That was by far the worst performance of ANY football team in ANY league in ANY game that I have ever been unfortunate enough to watch.
Three Liona my Bum, I have 3 kittens here that would have shown more gutts than that shower.

After the last blog saying that we only had one kitten, plenty of brothers and sisters have now shown up and we have five in total, all looking more or less the same. Mowgli herself is getting braver and we are now able to touch her, but still getting a hiss off when we do, although she freely wraps herself around your legs. The kittens scatter back under the shrubs as soon as they see a human.


We had a few uninvited guests/pests this morning as the gypo's moved onto the land looking for snails. It hardly seems worth the effort as most of the snails are no bigger than your little finger nail and they spend the best part of 2 hours getting less than half a bucket full in the blazing hot sunshine and then another 2 hours winkling them out to eat, yuk. Apparently they are very tasty at this time of year as they pick them from the wild tarragon plants where they have been feeding so they then taste of aniseed, I think I'll stick to aniseed balls from the corner shop.

As mentioned in previous blogs about last winters weather and the incessant rain in Portugal, people kept telling me that the weather in the UK was worse and there has been plenty of rain also in the UK. Whilst Portugal does not have a clue how to manage many things they do know how to manage water. A new dam in the Alentejo region of Portugal (just north of the Algarve) was finished last year and was predicted to take 4-5 years to fil at the normal rainfall ratel, it filled in just under 12 months and I have just read that some areas of the UK have a hose pipe ban, told you it was wet.

Had great idea a couple of weeks ago, I thought to myself, I know I'll clean the windows. Being an absent minded old fart, I gave the windows a real good clean and they sparkled in the sunshine. Now one week later with grandchildren out here, I have more hand & finger prints than they have at Scotland Yard, I realised that it wasn't such a good idea after all, bless 'em.
And another thing, while I'm being a grumpy old grandpa, it dosen't matter which toilet I choose, I have yet to go without finding pee all over the toilet seat. Why can't boys be taught to lift the seat before they have a pee, never mind putting it back down again for the girls when you have finished, the girls never lift it back up again ready for us chaps, which would solve my problem.
Anyway, it was great having them and doing the things that we wouldn't normally do, like going to the beach, having a picnic in the forest, going to the zoo, wiping their bum when the call comes from the toilet, "I've done a poo".
They have now all gone home now and the place is very quiet, I was OK saying goodbye until Harrison said in the car on the way to the airport, "I'm going to miss you Grandpa", blub, blub.

Its all happening at the moment, the birds and the bees are very busy and unfortunately the wasps too as I have found a number of wasp nests around the garden.
The better nests that I have found are this one which belongs to a family of Woodchat Shrikes, apparently a species in decline. There were 6 babies in this nest and it was a bit crowded, I took this picture 2 days before they fledged. On the left is Dad Woodchat Shrike watching over the nest.
We also have Greenfinches and Goldfinches nesting in the conifers just outside the lounge door. I have put up a number of nest boxes but there is nothing in any of them, they all obviously prefer natural furnishings.

Mowgli the moggie has been very busy too. Last week we saw her chasing and eventually catching a rabbit/hare and then dragging it back to her babies, the prey was bigger than she was but she somehow managed it. It would have been a good time to follow her but we were otherwise indisposed. However, just 2 days ago we heard a different kind of meow and found her with a single kitten, emerging from the rocks down by the swimming pool, just need to catch them both now and take them to the vets for de-flowering.

Mum on guard watching over Lucky, lucky she didn't get eaten by the mongoose, or with ears like that, perhaps we should call her Bat Cat.

Result, sold the motorhome on ebay last week and got £2,000 more than a UK dealer was offering, less eBay's £43 fee. Trouble is, the geezer that bought it, (knowing from the very start as stated in the advert, that it was in Portugal), insisted on me taking it back to the UK pronto and as Niuck & Justine, Harrison & Finlay were coming out the following Tuesday, and I didn't want to miss being away while they were here in Portugal. So with some hasty arranging, I left Portugal Thursday afternoon to catch the overnight ferry from Santander to Portsmouth on Saturday, arriving back in Loughborough at 5:30pm Sunday. Handed the motorhome over to the geezer, who was from Bewdley, on Monday, got the bankers draft(he was a kind of a banker as well), he was most indignant that I wasn't going to fill the fuel tank with diesel for him to get home, t*ss*r.
Anyway, I already had his £1000 deposit before I left Portugal, so he had two choices, I left with the *anker's draft, sorry banker's draft for the difference, he had to stop and get some fuel on the way home.
It was quite funny when he left, as he had already told me that he was a driving instructor, obviously not a very good one as he failed to check if the motorhome was in gear, turned the key and oooops, a big jerk forward.
So, that was that and then on Tuesday caught the flight out to Portugal with Nick & the gang, complete round trip 5 days, me totally knackered.
Spent the following 2 days sleeping, going to the beach, playing with the boys and getting sunstroke.
Spent the next 3 days with the shivvers, cold then hot sweats, a kidney infection and feeling totally sh*te, but I was a complete martyr and wouldn't go to the doctors. I still have the cold sweats but at least I am now recovering.