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...

Sunday 19th July 2026

Aki up before me to ready herself for rowing club. I got up around 1030, after she'd cycled off. Porridged. Watched an old episode of "I'm Alan Partridge" on the iPlayer...I'd forgotten how good it was. Wandered down to Highbury Fields for a coffee from the Dusty Knuckle van, and sat on a bench in the shade. Lunched at Lamezia on the Holloway Road...enjoyed a ham and mushroom pizza, then walked home via Waitrose. Aki and I cleaned the Toto toilet seat...took some doing, and much of the underside of the electronics housing is a little beyond hope, the grime having calcified. We did what we could. I made a chicken Thai curry for dinner, using up some cooked chicken, with basmati rice and peas. Watched the World Cup Final...Argentina were dire, and Spain came out deserved winners, scoring the only goal in extra time. Showered before getting to bed around 0045...

Saturday 18th July 2026

Woke around 0500...roofworrying! Must have eventually nodded back off. Got up around 1015. Porridged. Pottered about all morning...did some mandolin practice, and some song. Put a tasty lunch together. We headed out at 1645...took train and tube to Tooting to hook up with Tammie and Franco for steak and chips at a little Argentinian eatery in Broadway Market. The market is a warren of alleyways, crowded with an exotic mix of cheap eateries, and very crowded. Barra 10 is a cut above the rest, serving tasty Argentinian steak and grilled vegetables. The bone marrow on toast starter was good too. Franco insisted on paying the bill, which was very generous of him. He had been to the Montreux Festival a couple of months ago to see Deep Purple sing "Smoke On The Water"! We tentatively arranged to join them for next year's festival by Lake Geneva. Got home a little before 2200...switched on the telly to watch The News...who broke the news that England had scored against France in the Bronze Medal match after only three minutes, so I switched over to watch the game...astonishingly, we were 4-0 to the good by half time...even more astonishingly, the French had gotten back to 4-3 after about 20 minutes of the second half...the game finished England 6 France 4!!! Could easily have been 8-6 to France, though! Bonkers!!!

Friday 17th July 2026

Aki up with alarm at 0700 to ready herself for a morning's work in Camden. I languished in bed with a mug of tea. Made some belated headway on adding captions to the Good Golly re-union photo collection. Got up and porridged. Played my mandolin along to a couple of the tunes we'd worked on at the Folk Club last night, before Aki got home...she doesn't like English folk! Aki back in time for lunch. Spent most of the afternoon adding more captions...25 photos altogether, and had to dig out the old programmes to make sure I'd gotten names right. Uploaded them to the Photo-pick sharing site. Aki cooked a chicken risotto for dinner. Watched a bit of telly...including Diane Morgan's new comedy vehicle, Ann Droid. It was a fair to middling start to the series, but I was hoping for a smarter script. 

Thursday 16th July 2026

Woke around 0500...took ages to get back to sleep! Languished in bed until gone 1000. Got up and porridged. Feeling very listless, and depressed...the roofing problem is really getting me down. We headed for Crouch End on the No.91 bus, then walked up Park Road to The Good Reader for lunch. I enjoyed burger and chips, sat out in the south-facing garden. Shelley and Kim turned up around 1400...we had a detailed chat about plans for our Sicily trip in September...Shelley and Kim will be part of Aki's rowing team, but then we will share a car for a few days for a road trip across the island. Said our farewells...Aki and I walked back into Crouch End to do a little shopping in Sainsburys and Waitrose, before we hopped back on a No.91 bus. Put together a salad Nicoise for dinner. Phoned Volodymyr for a chat...no news on any solution to our roof problem, but he promised to get back to me next week. I told him the freeholder next door had given us the all clear. I walked down to the folk club at Highbury Corner to play some tunes with The Angel Band. They are looking for some new blood...a mix of people showed up...mandolins, a fiddle, clarinet, and a concertina, joining the regulars on clarinet, violin and button accordion. Only three tunes they'd sent me included the chords, so I couldn't strum along to most of it...all a bit of a waste of time, but I enjoyed sitting there listening. I didn't stick around afterward. Caught a No.91 bus back to Holloway. Got in around 2145. Aki slunk off to bed early, as she has a work meeting in Camden in the morning. I sat up trawling the internet for chords to the tunes I had, and printed stuff off to have a go at tomorrow morning. Got to bed after 0100...