True Facts

I am slowly finding out more about why Trump has been after the company that made my new mobile phone, ZTE. It's not simply because they are Chinese and ruining American jobs, it's far worse.

They are a Muslim-Chinese company. I found the evidence hidden away on the camera function. Probably that is where the spying is going on. If you aren't careful you press the wrong button and end up in very blurred territory. One look at today's Blip is all the evidence one needs.

So my Blip friends, be aware of mobile phones cameras that have a so-called "Burka" feature. There are things being kept hidden from us consumers. I double locked the doors tonight and have Luna doing an hourly patrol.

Spent most of the day in the safety of the cellar where my mobile's GPS could not be located. I so to speak disappeared off the face of Google Maps. Had to get down to sorting out the pump we have down there which intermittently pumps out a few litres of groundwater that seeps into a sump pit. The old pump is over 20 years old, an expensive model which once failed about 10 years ago and we had repaired for about €100. It has now got a fault again and the cellar had 20cm of water in it the other day.

I suspect the repair will cost €150 and when a bit more "liquid", I may get it done. But for now, have bought a cheap plastic pump which has the advantage that it doesn't have a float attached by cable but an electric sensor that sets it off. So there are no moving parts. Additionally, it is one that can pump out to around 1mm which although not needed in the cellar, may be useful when we need to say pump out the swimming pool- The last 5cm+ left by most pumps means a lot of manual work.

The rain of the last few days has been very welcome although it didn't need to turn quite so cool. The combination actually forced Angie to switch on the central heating on Tuesday evening. Took me aback as she is the hardy one.

I was fearful the thunderstorms that started Sunday could result in flooding as the ground was baked dry. However, we didn't have any heavy rain but light showers that could slowly be absorbed. The rainwater tanks we have all over the place are filling up again.