Julia thinks I’m hard at work and by now, I expect, thinks that I have done the washing up and am well on my way to compiling the list of things that need doing for the move. She has, I admit, had some help in forming these thoughts.
Having had one of those husband/wife heart to heart chats about how we seem to be making little progress towards moving, I decided I needed to take action.
This took the form of making a list of all the things I need to do, and prioritising them (with her particular concerns near the top of the page). I then left this around the house last night in places I knew she would see it.
It’s not my own idea, it is, as you may know, a similar thing to Meinerzhagen’s Haversack Ruse, or even Operation Mincemeat, though obviously without the submarine or dead body. Meinerzhagen has come down through history as a liar, fraudster, thief and, possibly a wife murderer, so it’s possible that his story about the haversack could be exaggerated, but it’s a great story. I’m also not a great one for revising history or applying modern perspectives. He may have been a homicidal maniac, a plagiarist and a fantasising self-publicist but he was a good naturalist at one time (as you can see from the fact that he had a wild hog and a genus of bird lice named after him). If it hadn’t been for the ornithological fraud, I wouldn’t have a problem. And the wife. Murdering wives is always wrong. Misleading them with false lists in notebooks is, in case you are wondering, I consider to be a grey area.
In case you don’t want to follow the links – the Haversack Ruse was a plan to mislead the Turks in Palestine about British plans by having an Intelligence Officer allow himself to be almost captured and drop a blood-stained haversack with confidential documents as he escaped. Operation Mincemeat was much the same but more successful.
Photographs from September 2019.

Bee in a Nasturtium. Leaves and flowers are peppery and edible and can be used instead of watercress.



Such energy going into deception should make you a politician yet
Good, because I need some expensive new glasses and a personal shopper. And tickets for Wakefield Trinity and either Tigers or Saints. Sounds like the sort of life I could get used to.
Sometimes it might be easier just to do the necessary stuff rather than think up fiendish plans to deceive Julia.
That is true, and it will be done over the next few days. 🙂
A devil of a plan. Poor Julia having to deal with a fellow like you. Perfidious Albionite.
That’s why we ruled an Empire on which the sun never set. Fair play only goes so far in politics. 🙂
Oh, gosh! What a job it is to move. But no doubt you’ll be ready (and exhausted) when the time comes.
My Mum and Dad moved a bit too late – probably late 70s, and it was both exhausting and time consuming as they never really finished sorting the new place out. Just tell myself – it will be worth it. 🙂
Getting things ready for moving is a hard task, and it can be difficult to get started. I have found it takes far longer than one thinks. Necessity as time grows closer will drive it though, and you will rise to the task. 🙂
🙂