scarpa walking boots for a change. With vague and over-ambitious plans to take a tour along the spray tracks on the prairie. Though I soon realised I wasn't really strong enough for such gallivanting. The road was all but clear. It had been salted but a few white patches remained. Relying on the traffic and blinding sunshine to remove the last vestiges of ice and snow. I returned well warmed up. Having upset the outdoor guard dog. With yet another coughing fit. Myself, not the long haired Alsatian.

 The extended forecast for wintry showers. Suggests that any plans for shopping should be made this morning. The roads are perfectly safe until they aren't. There is that special class of moron. Which always drives too fast and makes no adjustments for the road conditions. Tailgating, speeding, cutting every corner. Overtaking to gain a single vehicle length in the grid lock to hell is their ego trip.  

 Their sickening behaviour is to be seen on every icy surface and flooded road. Their lunacy displayed every time there is a cloudburst on the motorway or dual carriageway. Their insurance, if they still have any, is their get-out clause. And if not, then stimulants are readily available within their vicious circle. Should they need to leave their victims choking on their own blood. 

 One is constantly reading of the pathetic sentences handed to those who break every rule in the book. Preserving their absolute right to drive seems to be the highest priority of many courts. Regardless of the dangers they represent to society. Miserably low fines for driving at high speed while drunk and drugged. The only serious potential punishment seems to be confiscation of their vehicles. Which may well be hired or leased anyway.

 12.30 I have been dozing on the computer as I wait to make lunch. The room temperature is slowly sneaking towards 64F/17.8C. The low sun has already sunk below approaching clouds. 

 14.30 Back from the shops with reserves of bread rolls and chicken. Fortunately there are two supermarkets in the village. To compensate for poor stock maintenance. To blame the season's holidays is to completely miss the point. Supermarkets are supposed to be restocked automatically. This was true decades ago. The only excuse is incompetence.

 Dinner was mackerel in tomato sauce on toast. 

 8.00 21F/-6C. Clear and bright moonlight. Expected to warm by a degree or two overnight. No new snow so far. 64F/18C in the room. I am warm in a fleece jacket. Usually too warm in bed.

  

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2.01.2026 What genius?

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  Friday 2nd 32F/0C [9.00] A brighter start to wintry showers. Westerly wind going NW and increasing this afternoon. Only 62F/16.C in the room.

 Up at 8.20 after a rough night. I am breathless, struggling to clear thick mucous in my plumbing and it hurts! My slightly runny nose is trying to bleed. 

 Regardless of how I feel I must go shopping. Particularly with snow forecast. I have no rolls or milk left. The chain of supermarkets, which ran a private, home delivery service, closed it down.

 I am confused. As usual. I just scored a perfect 10/10 on a YT test for symptoms of ADHD. Then moved on to score a perfect 10/10 for traits common to geniuses. What's next? What other exceptional variations can I lay claim to? Autism? That's a popular one. Everybody is on the spectrum these days. They'll be holding Autism Olympics next.

11.30 Back from the shops. No walk and I delayed morning coffee. Shopping was more important. The fridge is full again. Morning coffee was satisfactorily accomplished. 

 12.40 It has gone very dark. I had better light the stove. It suddenly feels a bit chilly. I took the full ash can across the yard. Pausing to straighten the Morris's screen wash jet with a map pin. I discovered it had gone awry on this morning's journey. The granite gravel on the parking space has stiffened in the frost. Making it feel firm and smooth. 

 12.50 The first flurry of snow. Already falling steadily only moments later.

 13.10 Sunshine eased the fall of the efficient white coating. I have the luxury of watching snow fall on my computer screen. Via the security cameras.

 The snow never amounted to anything serious. 

 8.50 The snow is still falling on about 1cm of white, fluffy stuff. Dinner was a healthy dose of veggie and organic sausage. With thick, Bisto gravy.

 23.00 A good coat of white is visible out there. As Denmark descends into a proper winter. -4C/25F by the morning. It may go as low as -9C/16F in the coming days.

 

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1st January 2026 Am I twirley?

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Happy New Year to all my readers. 🥳

  Thursday 1st 37F/2.8C [9.15] A grey start with rain and gales. 62F/16.7C and falling, in the room.

 Up about 8.15 after waking earlier and lurching from one dream to another. An unusually quiet night. I woke at 5am to visit the fire bucket. That was it. 

  I can report. That, on Day Five of this national health emergency. My Man Cold has finally broken. I still feel fairly awful but am no longer coughing helplessly into the bottomless pit of immovable goo. 

 The box of Kleenex remains untouched. Except for when I needed to staunch the flow of organic, low fat, Mini-Milk down my beard. As I completed my ritual bowl of oats and raisins. While still semi-comatoes and excused boots. 

 I don't blame myself. How could I? It's not rocket science. The milk is so diluted that it's viscosity is almost immeasurable from water. They should put government heath warnings on the stuff. "Runny when wet." That sort of thing. Rather oddly, it's no cheaper for being so watered down. So I am beginning to question the source of the water they use. How do we know its "Organic?"  

 I may even venture out in one of my recycled jackets. Though it's not a great day for it. I could plod around the parking area for a bit of exercise. Nothing too ostentatious. No arm waving. I don't want to draw unnecessary attention to myself. They may think I am throwing a wobbly about something. Then start going through my old Tweets. For evidence of malaforethought.

 9.20 I have just lit the stove. Somebody had to do it and the promised domestic robot still hasn't arrived. [For reference I clicked the blonde box under desirable attributes.]  I am not settling for any of your standard Chinese stereotypes. One has one's standards. 

 I am beginning to think robotry is all AI created video and fly by wire. Via a Sony PlayStation control box. Plugged up the robot's remote bum socket. That'll teach me to believe anything I see on YouTube! 

 AI is supposed to be going exponential this year. Which is totally insane. Much like all of our supposed leaders. Except Mette Frederiksen of course. Who is absolutely wonderful. Until she turfs me out. Or locks me up in an old people's home and throws away the key. Probably on some Trumped up charge of trying to popularize the Dunning-Kruger Effect. I don't mind solitary confinement. I have been practicing it for what seems like ages. Does blogging count as talking to yourself?

 AI is being built by a few of the world's most predatory psychopaths. All of them bullies with well now histories of cheating, mistreating and dismissing large numbers of people. AI uses data from the gutters and sewers of human dregs. The Internet. Where every psycho vents his corrosive upbringing on everybody but himself. Where bullying and crushing large numbers of innocent people is the accepted norm. Where lies, deception and crime are openly discussed.

 So what comes out of the big, AI mincer? Exactly what you'd expect but on steroids. The leaders of the countries housing the main combatants are similarly 110% psychos. Xi, Chump + Putin? All of these are Hitler Lights but with much better weapons. None of these sickos are ever going to want to slow AI. Or turn it off if it goes completely rogue. They will weaponize AI long before the cheap gold paint is dry on the data centres. 

 10.00 OMG it's getting darker and darker. I had better stop rambling and get back to YouTube. Is it too early for morning coffee?

 13.15 Back from a short walk along the road. A few coughing fits but I survived. Lunch!

 The rest of the day was spent watching YT videos on AI and other subjects.

 Dinner demanded I regain the missing calories from foregone meals. Organic sausages, mushrooms an egg and chips. Probably went over the top. Particularly on quantity but there were packs to use up.

  ~?~