The Meerkat Muse: 1st of July, 2026
Six months down, six to go! Summer has landed, the World Cup is well underway, and I am the bearer of some exciting news! Well, exciting if you’re into books…
Kord Enterprises
You may be thinking ‘eh?’ I wouldn’t blame you. Let me explain. Kord Enterprises is a Florida-based company that produces TV shows, and my publisher, Jumpmaster Press, has struck a deal with them to develop JMP books into shows or movies. Now, this is all tentative at this point. There’s no promise of my books becoming shows or films. It’s down to Kord Enterprises to take note of what I’ve written, and work with Jumpmaster Press and myself to turn the written form into something else. Still, the possibility is there. It would certainly be absolutely awesome!
The Resumption of Summer
The first half of June was a bit uninspiring, as far as the weather was concerned. Fortunately, it picked up again over the second half, perhaps even pushing into uncomfortable territory (what can I say, it’s a great British pastime to moan about the weather!). Ultimately, I will take sunshine and heat over grey clouds and rain, any day, even if I get altogether rather too sweaty.
Busy Sundays
I don’t know what it is about Sundays that brings scores of people to the showroom. You’d think people would have better things to do than wander about a bathroom showroom! To make matters worse, the early appointment featured a lady who did not stop coughing. I cannot afford to get ill, not least of all with my daughter’s upcoming surgery! I wish people who have a cold or bug would stay away from showrooms. Think about others!
I guess on one level, I get it. Weekends are opportunities for people to get out and get things done. From the perspective of someone who has to work most Sundays, it’s aggravating to face a stream of people coming and going, especially since I am on my own and can’t hope to deal with them all.
How are England’s Fortunes?
I mentioned the World Cup earlier, and let’s touch base on that a bit more. So far, it’s seen some unpredictable results, but also some that are perhaps more in keeping with expectations. England’s first game, against Croatia, provided moments to be pleased, but also moments of pain, in what was ultimately a 4-2 win for the Three Lions. Work on defending was sorely needed, but as is by now quite typical, England looked at their best when attacking and working the ball quickly. If only we’d play like that more often!
Indeed, the proof of this was in the pudding, as it were. A tame 0-0 draw with Ghana was followed by a laboured 2-0 win against Panama. So far, there is no reason for anyone to fear England, and it’s adding up to limping out at the quarter-final stage, if we even get there.
Castiel’s Friend
My cat is not a people person, or a cat person. He adores my wife, and I dare say he is fond of my daughter and I, but outside of that family unit, he is a bit standoffish, and will generally withdraw from company. With other cats, he is even worse, and tends to give them a wide berth. Well, that is the assumption. The few cats we have in our neck of the woods tend to avoid each other, though one tends to get in hissing matches with Castiel, and other felines in the area.
There is one exception. Castiel has become friendly with a cat we’ve named Soot Sprite, who may or may not be a stray. Soot Sprite has been neutered (you can tell by a nick in his ear), which implies he was owned at one stage, but he’s noted for going around the area, seeking affection and food from various doors. He is a sweet cat, and rather remarkably, a cat Castiel gets on with.
What is uncertain is whether or not Castiel would tolerate it if Soot Sprite actually moved in. Castiel’s been an only cat for most of his life. How would he feel about another cat getting laps, cuddles, etc? Also, I don’t think we can really afford to take on another cat, and Soot Sprite might have a home. Still, his visits are welcome, and it’s nice that Castiel seems to think so too!
No Longer Alone
A major change at work is the arrival of not one, but two new colleagues. They joined on the 22nd, with one being someone already acquainted with how my employer works, having transferred from another store. The big benefit of this is that there is someone else who knows the system, how to do designs, handle the daily stuff etc. It’s not all on my shoulders anymore.
My new colleague is a writer, which is interesting, and it potentially opens the floor to working together.
The second new arrival is the new store manager. It was not offered to me and I did not want the job, so I didn’t apply for it. The new manager has come from outside the business, so they will need time to bed in. Initially, they’d be training elsewhere, to hit the ground running when they arrived.
At least the end of day after day of lone-working has come to an end. If I am to remain trapped at my current employer for the immediate future, it is best that I am not alone!
The End of Starmer
Speculation about Keir Starmer’s tenure as Prime Minister has been rife, especially since Andy Burnham won a by-election in Makerfield. The mood in Parliament is such that despite Starmer inheriting a huge mess from the Conservatives, somehow his failure to fix 14 years of turmoil and misery in just two years marks him out as a terrible PM. To be clear, I don’t think he’s been the best PM, but when weighed up against the likes of Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rushi Sunak? The Tories set a very low bar to clear, but Starmer did clear it, and comfortably so.
Nonetheless, it seems that we’re mired in a pattern of shifting prime ministers in this country. No one can figure out the Brexit question, and no one is brave enough to suggest that we rejoin the EU (really the only smart thing to do). Combined with false impressions about the state of the country, Starmer has decided it’s time to go.
Is it the right move? I don’t think Starmer has been brilliant, but I am also fully aware of the scale of the challenge he faced, and the chaos he took on. Whomever replaces him has to keep that in mind, but what I would like to see now is an actual left-wing government, with policies that look to help more than the wealthy. Will anyone be bold enough to provide that?
Epic Storms
Last week, among the threat of temperatures rising as high as 40C in some parts of the UK, the clouds gathered, the humidity rose, and sure enough, there was a thunderstorm. This was possibly the most epic thunderstorm I’ve ever encountered, if nothing else for the sheer duration of it. It began not long after going to bed, and it carried on for most of the night, with regular crackles of thunder and flashes of lightening.
