{"id":21271,"date":"2026-07-05T21:06:05","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T21:06:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lesguis.com\/wp\/?p=21271"},"modified":"2026-07-05T21:06:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T21:06:08","slug":"sunday-5th-july-2026-when-i-awoke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lesguis.com\/wp\/?p=21271","title":{"rendered":"
Sunday 5th July 2026 – WHEN I AWOKE … <\/div>"},"content":{"rendered":"

… this time, it was 22:25 exactly, and I was feeling almost as bad as I was yesterday. And just like yesterday, the only thing to do when I feel like this is to go to bed. And so, just as yesterday, I hauled myself over to the bed, fully clothed, and that was that. The only difference was that this time, I remembered to close the shutters.<\/p>\n

It seems to me that I was definitely asleep even before my head touched the pillow, and there I lay until all of … errr … something like 03:00. Really, I’ve no idea of the exact time but it was after 02:30 because the streetlight on the car park had gone out. <\/p>\n

From there, it was another night of drifting in and out of sleep, and which bit was which, I couldn’t really say. There were times when I felt like getting up and times when I was dead to the World.<\/p>\n

The whole lot came to a shuddering halt, though, when Isabelle the Nurse arrived and she definitely awoke me. She sorted out my legs and feet and then went off on her travels.<\/p>\n

By now, I was wide awake, but I still vegetated in bed for quite a while. Eventually, I went into the kitchen, where the time was showing as 09:28. <\/p>\n

The first thing that I did was to bake the croissants. I switched on the oven and while it was warming up, I brushed the croissants with milk. When the oven was ready and warm, I stuck the baking tray with the croissants inside and set the timer to sixteen minutes.<\/p>\n

While they were baking, I made my breakfast \u2013 porridge, hot black coffee and lovely grapefruit juice to wash down my medication.<\/p>\n

When the croissants were done, I stuck two of them on a plate and sat down to eat my food.<\/p>\n

While I was eating, I was reading some more of A HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE<\/a> by Charles Freeman.<\/p>\n

Again, he managed to steer clear of controversy, but he’s now beginning to appreciate the Egyptian art that he denied existed at the very beginning. And so we have "And if any forms which might arise in such structures, any groupings of natural objects, or shapes given to artificial ones, appeared to the artist to be adapted for his purpose, they would be as unhesitatingly transferred to the excavated rock as flowers, fruit, and leaves, or representations of human and animal life."<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Back in here, I began work on finishing off the notes from yesterday when I fell asleep, and now they are online, ready for your perusal.<\/p>\n

After that, we had football, Greenock Morton v Stranraer in a friendly. And you could tell that this was Morton’s first game because they looked slow and lethargic. And as they tired, Stranraer came more and more into the game and gave them a few frights. Although Stranraer are two divisions lower than Morton, they looked much sharper. After all, this is their fourth friendly so far.<\/p>\n

The final score was 0-0 and Stranraer definitely earned it.<\/p>\n

Next was the dictaphone, and I was absolutely astonished by how far I’d travelled during the night.<\/p>\n

\nI decided that I would go on a one-man campaign against the ridiculous amounts of overspending in Parliament, so I had to think of a way in which I was going to do this. By some kind of happy coincidence, the door into the Prime Minister’s office was open, so I just walked in to where he was sitting and told him about these stupid expenses that I’d discovered. I took his newspaper away from him to highlight some of the major problems. Anyway, I walked off with the newspaper and began to make a list from inside about what I could read of it that affected what I’m doing. When I’d finished, I went back into the office and down past all of the people to where he was sitting and took his next newspaper from him. This time, I stayed there and pointed out all of these expenses in this. We found maybe a dozen pages about the household pets in Buckingham Palace. He was horrified when he saw that one of the cats was actually receiving in food and treatment and all that kind of thing \u2013 more money than he was earning. I thought that this might shake him into doing something, but instead, he took the newspaper back and had me thrown out of his office. <\/div>\n

This dream doesn’t seem to relate to anything that’s been going on anywhere, especially when I recognised the prime minister as David Cameron. I do, however, have to say that if ever I were in a position in Buckingham Palace, the first thing that I would do is to have some auditors in and let them go through the entire Royal Household accounts to trim out as much unnecessary spending as would be possible. Even without investigating and just looking at news articles, I can identify millions of Pounds of wasted money.<\/p>\n

\nThere was also something about me coming out of Wistaston Road, crossing over Edleston Road there at the traffic lights by Oak Street. There were a couple of other people there, young boys, who were teasing each other about the places where they worked.<\/div>\n

This crossing is one that I know intimately, having crossed over here on numerous occasions. And with several of the offices that used to be down there in the good old days, I can understand why people would be teasing each other about their work.<\/p>\n

\nMy brother was trying to run a disco or something and wanted to know where he could get some loudspeakers from. He’d been looking through the newspaper, the Evening Sentinel, but couldn’t find anything. He didn’t think that there was anyone in the area. I told him about a company called “BOSS” that had an office in Hanley and sold hi-fi equipment, speakers and all that kind of thing, so off he went. He came back a little later with someone from the company, whom he showed around and downstairs and upstairs in his bedroom. Eventually, the guy from there sold him something, which we thought was rather crazy but my brother was determined on having them<\/div>\n

BOSS is an American company so they aren’t likely to have a branch in Hanley, and opinions on their products are very varied. One thing is for sure, though, and that is that my brother could never afford anything that they are likely to sell.<\/p>\n

\nSomewhere in this dream … "which dream?" – ed<\/em> … was something about one of my garages and all the mess that was in it and the car spare parts, old cars and everything all over the place. It really did look a mess. I thought that one day, I’m going to have to get down and tidy this, or leave it for my heirs to sort out<\/div>\n

