Thursday 24^th. Well, things could have been better since my birthday update last week, On the positive side, my sugar levels have stabilised and the pain relief meds are doing their trick, so I’m getting a decent night’s sleep. The downside is that my energy levels are at rock bottom and trying to move about is fraught with the certainty that I’m going to fall without very little warning. It may be tempting fate, but I don’t feel quite so wiped out as earlier this week when I stayed in bed all day on Monday and got up for our evening meal and some telly on Tuesday. My weight loss has reached the point where I weigh what I did not long after leaving school and prospects for improvement rest on restoring iron levels and boosting my appetite, the loss of which certainly isn’t helping. Bird activity around the cottage has been subdued but this afternoon the first Med. Gull since March was calling over the fields and at least 20 House Sparrows have been cavorting in the hedge opposite; we normally see only small numbers despite their regular presence on the farm and further up in the village.

Thursday 17^th. Well, if you’d told me back in December when my illness was first diagnosed that I would see Swallows this year, watch the 2023 version of the Tour de France, along with all the other excellent sport there has been and celebrate today I’d have bitten your hand off! Just to show how remarkable this has been, here’s the first cake Karen has baked for over 40 years, and very nice it was too. My birthday treat was a pleasant lunch with the family at The Clubhouse; a sister restaurant to the set-up at West Bay but quieter, though I felt thoroughly knackered by the end of it all.

Wednesday 16^th. Continuing bad weather and fluctuations in my health have meant that last night was our first moth trapping session this month. It brought species new for the year in Sallow Kitten, Yellow-barred Brindle, Oak Eggar and Dusky Thorn, though the general impression was that we haven’t missed much in the meantime. It was a brilliant result for England in the women’s World Cup semi as they overcame Australia 3-1 in a very good match to set up a final confrontation with Spain on Sunday.

Tuesday 15^th. Today was a real treat, with early broken cloud melting away into the first decent day for ages, it seems. Chris Cox ventured down from Canterbury to spend lunch with us – a heady mix of local cheeses – and while waiting for him to negotiate the traffic I dipped in and out of the women’s World Cup semi between Sweden and Spain, which was goalless and very cagey until the last seven minutes when Spain scored, Sweden equalised and Spain scored again to secure a final place against either England or Australia.

Saturday 12^th. The last few days have been taken up with trying to get my meds into some sort of order, with varying degrees of success. Currently the pain in my left leg is proving stubborn but as a reward for our perseverance we hit upon the ideal way to watch the women’s World Cup semi, which involved keeping the TV turned off for all of normal and extra time then tuning in for the penalty shoot-out, which Australia won 7-6 by virtue of converting their third ‘match point’. As it turned out, the remaining quarter-final between England and Colombia was an entertaining affair that England won 2-1, coming from a goal behind to book themselves a semi-final against the co-hosts Australia, who will have a mere 25 million supporters cheering them on.

Wednesday 9^th. Well the change in medication did bring about a change in the weather at least. The day dawned bright and sunny and by way of celebration a Yellow Wagtail was calling overhead; our first migrant of the autumn. Just before tea time two Grey Herons were circling above the house.

Tuesday 8^th. There will be much dancing in the streets of Ocaňa tonight after Colombia overcame Jamaica in the women’s footy, doing nothing in the process to suggest that England will fail to find them a right old handful. The other match was rather one-sided, France beating Morocco 4-0. Rather a lot of the day was taken up with trying to sort out my drug levels as my blood sugars hit the dizzying heights of 26.4 in late morning, fortunately whilst talking to my GP. In concert with the diabetic team they’ve settled for slow-acting insulin and a lower dose of steroid, so let’s hope this makes the situation more stable and brings an end to this spell of vile weather.

Monday 7^th. Now, you’re feeling weary and sure that a couple of extra hours in bed would be just the thing to take the edge off a wiggly world. So what do you do? You get up to watch England play Nigeria in the last 16 of the women’s World Cup. After two hours (plus time added for stoppages) of mental torture you arrive at penalties, well aware that Nigeria should have won by this time. In the event England won by 4 penalties to 2 and face either Colombia or Jamaica in the quarter finals, which promises to be equally entertaining.

Friday 4^th. Well there were some bright bits in a mostly overcast day that encouraged a decent variety of butterflies to skip about the garden, including our first Brown Argus of the year.

Thursday 3^rd. Following yesterday’s washout today was better, though overcast. Just before an afternoon shower a Hobby lifted on to the telephone wires just down the road from us. As for the women’s footy, Germany became the latest high-ranked team, along with China, Brazil and Italy, to be eliminated from the competition at the group stage.

Tuesday 1^st. A day of sunny bits mixed with overcast spells, which might not have been great but was certainly better than it has been recently. After visiting the tip (yep, we know how to live) we returned home to find England’s women 3-0 up at half time against China and after more excellent footy in the second half coming out 6-1 winners. During sunny bits in the afternoon butterflies in the garden included our first Small Copper of the year, plus Wall and Common Blue.