The Meerkat Muse: 14th of January, 2026
Here we are folks. It’s a new year, with all sorts of new shenanigans to get up to. How has it begun?
In the Queue
The third part of the Chon’ith Saga has been submitted to my publisher, and will now join the queue for editing and publishing. My publisher has been upfront with their authors, advising that books entering the queue now will not be published until 2027, so it will be a while before the fruits of this labour are revealed, but it’s on the way, and in the meantime, The Forest – an entirely new series – is set for release later on in 2026, so watch this space!
Ringing in the New Year
My wife, daughter and I saw in 2026 in a rather sedate, yet also faintly creepy manner, via watching horror stories. These short stories took place in different settings and were all quite subtle, as opposed to the overt blood and gore routine that a lot of modern horror goes in for. The evening’s entertainment culminated with an accidental viewing of a theatre production of A Christmas Carol, which saw us cross the finish line into 2026, and all the promise of a new year.
Expensive Chips
The first peculiar dream of 2026 was brought to me via some sort of shopping trip with my parents, and the quest to resist my brother’s behaviour, whereby he seemed determined to do something that I didn’t want him to do, the details of which escape me. As is the want of my subconscious mind, the scene abruptly shifted from this shopping centre, to a country setting where my wife and daughter joined my parents and brother to visit ‘Davenport’s Fish and Chip Shop’. This was set to be a very expensive venue for fish and chips, what with a rustic Victorian setting and everything being served up in wicker baskets. At that point, I woke up, and just as I was about to drop off again for what felt like a very relaxed sleep, my alarm went off.
Panto Hijinks
There’s something of a family tradition that we ring in the New Year by indulging in that great British tradition of the panto. They are usually hilarious, camp, and filled with jokes for all ages. One prominent feature of the panto is the dame, and on this occasion the dame chose me to be the focus of their flirty affections. I guess it was always a risk, especially since I was in the front row!
Aside from the playful fun – which also drew in my wife! – there was also responsibility! I was handed a button to fire a confetti cannon at an appropriately celebratory moment in this rendition of Sleeping Beauty. Being the daft sod that I am, I thought this was a genuine task, so when the party cannon went off as Princess Aurora was being laid to rest, it certainly caught me by surprise! Cue tongue-in-cheek accusations of ruining the moment! It was hilarious!
New Year Distractions
One of the great historical trends of politicians in times of crisis is to create a distraction, and Donald Trump has certainly wielded this approach to the fullest. The latest news from Venezuela is that the US military has struck several sites, including sites in capital city Caracas, and Trump has claiemd that Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro has been captured. It’s difficult to know how destabilising the region is going to promote global stability, yet here we are.
Alien Encounters
No, not literally, and in this instance I’ll savour that as being a good thing! This was yet another wild nocturnal adventure, and not for the first time it featured the fearsome xenomorphs from the Alien franchise. In the dream, me and some other intrepid adventurers found an adolescent xenomorph in a shop of some kind, and we captured it, and maybe even killed it, only for it to somehow grow to full size, come back to life, and go on a rampage. As is typical of dream logic, my plan to avoid its wrath was to… stand on a car. Somehow this foiled the xenomorph, but my gang and I needed a plan to kill it, so off we went into space! Aboard a space station, I was handed a flask of a clear liquid, and told not to drink it as it was a powerful acid. I had to hold onto this very carefully, as it was the only means of destroying the xenomorph. I then woke up!
My next dream was not quite so dramatic, though at one stage it involved having James Bond of all people book me a train ticket, and a first-class ticket at that, on the grounds that I was important enough to warrant one for the mission I was undertaking. I have no recollection of the mission, but I do know that the train pulled up with precisely one carriage, and then pulled away with no passengers! I have no idea what that was all about.
The Cold Snap
Snow was repeatedly forecast for January, and this would ring true for some parts of the country, but what about my corner of south Essex? Whilst snow has not been unheard of, it’s also not unusual for thick blankets of the stuff to bypass us completely, or for us to receive a light dusting and nothing more. On the 6th there was the briefest of brief flurries, which evaporated almost as soon as it landed. This was followed by some epically inclement weather, but little in the way of snow.
Knackered
My first day off since New Year’s Day proved to be a busier one than I’d expected or desired, and it left me feeling somewhat floored. I ended up doing the school run, having had the task sprung on me at the last minute, and to be honest, I really could have done without it, especially since the following day would involve having to faff around with a large order coming into the store. As a result, we don’t receive large orders to our showroom as we have no warehouse, so no safe storage. It happens when it’s a make-or-break moment, and we collectively deemed the money more important than the inconvenience. Of course, as is pretty normal for work, that inconvenience was mine to deal with. Not entirely mine, and certainly not anyone’s fault per se, but it does seem as though large-scale store deliveries happen on occasions when I am in, and rarely when I’m not.
Go Forth, and Multiply!
So, maybe the text I received placed this notion in somewhat cruder language! The text was completely random, and not from anyone on my contacts list. I had my wife check hers, and nothing there either. A brief bit of sleuthing revealed a possible identity, and a location, though there’s no certainties. I have no connection to the person the number is attributed to, don’t recognise them, and we appear to have no friends in common on Facebook, so I have to assume this was either A: a case of mistaken identity, or B: some kind of scam.
It’s probably a scam, so I’ve reported the wanton contact as spam. I guess we’ll see if anything comes from it.
Indulgent Occasions
The thought of a takeaway last Friday was a pleasant one, but then I had another, better thought. In town there is an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant, and in terms of pricing, it would be more or less the same as a takeaway. Between when I finished work and my daughter staying late after school for some graphics work, the timing worked out perfectly. It was a rare little moment where we could go out as a family unit, and I certainly filled my belly! So far, this meerkat has failed rather miserably in his efforts to get exercising…
It’s actually fair to say that I overindulged so much, I did not want breakfast the next morning!
A Popular Meerkat?
Since the 6th of Jan, I’ve seen a surge in visits to my small corner of the web. The vast majority have been to the welcome page, with a few ending up elsewhere, so I’m not particularly sure what’s going on. Am I facing scrapers, looking to harvest info to train AI? Am I genuinely popular all of a sudden, albeit as far as home pages go? I wish this attention was aimed at my books, but beggars can’t be choosers!
The Right to Speak
I will write about whatever I want. I will metaphorically tap this post, to serve as a sign as it were, and critique Trump, Republicans, and indeed Democrats, whenever I see fit. It really is as simple as that.
The Kidnap Plot Dream
I’m not sure what was going on here! I think the dream was loosely inspired by the movie Kraven the Hunter, which my wife and I had watched the night before, but even then, the connection is tenuous enough to have not existed. I was at work, when I received word that an old school friend of mine was under threat of abduction. I wasn’t really able to do too much except monitor the situation, though at one stage I was in some sort of fight to protect him. I don’t recall the dream clearly enough to offer much more detail, but it was certainly peculiar.
My dreams have been fragmented of late, thanks to the cat being more clingy and cuddly than usual. He has taken to joining my wife and I in bed, purring in our ears, and taking a while to settle down. He may also decide to go out to take care of business, in the middle of the night, and where it’s been so cold I haven’t been inclined to leave him out. Cue me standing out when I could be sleeping, to make sure he comes back in. If he keeps waking us up or keeping us awake, I might just rethink whether to let him back in!
That’s all for this Muse folks, stay tuned for the next one!
‘Kat Comments