It's Friday - What Can Possibly Go Wrong?

A weekly newsletter from Jodi Taylor

Jodi Taylor

and

Hazel Cushion

Aug 08, 2025

This week we have:

An update from Jodi who is in London
A David Sands Writing Competition entry STDD CASE FILE RUS1896JM by Jo Jones
This Week in History: Turning the Tide: The Defeat of the Spanish Armada
Jodi Taylor Book Recommendation: A Trial in Three Acts by Guy Morpuss💙📚
Two fantastic Kindle deals for August
A joke from the #SillySunday thread in Jodi’s Fans and Readers Facebook Group
The Book of the Month is Saving Time by Jodi Taylor
There’s plenty to read this week and you can see everything new on the blog too. CLICK HERE for the blog.

A very quickie this week because – I’m on holiday.

I know – I’m quite surprised, too.

Although when I say holiday what I actually mean is that I’m now in charge of the world’s most demanding cat – and there’s a lot of competition for that particular title – together with allotment-watering duties. Which means trudging to the communal water trough with two small watering cans. And then all the way back again. And then emptying most of the contents over my own feet. There are certain perks to the job, of course – ~~picking~~ ~~gathering~~ ~~harvesting~~ eating all the figs, plums, tomatoes, raspberries and more plums I can find.

Panic not – I’m still working. My laptop has made the trip with me and is now blinking slowly in this strange London light and complaining bitterly about the different wi-fi, inferior London electricity, and its idiot owner having brought the wrong charging cable. Smallhope and Pennyroyal 2 is nearly done. Just some tweaking to do. And I’m currently working on a Regency Romance – about which more later.

I have to go – Teddy the cat is yelling at me. It’s ten minutes since he last brought down a moose and he’s hungry again. He is one big cat. And very, very heavy. So heavy. But it’s fine. I had far too many ribs anyway. And only wusses need two clavicles. He pretends he loves me but he really doesn’t. We both know the minute I fail at food production I’m dead meat. And should I ever have an unfortunate accident – falling down the stairs, electrocuting myself, drowning in the bath, you know, normal things – far from racing to the sherif’s office to fetch help – he’ll just eat me.

If you never hear from me again …

Love Jodi x

STDD CASE FILE RUS1896JM

STATUS: PENDING

Joan steps out of the office for the last time. Blinking in the afternoon sun, she rests the box carrying all her worldly, well, her working worldly goods anyway, on her hip as she tries to juggle her car keys and handbag without dropping anything.

The end of an era. According to the speech her boss gave anyway. She sincerely doubts her eighteen-year tenure as accounts manager, in charge of a department of one (her), particularly merits being described as an era.

With a sigh, she makes her way to her Micra and opens the rear door. About to drop everything on the seat, she suddenly and uncharacteristically changes her mind. She glances around. It feels…. weird and not quite real to think this is the very last time she will park here.

Retired. She associates that word with age. Old age. At sixty, relatively fit and, she is frequently assured, looking at least ten years younger, she doesn’t consider herself old. A decent personal pension means she doesn’t have to work, even though it will be another seven years before she will qualify for the state pension. If there is still such a thing then. She believes the government, any government, despite their protestations otherwise, will find a way to keep extending the qualifying age until they can phase it out altogether. She sighs again. When did she become so cynical? She opens the boot, places the box inside, locks the car and heads to the High Street.

This Week in History:

Turning the Tide: The Defeat of the Spanish Armada

*The Surrender of Pedro de Valdés* (commander of the Squadron of Andalusia) to Francis Drake aboard the *Revenge* during the attack of the Spanish Armada, 1588, by John Seymour Lucas

On 8 August 1588, off the coast of Gravelines near the Spanish Netherlands, the English navy dealt a crushing blow to the Spanish Armada, one of the most formidable naval forces ever assembled at the time. The defeat marked a turning point in European history, safeguarding Elizabethan England from invasion and asserting England as an emerging naval power.

Tensions between Catholic Spain and Protestant England had been simmering for years. King Philip II of Spain, a staunch Catholic, saw Protestant Queen Elizabeth I as a heretic and usurper. He was also enraged by English privateers, such as Sir Francis Drake, who raided Spanish treasure ships returning from the Americas.

The execution of Mary, Queen of Scots in 1587—Philip’s Catholic cousin and a potential claimant to the English throne—was the final provocation. Determined to restore Catholicism in England and topple Elizabeth, Philip assembled a vast fleet: the Armada. His plan was to sail up the English Channel, link up with the Duke of Parma’s army in the Netherlands, and invade England.

The Spanish Armada, comprising around 130 ships and 30,000 men, set sail from Lisbon in May 1588. However, it faced immediate problems: storms in the Bay of Biscay scattered the fleet, forcing repairs and delays.

A joke from the #SillySunday thread in Jodi’s Fans and Readers Facebook Group

This week’s joke is from Julie Cox:

I've just seen exciting news on the BBC ,that archaeologists have discovered what may be the very first Alka-seltzer factory, built by early settlers....

The Book of the Month is Saving Time

Learn more