We are starting to enter a period of very mild weather but it might only be with us for a day or so. I spent a certain amount of time browsing the U3A (University of the Third Age) groups in which I may well have an interest. There is one group which I hope to join which visits all of the local churches in the area and have the history of the building explained in a guided tour. However, this group is so popular it as already been divided into two to make everything more manageable and the next few visits are already fully subscribed. Nonetheless, I have put my name forward in the hope that I might be capable of being squeezed into either group, but I think we are looking forward to April or even May before I could actively join the group. Meanwhile there is a ‘Curry Club’ which I have asked to join and there are more general meeting groups for coffee that tend to meet in a local garden centre about once a month. To manage all of these many activities, I have decided to press a spare calendar that I have into service so that I can plan out activities for the weeks and months ahead. As it is, I am looking forward very much (and have got my name down in time) to visit the telescope in Jodrell Bank, Cheshire, at the end of the month. I get the feeling tat some groups run by U3A are tremendously popular and you have to get your name down in plenty of time. This week s going to be slightly less busy that initially thought because a routine hospital check up has been postponed (due to staff illness) and a new appointment made for a month’s time. As you may have gathered, I am following the Epstein files release (or non-release) with a great deal of interest and we now know that the latest attempt on Trump’s life was made by a disillusioned Trump supporter, dismayed by Trump’s involvement in the Epstein affair. It is of no surprise that the White House and the MAGA crowd are not broadcasting the fact that the would-be assassin was a Trump supporter but I am somewhat surprised that this story has not been picked up by any of the Main Street Media. Is this, I ask myself, due to the fact that the Trump domination of much of the media is successfully being deployed to minimise the impact of the fact that some of his most loyal erstwhile supporters are now trying to kill him? Austin Tucker Martin, the 21 year old shot dead by secret service agents, was deeply disturbed by what he felt was a government cover-up over Epstein and had repeatedly talked about powerful people getting away with it. Meanwhile, little details seem to keep leaking out in the whole Epstein affair. I even saw an email sent from one prosecutor to another in New York that spoke of the ‘murder’ of Epstein but not his ‘suicide’, the circumstances of which look highly suspicious.
Our domestic help called around today but a little distraught because the traffic had been horrendous and it had taken her over 20 minutes to undertake a 2 mile journey. This is quite a usual story these days because the lethal combination of new building all over the town allied to various road closures and temporary traffic lights are making travel in the town at rush hour periods increasingly problematic. My son called around today and we had a good chat about things not least some of the logistics that may be affecting him in about a fortnight’s time. He and his wife are having a new kitchen installed and as well as having nowhere to eat or prepare food and with the hot water system out of action until re-plumbing takes place, it is probable that they are coming to reoccupy this house for a period of time until the work is completed. Actually, under the circumstances, this is an ideal solution. I thought I might look on the net to see how long an average installation should take. I discovered that standard kitchen installation typically takes 1 to 3 weeks (5 to 15 working days) from start to finish. While cabinet fitting itself may take only 3-4 days, the full process—including removal, plumbing, electrics, plastering, and countertops—usually extends over a few weeks. A full, complex renovation can last up to 4–5 weeks or longer. So having the ‘family home’ to which my son and daughter-in-law can retreat seems an ideal solution under the circumstances. Earlier in the day I had attended my normal Pilates class and then come home to have a meal of mackerel and easily microwaved vegetables.
The first part of an amazing ‘docudrama’ was transmitted last night with further episodes to follow today and tomorrow. The three-part docudrama, Dirty Business, on Channel 4 exposes the harrowing impact of sewage pollution. Central to the programme is Julie Maughan, mother of Heather Preen, who died in 1999, aged eight, two weeks after contracting E. coli on a family holiday in Devon. Maughan, along with other victims of the sewage crisis, and grassroots campaign groups like Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) are calling for the government to end the current privatised water industry. To mark the series launch, Channel 4 installed ‘The Fountain of Filth’ on London’s South Bank, with statues of the men, women and children vomiting brown water. As Dirty Business airs, the water crisis it depicts is still unfolding. SAS has released new data that reveals over 124,000 hours of sewage poured into England’s bathing waters in 2025. 1,236 people also reported getting sick across England after using the water and nearly three out of four (74%) cases were recorded at bathing waters classified by the Environment Agency as ‘good’ or ‘excellent.’ Among them is seven-year-old Willow Clarke who contracted the parasite cryptosporidium after swimming on a holiday in Cornwall last August and was severely unwell for 12 days, narrowly avoiding hospitalisation. So far in 2026, SAS data shows that sewage has been dumped into England’s bathing waters for over 46,141 hours. The government set out in its Vision for Water White Paper this January, but campaigners have said the proposed legislation would entrench the failing privatised system rather than end it. Surfers against sewage are urging the Government to take control of water companies and restructure them to remove the profit motive and ensure they operate in the interests of people and the environment. Julie Maughan said: ‘My daughter Heather was eight years old when dirty water killed her. She was a fun-loving little girl who knew only love, happiness and friendship. That summer we went on holiday as a family of four and came home as a family of three. Water companies tried to deflect blame for the death of Heather and twenty-seven years later they are still pumping sewage into our water ways. They cannot be trusted to protect our health.’ she added. It could well be that this programme will have the same impact as one of a similar genre which first exposed the Post Office scandal in which sub postmasters were the victims of a faulty computer system and wrongly accused of defrauding the Post Office.