Thursday 28th December 2023

Woke late again. Aki got up and made tea. Descended for porridge. Aki had booked an emergency slot with Ma and Pa’s dentist in the village so drove her down there. I wandered over Pont bridge for a coffee in Cafe by Design, a rather odd reutilisation of what was once Lloyd’s Bank, where I held an account! Aki came and found me there after parting with £200 at the dentist’s! Back in High View, Aki cooked a ham and pea soup for lunch. Not much excitement to be had for the remainder of the day…it got very gloomy outside, so we didn’t fancy venturing abroad. I cooked dinner, warming up the chicken, leek and ham pie, accompanied by mashed potatoes and vegetables, and as much of the Xmas day leftovers as we could stomach. Kath had a client to attend to come evening. Watched Bob Monkhouse’s Last Stand…a strange amalgam of his signature comic stand-up, and tales of his early days, rudely interrupted for some bizarre reason by an interview with Mike Yarwood…a strange piece…Bob died three months later.