Sunday 26th July 2026

Woke around 0830...back giving me a bit of gip. Aki got up to water the tomatoes...I folded down the ladder and brought it inside to avoid some rain in the forecast. It didn't last long. The snap joints on the ladder are becoming increasingly stiff, though...I need to give them a bit of WD40. Porridged. Did some more wisteria pruning out front before it got too hot. Cut away a large portion where it bends around the window opening...it now looks rather eviscerated! Aki put lunch together. Bussed ourselves down to Highbury Corner, and walked from there to Angel to do a bit of shopping at Sainsburys, then caught a no. 153 bus back home. Upper Street beginning to look a bit tatty...a lot of litter lying about...it looked more like our end of Sussex Way! This city is on the decline...should have gotten out years ago! I made a chicken, mushroom and walnut pasta dish, with cream and parmesan, for dinner...very tasty! Headed off to Southwark to see the Free Association do Jane Austen..."Austentatious"...an hour or so of improvised comic mayhem. The debutantes were good, though the young heart throb had very poor vocal projection which made him difficult to hear...the two old hands were fantastic...polished, inventive, and very funny. We walked over Blackfriars Bridge, and along the new Bazalgette Embankment, hoping for a drink on the terrace at Somerset House, but they had closed for the evening. Walked up to the bus stop on The Aldwych and caught a no.91 bus home...

Saturday 25th July 2026

Woke around 0400....another bout of roof-fret ensued. Alarm at 0800. Got up and made tea ahead of Danny's arrival, from Decent Roofing, to take a gander at the butterfly roof above Lynne's flat. He took a look at the damage to the back bedroom ceiling, then flew a drone over the roof and took some footage. Quite impressive fellow. We await a quote! Could do with having him back to take a closer look at the timbers in the roof space, though...see what happens. Porridged. Lynne alerted me to the fact that she was going out, so I took the opportunity to hang out of her living-room windows and do some pruning. Put some lunch together. Pottered about all afternoon, listening to music, doing exercises (leaning out of the upstairs windows this morning did my back no good!), and reading. Wandered up the road for dinner at No.127 with Katherine and George. We admired their new timber sash windows. Ben and Gayu joined from No.38, and we sat down to a vegetarian repast, though Katherine and George confessed to being about to convert to a meat eating Keto diet! Even Gayu, who we thought a fervent vegetarian, expressed an interest in coming round for a steak! Ben was horrified, and suggested divorce would be in the air. Got home around 2300. I had a bath to try and alleviate my back pain...

Friday 24th July 2026

Fitful night's sleep worrying about the roof again! Aki up at 0730 to ready herself for Rowing Club. I got up once she'd cycled off and took a mug of tea back to bed with me. Doom-scrolled for half-an-hour or so before rising to porridge. Did an hour's work at my laptop, finishing ascribing figures to the Delta stocklist for Matthew Sale. Ambled over to Waitrose to do a little shop. Once back home, I ventured upstairs with my laptop, and Lynne and I scrolled through some Which? Trusted roofers, and made a couple of calls. Later got confirmation that Danny from Decent Roofers, based out in Theydon Bois, would come take a look tomorrow morning. Aki back for lunch. Pottered about not doing very much. Strummed through a few songs while Aki worked at her computer. Aki made a carbonara for dinner. Watched a bit of telly...episode 2 of Ann Droid was worse than the first... 

Thursday 23rd July 2026

Got up around 1045. Porridged. Aki up making hummus. A little work came through from Savills...not enough to pay for the roof repair, but better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick! Inspections not due until first week in August, though. Booked a train ticket from Newcastle to KX for 29th August...Bank Holiday weekend! Put a salad lunch together. Spent three hours or so at the laptop working on researching vacant possession values and rents for the Chelmsford stock portfolio. Warmed up the last of the chicken red curry for dinner, with fried cabbage and cumin, and rice. Cheese and biscuits for afters. Not much on the telly...watched an episode of "I, Alan Partridge"...very funny. Showered and bed after "The Ten"...

