Sunday 4th October 2026

Woke around 0600. Managed to eventually nod off again...woke to alarm at 0800. Got up and porridged before strapping my guitar to my back and heading off for Camden Town on the bus. Picked up a coffee from Pret, then walked up Parkway. Ten pupils turned up today. Worked on chord progressions and substitutions in the key of Em. Retired to the cafe afterward. Liz mentioned that she plays ukulele at The Lamb on Holloway Road every Monday night...we'll have to go down to take a look. Picked up a tray of sushi from World Foods, then caught a bus home. Ate my lunch at the dining table...Aki lunching at the cafe next door to the Rowing Club. Aki back mid afternoon. Early dinner...ate the last of the cooked chicken with the kedgeree and some vegetables, then hopped on a No.91 bus with our instruments and headed for The Shaftesbury for our monthly session. Had a bit of an audience in the back room on this ocassion...a couple of Italian friends of George and Katherine, a couple with a young family, and three people who were trying to have a chat whilst eating their Sunday roast! By the time we finished, it had gone 2000. Walked back home in the company of Ben from No.38...he and his family are in the throes of consulting Islington Council's Planners about converting their house into two flat units. Hope they are more competent than the Parking Department! Watched some of 49Up before early bath and bed...

Saturday 3rd October 2026

Woke at 0730...got up and made the porridge, as I'd forgotten to make it last night. Went back to bed. Aki woke me at 0930 with a mug of tea. Margaret brought round a sachet of mouse poison bait and a chocolate mini egg! She has spotted him in her kitchen too! We walked to Highbury Fields for a coffee and a light lunch at Le Maison...it was rammed. Walked back up to Waitrose to do a shop, then back home. Watched 42Up. Warmed up some defrosted fish stew for dinner, which I served up with lentils and green beans. Nowt on telly...tried watching "Legally Blonde", which someone had recommended as being very funny...it barely raised a titter...gave up after half-an-hour. Early bath and bed...

Friday 2nd October 2026

Woke around 0730. Bad hernia repair giving me gip after yesterday's drive. Aki up to ready herself for Rowing Club. She brought me a mug of tea. I stayed in bed as long as I could. Porridged. Brought my laptop to bed with me and uploaded yesterday's photos, and wrote up my inspection sheets. Got up and started learning "Bring Me Sunshine" on ukulele, in anticipation of auditioning for the Tower Theatre's 2027 production of "The Good Companions". Aki back for soup for lunch. Sat about for most of the afternoon, though I managed to get an hour's work done before cooking dinner. Made a rice and lentil kedgeree, which I served with meatballs in a tahini sauce. Watched Celebrity Traitors. Amol Rajan was first for the chop! Aki spotted a mouse, which popped out from beneath the dishwasher, and ran back underneath when it heard Aki scream! I joined in, thinking Aki had spotted a large arachnid on my t-shirt! SPrayed the area beneath the dishwasher with peppermint rodent reppellant and went to bed...

Thursday 1st October 2026

Woke around 0700. Got up around 0800. Porridged. Cooked a chicken and vegetable broth. Set off on inspections at 0900...headed for Dagenham, then on to Purfleet. Stopped for lunch in Maldon...sat outside the Queens Head on the Hythe Quay and enjoyed a battered haddock burger and chips! A lot of large sailing boats moored up on the quay...with rigging and everything! Drove on to Great Baddow, and Chelmsford, then turned for home. Got in around 1800. Aki cooked a prawn risotto for dinner. Watched the first episode of Celebrity Traitors...very entertaining. Richard E. Grant was his usual livewire self! Bath and bed...

Wednesday 30th September 2026

Woke around 0330...didn't really manage to get back to sleep properly after that!!! Aki up early to ready herself for Rowing Club, but then decided she didn't feel too good, so stayed home. I lay in bed until about 1030 when I got up for porridge. Cooked Ottolenghi's roast tomato and lemon yoghurt for lunch, which we had with a poached egg, and toast. Did a little work at the laptop after lunch...Aki went back to bed. I cooked up a chicken and mushroom pasta sauce for dinner. Watched the last hour of 28Up...can't get over Neil...a bright and bubbly seven year old, but now a stuttering homeless man, tramping the hills and valleys of the west of Scotland, and living in a battered old caravan. Can't believe it's the same human being! 

Tuesday 29th September 2026

Woke around 0700 with back pain, so got up and re-arranged the pillows so I could sit up for a bit. Managed to nod back off again for awhile. Got up and made tea, which I brought back to bed, with a bowl of porridge. Read for a while. Aki popped out to tai chi. I got up and took my constitutional...walked to Highbury Fields. Enjoyed a coffee at Maison Bleu, then headed for Waitrose. Aki home by the time I got back...I put a light lunch together. Accessed Lynne's flat...she's on her way back from Penzance. Cut away some wisteria and passion flower which has all gone a bit AWOL at the front of the building. Did a little work at the laptop ahead of inspections later in the week. Tidied up the cuttings in the front garden. Ambled round to No.7 for dinner chez Brett. Jane and Carlos from No.36, Lynne from upstairs, Margaret from No.5, and Kathleen and Andrew from No.49, also in attendance. Pleasant evening sat out in Brett's arbour. She'd cooked up a feast of Ottolenghi inspired dishes...I particularly enjoyed the baked rice with confit tomatoes and garlic, which paired beautifully with the Moroccan chicken stew. The almond orange cake for afters was great, too. Brett is preparing to return to Australia in a couple of weeks, so won't be around for Xmas. It was gone midnight by the time I got to bed...

Monday 28th September 2026

Took a couple of hours to nod off, for some reason. So didn't feel very refreshed by the time I woke around 0900. Aki brought me tea in bed. Read for a bit. Got up and porridged. Phoned High View and alerted Jim to the fact that the NBS passbook would be delivered today...hopefully someone hears the doorbell! Read Act II of the panto script...underwhelming, I'm afraid. Aki put an early lunch together before we headed into town to see a film at the Garden Cinema...Czech classic, "Marketa Lazarova". Had a little trouble seeing the subtitles due to the size of the head of the bloke on the row in front of me, but got the gist. What I hadn't realised was that, as well as being voted the greatest Czech film of all time, it was also one of the longest... we both struggled a bit to keep awake over the course of two-and-three-quarter hours! Lots to admire...the strange, surreal sections, the black and white photography...it felt like a 60s era Czech version of "The Seven Samurai", or "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly". Poor old Marketa didn't feature all that much in the narrative. Staggered out of the cinema at 1700 and headed home on the No.91 bus. Got a photo from Royal Mail that showed the NBS passbook being delivered to mum at 12 High View...got a bit worried that she might have then put it somewhere, and forgotten where she put it! Got an email from dad, though, saying it had been received. Aki cooked a stir fry, and used up the last of the pork fillet. Watched "28Up" followed by The Ten. Bath and bed.