We have now started harvesting new potatoes from a bumper Autumn crop. That should keep us going towards Christmas. But I also tried, as an experiment, planting a few sweet potatoes.

An MRI scan on Thursday might cost me a few quid but will, I hope, give the Shipmans a clue as to how to treat the sort of medical condition that a gentleman does not discuss on his blog. Suffice to say it is a pain in the bum and it means that, while not in actual pain, I have sufficient discomfort to make it hard to get to sleep. On a bad night, like last night, I might grab two hours in fits and starts. On a good night I might get five hours. So what to do?

The Mrs berates me for making too much jam and chutney. I have about 65 jars in my larder which come Christmas present time will win rave reviews but that is neither here nor there. I am a sinner. I had wound down my jam activities for the year but then my pal C called asking if I could do anything with a stack of small, rather bitter green grapes he’s grown. One of my two vines has survived and i hope to be a grape producer myself in a few years so I thought it was worth an experiment.

I discuss events on the ground in Ukraine and the USA where we might already be at end game on both counts if the latest Walz allegations are true..

It costs a fortune to run the Aga but as the mercury dipped to just three degrees, two residents pulled down tea towels and settled in for the night as you can see below. It is what the Aga is for.    

My thoughts are naturally with those like the sister in law of my colleague Darren sitting in the path of the massive storm about to hit Florida. We will, as a family, pray for them tonight. The liberal media and the usual suspects such as Chris Packham, David Attenborough and, when not cheering for Hamas, the Doom Goblin Greta Al Thunberg, naturally see this storm as a sign of global warming or climate change or whatever they call it these days. And thus it is described as “unprecedented”. But…

Last year I named music teacher Charles Watmough as a Warwick School paedophile teacher. That prompted another victim to come forward and go to the Police. Nothing has happened. In Aujgust, another victim of teacher X came forward and has now gone to the Police. He is one of seven victims of X to have given evidence to the Warwickshire fuzz on this matter. The CPS has been sitting on this case for a very long time and its failure to act is utterly shocking. I have testified. It has all it needs but nothing happens. Now I name a third paedophile teacher at Warwick School Alan Wilkins

The last tomatoes were literally rotting on the vines. So the kids and I gathered what was not rotten and ripped up the plants putting them in the bulging compost heap. All together we had 2.5 kg of green tomatoes. At this point I apologise to my late uncle Christopher Booker whose birthday it would have been on Monday. I am sorry but the scales here are metric.

Three chilli plants have been harvested to date and all are fiery and at the point of harvest green. But they are quickly changing colour, one bunch to yellow the others to red. So making my early Christmas decorations hanging in my kitchen even more splendid. More plants will be harvested and the chillies threaded in the coming weeks.

I discuss three events which have happened and one that, sadly, might and how the first three are marginally bad or in one case very bad for Kamala Harris. I feel more and more confident that Donald Trump is winning the race to the White House.

I start with events in Ukraine. President Zelensky’s “Victory Plan” could not be more misnamed. Then it is onto the US election and last night’s VP debate. Does the triumph of JD Vance matter? Not a lot. But the polls and the behaviour of Kamala Harris suggest that President Trump has momentum and is, if anything, n ow in the lead. I am already calling the Senate and the House for the GOP, I now sense it is time to start thinking about victory in the Presidential race as well. Get ready to drink bucket loads of  BBC and other liberal tears in 33 days time.

There is a fruit and produce fair in the village this Sunday and I have donated two jars of jam to the tombola school run by my daughter’s under 5 group. The Mrs applauds that while still insisting that making all those jams and chutneys is a waste of time. As they are handed out as Christmas presents we will go through the same exchange.

As we drive back from Chester we pass over the small trout river Alyn which flows into the Dee a few miles downstream from us. By yesterday afternoon it had already burst its banks. The Mrs texted through a flood warning for the Dee and by the time the kids and I got home the waters, normally a good four or five feet below the old orchard, were lapping at its edges.

Last night I started on the production of  the mother. in law’s favourite, rhubarb and ginger jam of which more later.  The night before it was apples and more tomatoes. What you see below is from left to right: stewed apples with a small clove filled muslin bag inside, canned tomatoes with a home-grown chili and stewed apples with mixed spice.

If Joshua and the Mrs. had their way we would already be putting up a tree and starting to decorate for Christmas. I am, you will not be surprised to hear, keener on dressing the tree to the sounds of Carols from King’s College at that minor Fenland university on Christmas Eve as we did as young children. There is always a compromise. But what you see below are not decorations although they could be in a couple of months.