Wednesday 22nd July 2026

Aki had cycled off to Rowing Club by the time I woke up. Got up and porridged. Pottered about on the laptop for a while. Still no sign of the stocklists I'd been promised from Savills last week...so no work in the pipeline...not too bothered, despite rather needing the cash for roof repairs. Popped out to Tesco to get milk. Aki back for lunch. Phoned Maggie Stanway for a brief chat...she's planning an 80th birthday bash at the winery near Dorking where she held her 70th. I think her short term memory is in decline...I told her all about my recent sojourn in Stoke, playing Grandad in Good Golly Miss Molly...as we said our goodbyes, she wished me luck for the show!!! I walked and bussed my way up to the Whittington for my annual PSA test. Didn't have to wait very long, and the nurse wished me a happy birthday for next week! Aki working at her laptop when I got back in. Walked up to Helen and Martin's on Fairbridge Road for a spot of dinner in their back garden...bumped into George and Katherine outside No.127, and had a brief catch up...they've just gotten back from a cycling holiday on the Outer Hebrides. Helen served up a tasty three course meal as we chatted around a table beneath their damson trees. Martin filled us in on the health of his 99 year old dad. He's developed cirrhosis of the liver, and is now confined to a room at a £1,500 a week Care Home. Helen is singing some Beach Boys material with Vox Holloway...we missed the Ally Pally gig, but will hopefully catch a reprise at the Clocktower Festival in a couple of weeks...

Tuesday 21st July 2026

Woke around 0730 with back pain. Managed to nod back off, though. Got up around 1000. Aki had already cycled to the fishmonger on Essex Road and back by then! She departed for tai chi. Porridged. Vacuumed. Popped out to the GP to pick up a form prior to tomorrow's blood test at the Whittington. Walked over to buy a card for Colin and Trudi's 20th wedding anniversary at the little gift shop on Stroud Green Road. Hooked up with Aki and Gayu outside No.38...went in for our lunch, courtesy of Ben, who was labouring in the kitchen with a potato omelette. We ate outside in the back garden. They showed us plans for the conversion of their house into two flats...they will lose half their rear garden to the new galley kitchen. Phoned ma and pa...Kath picked up. She said that mum's blood test results had come back normal, so she's to concentrate on finishing her course of antibiotics. Ankle still swollen. Aki prepared food ahead of the arrival of our guests. Sabrina and Tom showed up around 1800, as arranged. I don't know them very well...Sabrina is a retired social worker, while Tom worked for the Probation service. They have a profoundly deaf son, who, astonishingly, learned to speak Japanese, and spent four years in Tokyo teaching English as a foreign language! Aki had done a proper Japanese spread with lots of raw fish, scallops, crispy raw vegetables, rice, and soup. Sabrina wolfed it down! Tom didn't seem quite as keen. They had left by 2030...

Monday 20th July 2026

Woke with back pain, so got up and made tea. Sat up in bed doom-scrolling until 1000. Porridged. Aki did some work on her minutes at the computer. We ventured into town to take a look at the newly upgraded Grosvenor Square garden, and bought a rather expensive sandwich at the kiosk there. Found some shade and ate our viands. Wandered up to Marble Arch to take a look at the recently opened Museum of Contemporary Art...rather sparse gift shop, and £24 to get in to the Keith Haring exhibition. We ambled on to Hyde Park, and took a look at the Serpentine Pavilion, and the Cecily Brown exhibition...neither did much for me, I have to say. Caught a bus to Hyde Park Corner, and took the Piccadilly Line back home. Aki got out at Holloway Road and popped in to Waitrose. I got home to find a bloke from OpenReach in the front garden...sussing out how Aki's order of fibre broadband might delivered to our flat. I put a tuna salad together for dinner. Watched a bit of telly. Shower and bed...