Friday the 13th, a day to play safe on. I wake after a reasonable nights sleep and settle down to have a read before getting up but a friend rings me and I have an unexpected long chat with my friend. Its a good way to start the day. I get up and make a simple breakfast to take my morning meds with. With the kitchen cleared I head for the sofa and the winter Olympics. I had intended to read John Berryman but never made it that far. I spend the morning watching ice hockey and discover that my old favourite team, Arizona Coyotes have become the Utah Mammoth and I toy with the idea of getting one of their jerseys but good sense prevails and I pass up the opportunity.

As the morning goes on I do some research and order some non lactose feed for my youngest grandson, which will arrive tomorrow. It appears he might have an allergy to dairy products. The new frying pan arrives and gets installed in the kitchen. All the time it rains, it pours, it teems and its bloody depressing. its like a dystopic climate crash.

497
I’m sick of rain,
It does nothing but,
and I just watch
as my garden grows
verdant.
There is no let up 
from day to day, 
hour to hour
it is persistent 
and its boring.
When I am feeling off
and fatigued the water 
just dilutes my joy
and what resolve 
I have.
My couch is dry
from where I watch
football, rugby and skiing
in a deluge.
How I crave the sun,
to feel warm and 
to venture outside
without fear of being a 
drowned rat.
Should I be building an ark,
Collecting animals
or proposing housing 
on a flood plain?
It brings that kind of madness. 
A glimpse of a dystopian
warmer earth. 

				497  13-02-2026

My afternoon is full of exciting ice hockey and shit Great British Curlers, who seem to have forgotten how to play. All the time it is throwing it down with rain. By the early evening I am being the chef again and bake smoked haddock with savoury rice and feed my partner, who now knows that the cause of her illness is a campylobacter infection. Tomorrow is a trip to the chemist to pick up the new antibiotics. As it continues to rain the evening is filled with drafting a short blog entry and the men’s figure skating. A procession of adolescent pipe cleaners, all bendy, jumpy and slippery. Eventually I clear the kitchen ready for tomorrow and then I set my sights on my bed, meds taken I retreat and hope for a good nights sleep. Most of all I hope for a day with no rain.