Alarm at 0730. Aki got up and dressed to ready herself for a cycle ride to Southwark. I dozed to the Today Programme. Got up and made tea and porridge. Martin and Helen cycled down from Fairbridge Road to hook up with Aki, and they cycled off to some product fair south of the river. I worked at the computer for the remainder of the morning. Broke at lunch time. Made myself some lunch, thinking Aki would be taking advantage of Borough Market...but she turned up looking hungry as I was finishing. Made her some lunch and then watched the BBC documentary on Duleep Singh, whose portrait I had come across at Elveden yesterday. He was basically dethroned by British invasion forces, and forcibly separated from his mother...he was ten years old at the time. Eventually, in his mid-teens, he was brought to England, where he charmed Queen Victoria and was given Elveden Hall by the India Office, and money to do it up, which he did with some extraordinary eastern flourishes...pity it's not open to the public. In the end he became embittered, and exiled himself to France with the intention of enlisting the help of the Russian Tzar to re-take the Punjab, but it came to nought, and he died in Paris in his mid-fifties. Managed a few more hours at the computer before breaking to make dinner...had pasta with a pizzaiola sauce and lots of parmesan, followed by Aki's rhubarb crumble and the last of the creme fraiche. Watched a bit of telly before shower and bed...
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