Storm Eunice

Susan is leaving for South Korea on Friday and as with all foreign travel, it comes with its own set of conditions. The UK government guidelines state that on arrival, she is required to be tested for Covid and will be taken to a test centre and must stay there until a negative result has been obtained. Checking on the Korean website is a must, as they state you will be escorted to a test centre and then to a hotel to await your fate. If you are all clear you can then start your visit, if not, you stay in the facility until you are clear. As she is only there for 9 days, hopefully, she will pass the test with flying colours and can get to work. We all wish her a happy and covid free trip but I for one will be happier when she is back. One must not forget that evil Teletubby Kim Jong-un just over the border, who is up to all sorts of nasty games.

Talking of Teletubbies, the storyline is; Tinky-Winky, Dipsy, Laa Laa and Po play around, laugh, dance and sing as they go about their days in a scenic Teletubbyland while a baby-faced sun interacts with them in a fun way.

In North Korea the storyline is different; Kim Jong-un, Kim Yo Jong, Putin and Trump play around marching, firing rockets, killing and detaining people, not in a fun way. This is a deprived land called North Korea.

We have just had a storm, Storm Eunice, of all names but she was quite a beast. Winds of 122 mph were recorded on the Isle of Wight. That is proper wind, with the wind came the rain and trees fell on unsuspecting cars, a few people and several trampolines went into orbit. The railways were all at a stop, this time there was more than leaves on the track.

We did not get away lightly, our two garden chairs were blown over as was the tree in the front of our house. The bird feeder was blown off its hook and our side gate was blown open. The tree in the front of the house was in a pot, so easily rectified. The power of the wind did give us food for thought. When it all blows over we have some work to do.

It does seem as if things are going wrong at the moment, Omicron, Ukraine and now Storm Eunice. Batten down the hatches my friends, we may be in for a rocky ride. Talking of travel, this is a week of extremes for us. Susan is in Korea, Michael is in France and Robert is off to Switzerland on business, leaves Wednesday. Michael is taking a skiing holiday, well, snowboarding actually, he prefers not to have two paddles tied to his feet. Kate on the other hand is quite the expert and with all her road running will be able to do many downhill runs. Yep, our Kate runs 10kms on a regular basis, quite the athlete now that she is residing in the UK.

Talking of Kate, do not mention weddings, she is becoming an expert at organising those as well as her teaching and running, we must not forget her netball. No wonder she is so slim, she never gets time to eat. Back to weddings, we stay clear of that subject for obvious reasons, if we mention it, that will be Kate bending your ear for the next hour. Talking about getting animated!

Let us change that chilling subject to something positive. I took Jenson for a walk this morning and with the tail end of Storm Eunice, it was a surprisingly enjoyable walk. No rain, although there were dark clouds coming in over the Purbecks and the wind was strong. Need to take him again this afternoon and I am keeping a wary eye on the weather outside.

Thinking about Jenson and his eating habits. He does enjoy the odd tray of chicken or lamb pate on his dog chucks but recently has not finished his chunks. Today I cut up a pork sausage and mixed that in with the chunks, disguising the chunks. He was not fooled and left half of them but did manage to find all the bits of sausage. On the subject of sausages, I have 2 cooked BBQ sausages in the fridge, I find they repeat on me but if anyone is interested, pop around and pick them up. I will keep them for another week and if no one takes up my offer, I will be forced to bin them. Pity, as they will make a tasty snack.

Just an update on Susan’s trip. She passed the covid test with flying colours, to be fair she did many hours of research so she knew her subject. The Korean authorities have let her loose on the naive Korean population and she will spread her cheer. My advice to them is, just smile.