21st December, 2021

639 days since our first lockdown day.

It has been a busy week. Sally and Jim came from Romania last week but because of Covid rules, they self isolated for the two mandatory days at our house. No problem for us as we enjoyed their exclusive company during that time. They then went to London/Croydon to help with preparations for Jim’s Mum’s funeral. Gillian is not too well and they were hoping she would be able to come out of hospital for Olive’s funeral at St. Georges Church on Monday of this week.

David’s ex is still causing problems with the divorce settlement. As I see it, David has tried, to his financial detriment, to reach an agreement, which she has chosen to block at every turn and has now dismissed her barrister and continues with her “not fully qualified” representative. She does herself no favours by sticking with this poor lady who is, effectively, controlled by her. The latest offer by David and his representative, seems to indicate a possible end to the whole thing but it depends on whether or not his ex feels she will lose control. Because that is what it is all about. There are many parallels in behaviour with Boris Johnson, albeit at a different levels. I think that the Judge, if it gets that far, will recognise this and my feeling is that she will not let things get that far as she then loses control. Although she is squeezing as much, financially, as she can, it’s “winning” that counts. I think she is operating the same way with the children but sadly for her, they are growing up and can no doubt work out what is going on for themselves. David is a great and very caring dad and they will see that.

We went to London on Sunday by train, to be at Olive’s funeral. The Hull Trains journey was perfect and comfortable and Sally met us at Kings Cross and we took a bus and a train to our hotel, The Innkeepers Lodge in Beckenham. We then went for tea to see Ken and the family in Shirley, Croydon. Sally took us back to the hotel which we went to by bus. It was lovely to find that arrangements had been made for Gillian to get “time off” from hospital t attend the funeral on Monday.

The Funeral itself was quite “churchy” but lovely, and Sally was one of the speakers, and talked well about Olive’s later life. She was a very interesting lady. Afterwards we went to the church hall for nibbles. It was lovely to see Co;in and Ivy and their “kids” Luke and Rosemary. It was also great to meet up with Dwight, Jim’s pal since they were 11. We had met him before but not for two or three decades but he greeted us like old friends. A really lovely man and clearly a good loyal family friend. After the “wake” we went back to Kens house for a short while before we set off home. Jim’s brother, Richard, took us to West Wycombe railway station. At KIng’s Cross our train left bang on time. Everything was perfect until we got to our house.

We waved to our taxi from the station and went into the house. I realised I had lost my wallet containing nearly £300, bus and train passes and VISA and debit cards. We jumped into our car and chased the taxi and I got out of the car at hull station and looked for a mask in my man bag. Guess what I found? You guessed it. The damned wallet. What a numpty! Enough said. Jenny had been driving and was not impressed.

On Sunday I went to watch Ronnie play football. They did not play well and lost 4.1 but Ronnie scored a tremendous volley. It was a horrible morning, damp and cold.

Visited mum a couple of times. She remembers she has had her booster but not much else. A neighbour had reported seeing her stood on the front step of her house, very confused. She went back in and Angela rang to make sure she was OK. She was. We will have to keep an eye on the situation.

The Covid pandemic rumbles on so I took a swab test and with just one line showing, I am clear again. Jenny and I always wear masks. Enough said.

Boris Johnson rumbles on as usual. Or should I say “rambles”. What with becoming a father for the “nth” time, parties at number 10, Liz Truss, most of his cabinet being incompetent and just awful Tory performances, he has had an awful year. He deserves no better. We need Alan Johnson to step up but it would require a Labour government. Anyway, he doesn’t want the job.