Tuesday 30th June 2026

 

Reasonably good night's sleep, though plagued by the usual back ache come the morning. Got up around 0900 and descended to find Sylvie preparing the breakfast table in the living-room. Cereal, followed by scrambled egg on toast, followed by whisky marmalade on toast...we got the five star treatment! Took a taxi to Stoke station and boarded a train for Stafford. 

Strolled through Victoria Park and had a browse around the Ancient High House, an impressive four-storey timber framed building on the High Street. Enjoyed lunch in the Soup Kitchen near St Mary's church before heading for the Gatehouse Theatre to see Sean O'Callaghan in "Richard III". Bumped into Howard Jacobson, an actor I'd met during my "Good Golly" run...he was bound for the same venue. James and Anne were awaiting us in the foyer. The production was hamstrung by the decision to set it in 1920s Peaky Blinders land, a pub named The Crown frequented by low class criminals...but since the characters were all aristocratic elite, it really didn't work. Good performances all round...we particularly enjoyed Sean in drag as the hag-like Queen Margaret, widow of the murdered Henry VI, who curses the House of York! Had a brief catch up with Sean in the foyer afterward, before we all parted company...Paul, Sylvie, James and Anne headed back to Stoke, and we wandered around the town centre looking for somewhere to dine. It was all rather underwhelming, so we ended up buying a couple of salad bowls from M&S to eat on the train back to London. Had a quick drink in The Picture House and watched some of the Ivory Coast v Norway game on the big screen, before heading back to the station via Victoria Park. Not surprised to find our train to Euston was delayed by half-an-hour! Sat on Platform 1 and ate our salads, watching the rain pour down on the tracks. Got home around 2130 to find Louise about to retire for the night after a long day at her Arts Admin Conference. Aki showered. I stayed up to watch France demolish Sweden 3-0 before crashing for the night...

Monday 29th June 2026

Woke around 0730 with back ache...lay there for another hour or so trying to ignore the pain. Got up and porridged. Louise departed to meet a chum at The Premises studios in Hackney. Did my exercises. Packed a small bag. Early lunch, then headed for Euston to catch the 1347 to Stoke. Very busy, for some reason, but managed to bag seats. 

Train was 25 minutes late getting into Stafford, so we missed our connection to Stoke, and had to wait around for an hour...walked to the nearby Sainsburys and bought a bottle of wine to give to our hosts. Got to Paul and Sylvie's in Newcastle at around 1730 and sat out in the back garden with a cuppa tea. Aki disappeared into the house to watch Japan v Brazil. It was 1-1 at half-time, when we had to go to dinner...walked round to Basmati. James and Anne were already there. Enjoyed a convivial meal, then we all walked back to Florence Street for a night cap in the back garden. James and Anne left, and we repaired to the living-room. Aki showered and went to bed, but Paul and Sylvie looked up for drinking the night away! Sylvie nodded off on the sofa, and I made my excuses and went to bed...

Sunday 28th June 2026

 

Got up around 0900. Porridged. Aki cycled off to Rowing Club. I took Louise for a wander down Memory Lane...walked down Hornsey Road past The Tollington, Arthur Road where Richard Bealing and John Christie had lived back in the mid-80s, and past the Harvist Estate where Kerry and I had resided on the 11th floor of Hind House. Walked to Highbury Fields, then doubled back to Holloway Road and stopped for coffee at Pierre's. Walked on up the Holloway Road to what is now the London Metropolitan University campus, but was the Polytechnic of North London when we frequented the building...I met Lou on a production of "Twelfth Night" that the PNL Players took to Malta...Lou stage managed the London performances. We had hoped to go in and have a look at the old theatre, but the building was closed for the summer holidays. Walked back home a prepared lunch...Aki back in time to join us. We then hopped on a No.29 bus to Camden Town to go see Ivor Dembina at the Camden Head...I'd bumped into him at Tate Britain a couple of weeks ago, and he had flagged up that he was doing work in progress on a show called "Obituary", which he planned to take to Edinburgh Festival. We found him sitting in the bar with his friend Caroline, and he explained that as we were the only bookings he would give us our money back, but wanted to read us the material he'd put together so far...we refused the money, but acquiesced in attending his reading, which he did in the little upstairs venue. It was an intriguing 40 minutes...it's definitely not in advanced enough shape for an Edinburgh crowd, but he found the afternoon helpful, and we vowed to come see it again once he returned from the Festival. We caught a No.253 bus back to Holloway and walked down to Xian Impression for dinner. Back home to watch the first of the World Cup knockout games, Canada v South Africa...a pretty dull affair, though Canada managed a last gasp winner to go through to the last 16...don't think they'll go much further!