This is another recurring dream \u2013 the old cars and spare parts stashed in lock-up garages. It used to be true, too, back in the old days before I came to live abroad. Not so much now, although my barn down on the farm could do with a good going-over one of these days.<\/p>\n

\nWe were staying somewhere in the country, in one of these big country houses where there was some kind of weekend organised. We were there on the Saturday night when two masked men burst in and held us all at gunpoint while they took all of the jewellery and valuables and everything like that. They put them into two sacks, one of which was a red sack. As they were leaving, my brother and I leaped out of the window outside and confronted the robbers. We managed to overpower one and put him on the ground. He was the one carrying the red sack but the other one got away.<\/div>\n

The chances of my brother and I actively co-ordinating a joint plan would be about zero. Regular readers of this rubbish will recall that we don’t actually get on very well with each other and haven’t done for about thirty years, if not more.<\/p>\n

\nLater on, Nerina and I were wandering around North London somewhere. We were on our way to the bank or the post office and had gone past the local cemetery and looked inside, which was magnificent. Then I suddenly remembered about these attackers. There was one person in our crowd who was one of these public school-types and I didn’t like him at all, so I said to Nerina that we ought to go round and have a chat with him to see what he could tell us. She said that he was ill and couldn’t be disturbed. I said “I bet you \u00a3500 that he’s the guy \u2013 the other guy for whom we’re looking”. We walked around on our way to the post office and came across this big place called “The Soho Curry Hut” with queues outside, so we went to have a look. It was selling a meal of curry for \u00a32:50, a ladle of rice for \u00a32:50, that kind of thing. I thought that this would be a lovely place to come for a meal one night, so we went to have a close look at it and a close look at the menu.<\/div>\n

The cemetery reminded me of the big one in Montmartre, the Cimeti\u00e8re de Montmartre<\/em> when Nerina and I were there very early one morning, looking around before the morning rush hour began. But the curry house sounds really interesting. I could do with a really good curry right now, I must admit.<\/p>\n

As for the public school guy, and I can still see his house, a tidy cottage in the countryside, just like something out of an AGATHA CHRISTIE FILM<\/a>. I’ve no idea why I fingered him as a likely suspect, but it would all seem to fit.<\/p>\n

And how many times is that just recently that I’ve been in North London during the night?<\/p>\n

\nIncidentally, throughout these pages, you’ll see links to Amazon products appearing every now and again. Being a sales associate of Amazon, I receive a small commission on goods sold via<\/em> my links. It costs you nothing at all extra, but helps defray … "part of the" – ed<\/em> … cost of my not-insubstantial web hosting fees. <\/p>\n

There are also links on the sidebar for AMAZON UK<\/a>, AMAZON USA<\/a> and, since the recent “troubles”, AMAZON CANADA<\/a> for the use of my numerous Canadian visitors. As I have said before … "and on many occasions too" – ed<\/em> … I am extremely grateful when someone uses them to make a purchase\n<\/div>\n

Later on, I knocked off to go and make some bread. I was reminded of a chat that I had a few years ago with a friend about the crusts of bread on a loaf, and I had a little theory, so I decided to try it. Instead of going with 190\u00b0C for five minutes and then 180\u00b0C for thirty minutes, I went with 200\u00b0C for eight minutes and 180\u00b0C for thirty-five minutes. And sure enough, there’s a lovely thick dark crust on the finished product.<\/p>\n

Back in here, I had a few things to do, but the next thing that I remembered was that it was 20:41. I’d crashed right out without even realising it. It’s a good job that I don’t drive any more, isn’t it?<\/p>\n

So now that I’ve finished my notes, I’ll just do the stats and backing up and then go to bed, ready for dialysis tomorrow … "I don’t think" – ed<\/em> …<\/p>\n

But before I go, seeing as we have been talking about bread … "well, one of us has" – ed<\/em> … the local priest was out and about having a walk when he met a parishioner coming towards him, carrying a baguette in one hand. His other hand was slouched lazily in his pocket.
\n"Ahh"<\/em><\/strong> exclaimed the priest. "Here you are, coming towards me on this nice Sunday morning, with the staff of life in your hand."<\/em><\/strong>
\n"Well, yes, Father. "<\/em><\/strong>
\n"And pray, what is it that you have in your other hand?"<\/em><\/strong>
\n"A baguette, Father."<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

0<\/span><\/a><\/div> <\/div>
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… this time, it was 22:25 exactly, and I was feeling almost as bad as I was yesterday. And just like yesterday, the only thing to do when I feel like this is to go to bed. And so, just as yesterday, I hauled myself over to the bed, fully clothed, and that was that. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,4507,1616,8571,16250,334,12057],"tags":[16585,5362,3501,4788,16586,1302,3357,212,2560,5287,5565,8581,10797,13592,16364,801,12070,1731,15372,5385,12058,15849],"class_list":["post-21271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dream","category-eric-hall-2","category-france","category-granville","category-n6","category-nerina-hall","category-nurse","tag-a-history-of-architecture","tag-agatha-christie","tag-archive-org","tag-bad-night","tag-charles-freeman","tag-crash-out","tag-donald","tag-dream","tag-eric-hall","tag-football","tag-france","tag-granville","tag-greenock-morton","tag-home-made-bread","tag-home-made-croissants","tag-httpwww-amazon-co-uk","tag-jackie-schueller","tag-lie-in","tag-n6","tag-nerina-hall","tag-nurse","tag-stranraer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lesguis.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lesguis.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lesguis.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lesguis.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lesguis.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21271"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lesguis.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21272,"href":"https:\/\/lesguis.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21271\/revisions\/21272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lesguis.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lesguis.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lesguis.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}