A work day.
Sunday 22nd June 2025
As always in the UK after hot weather, then comes the storm and sure enough as Mal was getting ready to go on his herbalism course for the day, thunder, lightning and rain! At least it didn’t last too long.
We have collected quite a lot of stones for Torin’s memory stones, so I sat in the garden and painted them all, ready for decoration. The sun was so warm, they all dried really quickly.
Saturday 21st June 2025
Mal was up early and down to the allotment to water as it was going to be a hot day. Having said that, being near the sea it is always a little cooler.
As soon as he came back home I walked to the Food and Drink Festival which is on at The Quay this weekend. Obviously not many stalls were open.
The same stalls as every year, so not that interested in going back on such a hot day.
An afternoon watching tennis and texting my grandson who loves tennis who happens to be in Majorca on holiday, so in the Sports Lounge! I even had a chat with him. He agrees with me although Draper did well, Alcaraz has to be the winner!
Friday 20th June 2025
I went into Deal to go to the fishmongers and also to avoid Westwood Cross. I had other shopping to get while I was there. I went early, a big mistake as there were gas mains works on the main road! I just sat in a traffic jam for ages in spite of the signs saying the work would end 6th June! I guess it is for the 220 houses they are building in Sholden. A nightmare sitting there in the heat.
Better to watch the tennis in the afternoon (Jack Draper) and yes he is through to the semis.
We should have been at the theatre in London watching “The Choir of Man” but because of Ellie, we decided not to go. Penny and John went instead of us! The tickets I bought as a Fathers Day present for Mal, so instead I suggested we go to The Bell at Minster as they do fish and chips and a desert for 17 pounds on a Friday. I drove there and Mal carried Ellie into the garden. It is such a lovely garden and it was busy but we found a quiet spot at the side. At least it was different things for Ellie to look at.
A man came over to chat to us and make a fuss of Ellie, telling us he has 5 Labradors and saying about the meds one of them was on, with a similar problem to Ellie.
The fish, chips and peas arrived and it was HUGE!! And very tasty I have to add. We really have never had a bad meal here.
We had a really nice evening.
Thursday 19th June 2025
We went to the beach hut at 6am, before the heat and before too many people were on the beach. Mal carried Ellie all the way down there again. This time he continued down the steps on to the beach so she could have a little paddle.
It was a very short time she was on the beach but she started limping again after her paddle. Mal carried her back to her bed in the beach hut where she lay. After about an hour we decided we had enough of the beach hut, cleared all our things out and handed the keys back at Viking Bay. I kept thinking it was far too risky Mal doing all that carrying in case he slipped. Just bad timing!
In the afternoon I went to the second “Oneyou Maintaining a healthy weight” session. The guy who knew it all was not in attendance, what a surprise!! Today was a young guy called Sam and talked about mobility and keeping fit and gave us extra ways to keep our body moving. He said no one needed a gym and told us plenty of ways to keep our bodies moving , even while gardening and doing housework. But he discussed BMI and said it was stupid way to keep track of peoples fitness and compared two very different boxers with the same BMI. My tip for today, always keep water with you and drink little and often, not a lot at one time, far better for your body. It really is a good course to attend and FREE! OK, I know a lot of it already, we don’t eat junk food ever but it does make you aware of lots of other things. Mal looked this gem up years ago, the ways they try and manipulate the consumer to eat junk. ……
Major tobacco companies moved into the food industry about 20 years ago—and even earlier. In the 1980s, tobacco giants Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds acquired leading food companies: Philip Morris bought General Foods in 1985 and Kraft in 1988, while R.J. Reynolds acquired Nabisco in 1985[1][3][5][6]. This allowed tobacco companies to dominate the U.S. processed food market from the late 1980s through the early 2000s[1][3][6].
During this period, tobacco companies applied their expertise in marketing and product engineering—developed for cigarettes—to processed foods, creating and promoting “hyper-palatable” products high in sugar, fat, and salt to maximize consumption and profits[1][5][6]. Although the tobacco companies largely exited the food business by the early 2000s, their influence on food formulation and marketing remains evident in today’s processed food landscape[1][5].
Citations:
[1] Did Big Tobacco Create the Processed Food Industry? https://chirowithpt.com/2024/09/17/tobacco-and-processed-food/
[2] Did Tobacco Companies Also Get Us Hooked On Junk Food? New … https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2023/09/08/did-tobacco-companies-also-get-us-hooked-on-junk-food-new-research-says-yes/
[3] Many of today’s unhealthy foods were brought to you by Big Tobacco https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/09/19/addiction-foods-hyperpalatable-tobacco/
[4] US tobacco companies selectively disseminated hyper-palatable … https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/16eooi6/us_tobacco_companies_selectively_disseminated/
[5] Many of today’s unhealthy foods were brought to you by Big Tobacco https://lsa.umich.edu/psych/news-events/all-news/faculty-news/many-of-today-s-unhealthy-foods-were-brought-to-you-by-big-tobac.html
[6] Tobacco Industry’s Move Into Food & How Addiction Fueled the … https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/tobacco-industrys-move-food-how-addiction-fuels-business-eziah-syed-dsrbe
[7] Why did Big Tobacco buy up food companies? It wasn’t … – YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI-HoFSxVPM
[8] Did Big Tobacco make food addictive? – The Snowdon Substack https://snowdon.substack.com/p/did-big-tobacco-make-food-addictive
Wednesday 18th June 2025
I had my pre arranged doctors appointment where she looked at my ears, they had improved and no more pain and told me to use olive oil drops once a week. In and out of the surgery, very quick.
On the way home, I walked the long way around the town as I am not getting my usual exercise with Ellie resting and couldn’t resist the charity shops! Ok, it was quite expensive but I found a lovely designer dress, tried it on and had to buy it!! Ideal for Christmas! I walked along the river towards home and saw the baby ducks. This is evidently one of the more aggressive ducks which is why she still has all of them and the seagulls haven’t taken them.
Lovely warm weather, summer is here.
Tuesday 17th June 2025
We took Ellie to the vets, this time we saw the vet Sorrel (she is our favourite!) She gave Ellie a very thorough examination, stretching her legs and feeling every part of her back. She told us she was in good form for her age, said her knees were good but her back left knee is slightly more knobbly but couldn’t find anything else too bad apart from some muscle wastage. She told us to keep her on Metacam for another 10 days , still resting her and then return to see her. That sounded a lot more positive than last week.
From there we went to the beach hut for a couple of hours. Again, not ideal Mal having to carry Ellie up and down the steep slope and then having to keep her in the hut. This really has been bad timing.
Back home and more work for Mal to do at the allotment. We are nearly at the end of our strawberries or at least they are slowing down and the raspberries have begun. And Ellie just chilling in the garden.