The rain was something else. It persisted, well after the thunder and lightening had abated, and varied in intensity throughout the night. It soaked my corner of Essex, and also my poor cat! My wife and I did try to call him inside at various points, but he didn’t show up until the morning, looking quite bedraggled. It’s his own fault really; if he had come when called, he might not have been soaked to the bone.
One inevitable consequence of the storm was that it kept me awake most of the night, and guess who had work the next day? I could certainly have done without the alarm’s cruel call, but alas, duty called. Coffee would be my friend.
In the aftermath of the storm, we entered into a heatwave, the sort of heatwave that the UK is becoming more acquainted with, albeit against our will. UK homes are built to trap heat, as our winters are traditionally quite cold. The same applies to workplaces. With the mercury now spilling over 30C as a matter of routine, and now threatening to poke 40C on a semi-regular basis, we could do with a change in how we approach our daily lives. Somehow, there still isn’t a legal point at which it is too hot to work. We’re sending our kids to school in these conditions, where they bake in classrooms ill-equipped to cope with it.
Throughout all of this, people will still pour scorn on the concept of climate change. Well, we’re living it people, and it’s only gonna get worse.
The Cough
With my daughter’s operation drawing closer, one thing I have been determined to do is avoid any form of illness that I could pass on to her, such as a cold. It has therefore been extremely displeasing to encounter customers in the shop who do nothing but cough with alarming regularity. It sounded like the sort of dry, persistent cough that could have meant anything, and it irked me. I tried to give the gentleman a wide berth, especially since he wouldn’t follow that meaningful convention of putting his hand over his mouth.
I am not prone to swearing on this blog, but believe me when I say that my thoughts consisted of ‘fuck off!’ the entire time he was in the showroom. Colds and bugs would spread far less if the people who have them avoided going to shops. I know that’s not always possible, but a lot of the time, nothing is so pressing, least of all where I work, that you have to come in and risk spreading your illness to everyone else. Have some respect.
Hopefully the End of It
On Friday, my wife, daughter and I headed to London, in preparation for my daughter’s next, and with luck, final operation, regarding her thyroid issue. This procedure should conclusively deal with this worrisome matter, once and for all. Still, as with the first time around, the prospect of my precious baby girl going under the knife was an anxious one.
I wasn’t quite as troubled as before, I guess because we now knew the general pattern of what was to come. Nonetheless, and despite knowing this surgery is for the best, I could not help but experience nerves beforehand. I can’t imagine any parent wanting their kid to go through anything like this, even with the knowledge that it will effectively cure the problem. I just wanted the whole process to be over, with the need for further stays in London and fraught hospital experiences to be done and dusted.
The travel into London was quite a challenge. Temperatures, which had already spiked, were spiking again. The UK is not cut out for regular temps over 30C, so when the mercury pushes 35C and over, we really do suffer. Our homes are designed to trap heat, owing to traditionally colder winters, and cooler periods across spring and autumn. Air conditioning has never been a thought, much less part of the building process. The home away from home was an oven, and as we had to be in London quite early to collect the key and get set up, we spent a lot of time roasting.
Things weren’t any better once we took a bit of time to explore. The Tube, and in particular the Central Line, was like a sauna. Needless to say, we weren’t in a rush!
In the wake of the operation, my daughter recovered more quickly than before, and was back to her usual self in little time. I was certainly grateful for all the efforts of all the doctors, surgeons and nurses that have looked after her.
I am also angry and heartbroken for all the parents, families and children for whom cancer causes so much pain. My daughter’s circumstances have ultimately not been nearly as bad as they could have been. Seeing kids as young as four or five years of age going through chemo, enduring so much hardship… well, I am already ambivalent towards the concept of benevolent gods, and witnessing children go through something as awful as cancer gives me further cause to doubt the mercy and compassion of any deity, if any exist.
The Resumption of Normality?
At the end of this long saga, the hope is that we can all go back to a normal life, or at least, as normal as possible for my eccentric family unit! Work should also start to return to something resembling normal, what with the arrival of colleagues. Of course, this is life, and life rarely runs smoothly. Yesterday we were down A&E, with my daughter complaining of a very bad headache, one strong enough to make her vomit. Given how she was fresh out of surgery and very tired from it all, my wife and I were in no mood to take chances.
Headaches are quite normal after surgery, and unfortunately for my daughter it also happened to be that Mother Nature was paying her a visit, which may also explain the issue. After waiting to be seen, she was placed on an IV and given fluids, and came home around midnight. My wife had more or less sent me home an hour earlier, but I stayed up until their return.
There was no rest for the wicked, because I had work the next day.
Resisting Temptation
Of late, errant and emotional individuals – well, one individual – has been desperately trying to goad me with their posts. It is tempting to dismantle their arrogant, and prideful, egotistical rants, but something tells me they want the attention. They crave my rebukes, almost like a BDSM sub craves a spanking. Sorry, I won’t be indulging their fantasies, I have much more important things to do 😉
Exhaustion
As we hit the end of this Muse cycle, it’s fair to say I feel very, very tired. The events of the past few months have been challenging, with a lot of back and forth, and a lot of stress. My daughter’s health is the absolute priority to me, but along the way I’ve had a fair bit of strain from work too. It’s typical for personal and professional stuff to go haywire at the same time, but it also seems that both sides of that equation are settling down. My daughter is fine, and work is straightening out. Nonetheless, I continue to keep a close watch on job opportunities.
July, and the second half of the year, now beckon. What awaits this meerkat? Hopefully, a good chance to recover from the absolute chaos of the first half. I do know that I will have a new book coming out, either this month or the next, which is pretty exciting. There might be a new tattoo in the immediate future as well! As to what else life has in store, all I can do is wait and see what unfolds, but I guess that’s true for all of us. Here’s to a good second half of 2026!
‘Kat Comments