Now many of you are aware that for the last few years, her indoors has suffered from Alzheimers. This is what the medical profession call a degenerative desease. In other words it only gets worse. Recent weeks have confirmed this and of course what is lost cannot be replaced. In other words there is no re-boot option.

The medical profession also state that ALZHEIMERS is not like Ebola. That is contact will not cause the disease to spread, although at times peoples reaction to her indoors does make me wonder if people know that.With the coming of age all of us suffer from small amounts of loss of the old grey matter and I often joke that I swear I am catching it from my missus.

Well I have to report that my suspicions have been further raised by the fact that my laptop has caught Alzheimers. Over the last 2 weeks it has managed to loose the program for word. This means the last 93 Tractor Tales have been lost to the ether of that surf in the sky. Whisked away by that VW Kombi of the net. Now I have to admit it did need updating, but being a pensioner on a fixed income of my pension, I was reluctant in these times of inflation and austerity to splash out and up grade. In other words I couldn't see much point in wasting drinking vouchers when I could make do.

These tales are written therefore under those conditions. Tight old git I hear you cry. Maybe, but times is hard. My pub the Victoria is sold and all are cordially invited to our farewell party on Saturday 25th October, after the game. It will run till late, probably very, very late. My son Kieran will no doubt at some point find himself out of his tree, which means the Karoke could prove interesting, as from the 27th he is homeless and out of work.

Don't fear for him though, because with 2 other business partners he is off to Tenereife, where he has purchased a cafe. He has been frantically learning from his Grandmother the art of pastry cooking and how to make a decent sponge cake. She having done this for some time is quite practised in these skills (she is 88 going on 89). Kieran knows only too well her skills as the only sponge cake he really likes is her Chocolate sponge. Hopefully in the New Year we will get an update from Margaret, as she is staying nearby and knows the Cafe he is purchasing. I was not expecting to be investing in this project but apparently I am.

Monday sees those nice people from Premier Sports Turf returning to the scene of the crime. They are due here to loosen up the soil to help drainage, their version of a verti drain and give the pitch a winter feed. Now our visitors today Great Wakering have seen the pitch in various states over the years. They missed the last 3 years, probably when it was at its worst. There is no doubt in my mind that Premier Sports Turf are the best in the area. They seem expensive because they insist on using the best materials. They are not traditional in their approach and I suspect this frightens some off. I have never seen so much healthy grass on our pitch in the 15 years I have been here. It is still growing now and with the weather this week it has been difficult in getting machinery on the pitch to do the necessary work.

Finally I have to go against the grain and thank those that run the Ryman League for getting something right. Here we are half way through October and a quarter of our games played. Monday this week indicated what we could be looking at in the next 4 months (24 hours of rain). I am certain games will be postponed through rain or snow. However not many teams will face the end of the season we faced last season. We played every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from the last week in February until the last week in April. Mr Turvey and the rest of the Board in my opinion you all deserve your new suits for this decision alone.

Enjoy the Game