We had the Tories before. You know what they did. It was dreadful.

Then we had Labour. You know what they have done. It is dreadful.

And now we have Cameron strutting and pouting about how he will bash unions, send people off to die, be tough...

There are two old parties we must never allow back in. Switching to and fro for as long as I can remember has been disastrous for us. We really need to change the way things are done here.

PS Apologies for the crudity of my PaintShop work above. I have little experience of picture editing, but I think you see what it says...

I have not been near my computers for a few days now, because I have been in hospital, and got back yesterday.

I have had a bowel cancer cut out of me, and am currently in a rather weakened state, but basically, if things continue to work out, I will make a complete recovery. I'm not intending to blog about the details of the illness, or the stay in hospital, at all, as others like to do that sort of thing, and do it better than I would. Oh, and it would feel like whinging...

My admiration for the dedication of the team at the Royal United Hospital in Bath knows no bounds. They were superb, all of them. Thanks, RUH. See you in a few weeks, for part two...

To all my friends, and the rest of Blogland, it's good to be here still, and it is all due to medical science, which can do remarkable things these days.

Please don't be surprised if I am slow to reply to comments, or even decide not to bother. It's nothing personal. I'm just a bit weedy at the moment.

I ordered some things for our ancient dinghy, as they were missing. Today I had a phone call from the shop, which shall remain nameless. He said...

Mr Blackmore, I have your parts in my hands as we speak...

It was all I could do to conduct a sensible conversation after that.

Something to read when you have the time. An EU document about Echelon.

...that is the sad looking, old Hibachi I had to use last weekend.

This is a barbecue. I bet it rains this weekend...

Slightly out of date, as we bought some more plants today, and put them in. An update will follow soon, when I finish building the barbecue and photograph that...