Saturday 27th June 2026

Woke around 0800. Dozed for a bit before rising to porridge. Caught up with highlights of games played in the early hours...the most remarkable being Cape Verde's 0-0 draw with Saudi Arabia which sees them through to the knockout stages in second place in their group, Uruguay having failed to get points against Spain! Louise turned up at 1045 to deposit her baggage before heading back into town to see "Jesus Christ Superstar" at the Palladium with her sister. Gave her a set of keys. Aki and I ventured out into the heat...a bit cooler today...around 29C, but still hot wandering the baking streets. Popped into Selbys to show Aki the Dyson Air Cool fan and discovered they had boxed up a display item which they sold to us for a 10% discount. I left Aki to pay for it and headed on to Waitrose to do a shop. Bought some beers from Tesco ahead of the England game this evening. Back home, Aki had got the fan up and working...very swish, quiet, and effective. Aki made cold okra soup for lunch, with gyoza on the side. Pottered about on the laptop. Did some exercises. Louise turned up around 1800. I put another majestic salad together for dinner. Sat about catching up, and watching England v Panama...a rather forced England performance resulted in a 2-0 win, and we won the Group...now for the knockout rounds! 

Friday 26th June 2026

Woke around 0730...very warm and humid already. Sat up in bed for an hour or so. Got up and porridged whilst catching up with the highlights of Turkey v USA. Wandered across to Waitrose to do a shop...found the shaded sides of the streets as I made my way. Popped into Selby's to see what they had in the way of electric fans...really liked the Dyson Cool Air, but at £250 it would have to be a bit of a treat! Aki cooked Korean pancakes of lunch. Aki decided the fan would be a good investment, so sent me back out into the afternoon heat...only to discover that Selbys had sold out! Popped into Morrisons to buy some consolatory ice cream, only to find that their freezers had packed up! Put together a salad Nicoise for dinner. Watched France v Norway...an easy 4-1 win for the impressive French, though the Norwegians had rested more than half the team...no Erling Haaland to bother the French back four. Watched Later With Jools...intriguing Newcastle based jazz band, Knats, who profess to have invented Geordie jazz...OK, though their sound is a little old fashioned; really enjoyed the mesmeric Angine de Potrine, and Arlo Parks' new material...

Thursday 25th June 2026

Woke around 0730. Sat up in bed and doom scrolled for a while before managing to nod back off. Got up around 0900. Porridged. Caught up with some World Cup highlights via the iPlayer. Put lunch together. Very warm...30C outside, but felt warmer as very humid today. Worked up a sweat vacuuming and dusting in the living-room. Managed to get hold of the RoofPro chap...doesn't sound as though they can come and do the necessary works next week...may have to live through a few more thunder storms before then! Meat balls and pasta for dinner. Aki headed off to Book Club meet at No.120. I popped in next door to have a word with Sush and let him know the roofer's plans. Returned home to watch Germany v Ecuador...great result for the South Americans, who won 2-1...they would have been going home otherwise. Aki back in time for kick off in the Japan v Sweden match...it was 0-0 at half time, when she sloped off to bed. I stayed up and watched them fight out a 1-1 draw...both go through to the knock out stages...

Wednesday 24th June 2026

Woke around 0900. Got up and porridged. Too hot for Aki to consider cycling over to Rowing Club. Pottered about...tried to get some clarity on RoofPro's repair suggestion to pass on to the neighbour. Wanted to sort out the Registration of Power of Attorney forms that Kath had passed me at the weekend, but I don't have the pertinent account numbers...emailed father in the hope of progressing things a little, but think I'll have to get in touch with NBS directly...wish I'd popped in on them last week...hadn't realised they were next door to the Co-op on Darras Hall Broadway, though I must have walked past dozens of times! Aki made hummus. I popped out into the wall of heat to buy bread...tried to walk in the shaded bits of the street. Came home to find Aki putting lunch together. Aki pan fried cod for dinner, with freekah and fried vegetables, followed by a Magnum each! Watched Canada go down to a 2-1 defeat to Switzerland. Showered. Stayed up to watch Scotland's dismal display against Brazil...they are hanging on to a third place qualification place, but only by their finger nails...