Thursday 5th January 2023

Woke to alarm at 0730. Very weary after yesterday's exertions in the field. Aki brought me tea, and I eventually roused myself to get ready for work before my apprentice, Leon, turned up. Porridged and abluted. Leon turned up on time at 0930 as arranged. He came in briefly to sit while I finished my ablutions. He's a young black lad, who has gone straight from school onto Savills' apprenticeship scheme. We jumped in the motor and headed for North Woolwich. He was very quiet in the car, spending most of his day glued to his mobile phone, but I managed to get a few laughs out of him over the course of the day. Stopped for a comfort break at ASDA in Beckton, if that's not an oxymoron, and ate our sandwiches sat in the car next to a park in East Ham. Didn't have as much success getting in to properties as we'd hoped...needed a 25% success rate, but more like 15%...at that rate it's going to be a long job! Dropped Leon off at Highbury Corner, and drove to Manor House for petrol. Warmed up the mushroom and chicken pasta sauce for dinner, followed by panacotta I'd bought at Tesco. Watched an interesting documentary on the real John Stonehouse story...he died three weeks after having a heart attack live on a TV chat show!