May 2026

Like I said, my life continues to manifest in repetitive foolishness & failures.  But luckily, I do have a lot of good family and friends who suffer most of my incessant & delusional scheming with kindness and laudable patience.

I doubt I would ever have been able to provide them with that mythical home & garden, but they do seem to appreciate some of the smaller things which I can occasionally organise for their enjoyment.  For example, I did manage to get a few of us over on an enjoyable day trip to France last year without too much chaos.

But then one of my more recent grand designs would have required all of us getting onboard with this idea that our family should start, as soon as possible, preparing for those 1000th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings celebrations which are bound to be a big thing and a lot of fun in 2066 although I probably won't be 100% fit enough by then to fully participate.  So, I thought, let’s not waste this opportunity when we could start having a lot of fun with this idea, right now, with a few dress rehearsals, some specially commissioned bottles of English Apple Brandy, and a lot of parties every October, for the next forty years. 

“Yes, Dad.  That sounds like a lovely idea.”

But then, occasionally, I’ll get some flash of insight revealing the appalling yet mundane reality of my inexorable machinations. 

Oh, what a gift that God could give us,

To see ourselves as others see us.

Rabbie Burns, 1786

Which leads me fleetingly to understand that my whole creative-fun-with-the-family thing needs to be kept in some kind of reasonable & simple order for it to be any kind of fun at all.

Anyway.  One Sunday in August this year, we shall all hopefully be attending the Lewes Raft Race which will cross its finishing line later that day in Newhaven.  It’s an annual event that we’ve always enjoyed watching, so maybe I could somehow but simply tack onto that occasion a few of the better elements from that idea, referred to above, about partying until 2066.  Of course - if I were to introduce some of those elements - I’d need to ensure they’re going to be easily enjoyed by all - and not be likely to lead down yet another hidden path strewn with tedious nonsense.  And then maybe we’ll see (in the real world) where those elements might take us.

So: for instance, thinking about next year, we might consider sponsoring the building of a raft which -after it’s finished winning races- could be transporting my new flatpack cathedral all the way over to France where (following an incident in one of my fanciful tales about the people around Château Daphne) Angela Saxon would be unpacking that building to begin using it as a front for offloading a few crates of English Apple Brandy …

 “Okay.”

Okay: so, at the very least, I can start with just one page of basic information (such as a plan to meet in Lewes in August this year as well as Château Daphne's ongoing countdown towards its bottle opener in October 2066) which is a page that can be opened here.