Sunday 12th February 2023

Aki woke to alarm at 0730 and readied herself for Rowing Club. I followed shortly thereafter. We porridged for breakfast. Aki cycled off and I decided to take a hike up Highgate Hill. Had myself a coffee at Archies and read some of "A Burning" before marching down the hill again to M&S to buy some chocolates and a miniature bottle of prosecco to hide away until Tuesday morning. Bought some crab pate and a couple of crab terrines to have for lunch, and bought some vanilla custard in the Co-op. Got home and prepared lunch. Aki got back around 1400 and we ate. Phoned ma and pa. They were entertaining themselves in the computer room, and seemed in fine fettle. They told us that Jim had swapped his Audi for a Mini automatic, which they are to have adapted so that Emma can use the steering wheel with one hand. Her surgery has proved unsuccessful, as the wire inserted into her back has caused some inflammation. One step forward, two steps back! Walked up to the North 19 with our instruments and hooked up with Ben (violin), Lorraine (violin), Celia (accordion), George (flute), and Katherine (cello) in the back bar. Aki strummed guitar, and I played mandolin. Christine (violin) unable to join us, as she had tested positive for covid! Spent an enjoyable two hours plugging away at several Scottish tunes, and I sang The Star of the County Down...don't know what the poor fella in there watching the England v Italy rugby match made of it! We repaired to Katherine and George's at No.127 for some supper. They had slow-cookered a dish comprising largely of black beans, which was served up with rice and cabbage, and a dollop of yoghurt, followed by a creamy yoghurt blueberry pudding. We chatted a bit about the direction of the troupe, and decided we needed to learn some tunes off-by-heart before we could feel comfortable about turning up to perform elsewhere...see what happens. Walked back home and watched the very entertaining Guy Martin get to grips with the National Grid, and I stayed up to catch MOTD2. Rashford scored again today...the boy's on fire!