Living in my very own Bermuda Triangle

Apologies for not pitching up with a post for the last couple of weeks. I have been feeling a bit up against it and I have been struck down by a sort of inertia which I was blaming on that short spell of hot weather (which now seems a hundred years ago) and it was obviously only the one week of sun and in fact I did start an article on the on how sunny days were great for doing nothing and then found myself editing it in the pissing rain, so it all seemed too irrelevant to post. I had missed the moment.*

The guilt and disappointment that goes with never feeling on top of anything is like a nagging ache, added to that a fierce frustration that I am consistently diverted away from doing the things that I want to do i.e. writing, leaves me with a need to blame something. I do realise that this scenario will be familiar to many. A friend kindly suggested that as my care role has been ramped up a little recently by a series of minor declines in my elderly mother’s health, it will have taken its toll, leaving little headspace for much else. I’ll take that – I’m sure it’s a factor, as it seeps into my all day, everyday, but I don’t want to turn my Substack newsletter into a whinge fest about the downsides of the job of caregiver, so onwards.

Just a little aside, I have been surprised and delighted that my skiving off seems to have been rewarded by a number of new subscribers recently, so a big fat welcome to any newbies.

So, things keep going missing. It is like living in the Bermuda Triangle. The range of items is mixed, from two pieces of crockery, a water bottle, a pair of secateurs, a stainless steel mini whisk and a glasses case (though this did reappear) and a bag of minty sweets. I’m assuming I have left the water bottle out and about somewhere while gardening, alongside, most probably, my secateurs. The loss of the latter troubles me enormously as they are a fabulous Niwaki pair, and they were a gift. I am usually so very precious about them I cannot fathom how they have gone missing and I have driven myself quite mad rummaging about under various bushes and shrubs convinced I must have put them down somewhere and been distracted.

I have asked Saint Anthony to help out and whilst he must have found getting so many requests from me a bit tiresome, he has delivered on one item I felt I had lost without trace. Another gift - my Lensrappa - a brilliant design which I use for sunglasses to prevent damage from being tossed in a bag to scratchville when out and about on those days that start with cloudless blue skies and full sun and then evolve into cloudy and wet; Cornwall basically.

I have a few pairs of sunglasses and keep them in their cases in an old vintagey biscuit tin in a cupboard. A sensible place to also store the Lenswrappa I had thought, but after a number of searches it was definitely not there, until on one final rummage I placed the tin back in the cupboard and noticed it had developed a wobble, the cause of which was my lost Lenswrappa, magnetically stuck to the base of the tin. Hooray!

Saint Anthony delivered again and found a bag of mintoes we had thought to have disappeared from a kitchen worktop but was found having spent several days in the door pocket of the car. Obviously this was not a loss we were madly lamenting but it was good to have the mystery solved.

The missing ceramics are a small Le Creuset pot which we use regularly and a cereal bowl. Neither of these have vanished without trace as mysteriously we found two tiny fragments of the green Le Creuset pot and two shards from the cereal bowl. Neither my husband nor I can recall any ‘smashing time’ of either item. I believe I have said before that I am a clumsy person so breakages are not rare in this household, but these two items have been broken with barely a trace of their remnants. Yes, I have resorted to checking the bin for wrapped up broken crockery. Drunkenness cannot be blamed, for any assuming the memory loss (or cack-handedness) is due to that.

We have wondered if the crockery disappearance can be attributed to a ghost we have been made aware of in our home. We’ve never seen the ghost. Her presence (it’s definitely a her) is heralded by a perfume that is not a scent I wear and could not have been attributed to any flowers, potpourri or diffusers in the building. My mother claims to have seen her while staying with us some time ago, but she did have a UTI at the time, so I didn’t pay it too much attention. A ghost that just wafts about smelling floral seems an unlikely candidate to smash and vanish crockery so we remain mystified.

It’s here; the football fest that is the FIFA Men’s World Cup. I love tournament football and I am awash with wall charts detailing who’s playing who, when and where. It’s wall to wall games and I am in heaven. I will be watching as many as I can, though some fixtures alarmingly kick off time is in the early hours here. Scotland play their first game against Haiti at 2am this coming Sunday morning. I imagine there will be some quite ‘over-refreshed’ fans watching.

I will be supporting England Dear England - more on this later, but I also particularly love watching how other cultures approach the beautiful game. The fans and the players.

Just look at the South African team arriving at the airport here! How cool are they?

It didn’t end well for them, but hey early days.

I appreciate that for many the World Cup coverage can get tedious and as the tournament has grown in participants it is on for longer this time. Gladly there is always streaming for any folk needing to escape, but try looking at the Senegalese team in training without smiling.

I’m glossing over the shitshow that has been dealt to fans attending the World Cup; the way too expensive tickets, the massive hikes in transport and accommodation costs and visa issues. Not just for the fans, officials too. It’s all been a bit mad. Each tournament seems to bring with it more reasons to hate FIFA, the sports governing body. Clara at Hmm That's Interesting has written a brilliant post about it here.

For Ipswich Town fans (moi) the start of the tournament is also a welcome distraction, as it’s been a tough week. Our beloved manager, Kieran McKenna has left us. This man has brought utter joy to thousands of supporters, he has catapulted the club from the grim despair of playing football in the third tier of the English game to the top level, Premier League (twice - the first time we went too early!) He has been our messiah. His dedication, drive, ambition, belief, energy, player management and sheer hard work (alongside many others) has re-built my beloved football club and with it the town has celebrated, along with our pop royalty and proper fan Ed Sheeran. We thank Kieran profoundly and wish him well.

Dear England is a four-part fictionalised drama based on James Graham’s multi award-winning play about Gareth Southgate and the England men’s football team. Joseph Fiennes plays the former England manager and is uncannily like him. I tend to agree with the Jack Seale’s review in The Guardian here that it was veering towards a caricature and also glosses over his tactical approach. As a former defender, it was often that; too defensive. However, I did enjoy the drama as whilst the dialogue was fictional I felt it brought an insight into how it is for the players. Yes, of course they are immensely talented, rich young men, living the dream, but they are also human beings, with frailties. I certainly remember thinking that when Gareth Southgate took over as England manager the players did appear to be in a happier place.

Van Morrison - Precious Time

Whilst I said earlier the World Cup is with us for five whole weeks, we know that of course that time will rush past… and of course, that it is precious.

This is the second time Van the Man has appeared as my song of the week and no apologies required for that, especially as he appears here with boogie-woogie maestro Jules on piano.

Thanks for reading this far. If you liked it I would be most grateful for a click on the ❤️ button as it helps my writing become more visible to non-subscribers and makes me happy. Thanks again.

*sun is back… and so very welcome! 🌞