Thursday 23rd February 2023

Fitful night's sleep following the discovery of my abdominal hernia...woke up and all my other hernia's seemed to have come out in sympathy. My bad inguinal hernia repair giving me much gip this morning...could hardly walk to the bathroom! Eventually got dressed and headed downstairs for breakfast. Focussed on internal inspections today, letters having been sent out to selected addresses last week. Managed to get in to about 20, which is good going. At one address on the Maidstone Road, the tenant was an old lady who came to the door with the help of a zimmer frame. I explained who I was and she let me in, retreating backwards with her support to her armchair in the rather dusty living-room. She must have been in her mid-80s, and said she was recovering from a recent operation. We got talking after she said she loved books, and spent most of her time reading, and we swapped our favourite reads, my having told her about the Sussex Way Book Club. On my mentioning Dickens, and having enjoyed reading David Copperfield, she offered me her copy of Pickwick Papers, which she retrieved from the nearby bookcase...I had to stop her giving me many more..."there's a couple of boxes of them upstairs"! Her name is Joy, and I thanked her, waving my new acquisition at her from the street outside as I walked away. Ate my lunch in the car park at Morrisons in Strood, and got back to the hotel around 1800. My laptop had run out of battery power, so I couldn't do any work. Drove to the Ship & Trades for my dinner...had the confit of duck...and finished reading "Labour of Love". The character I've been lined up to audition for by Simona has to age backwards to his 30 year old self...I think it requires a younger actor, as it's easier to age upward, rather than the reverse...I can't get rid of my old age spread and grey hair!