Wednesday 7th January 2026

Wednesday 7^th January

SHE SAID:

I had another 45minute conversation with the National Insurance people in the UK. I sent money over to top-up my account way back in mid-July after 4 years+ of battling to try & find out how much I need to put in. They only use “snail mail” & different people were telling me different things….

HO HUM with *@#*** added!

Now I am told it hasn’t been allocated due an error in telling me how much I owe, so it needs to be looked at manually & currently those people are working on early June 2025! This has been an ongoing nightmare from the day I started it, & I wish I had NEVER bothered.

Street murals, Perth, WA & New Plymouth, NZ

HE SAID:

I was up early again to sort out the animals before the cricket started at 7am. The England team has been widely castigated, mainly by their own media, for their several failings this Ashes. But, I reckon that there would not have been so much criticism directed at the team if they hadn’t blown their own trumpets so much leading up to the series. The England coach, McCullum, stated to the media that this Ashes will be the series of the players’ lives, and that the squad had been moulded and developed for several years just to win back The Ashes.

So, when they rejected playing lead-up practice matches, their Bazball (reckless, aggressive batting) tactics didn’t actually work on the field, players withdrew through injury, and then the squad had a break between tests in Noosa that seemed to be a public booze-up, they couldn’t really say that they had done all they could to get the results they wanted. So sad. Too bad.

There was BBL in the afternoon, Varena made a very tasty laksa for dinner.