Friday 16th February 2024

Aki's alarm went off at 0730, and she got up to ready herself for Rowing Club...nice day for it. She brought me a mug of tea. Got up and porridged, made myself a packed lunch, and got in the car. Headed north-westward to Hemel Hempstead, stopping off at a large Tesco Extra store to get some provisions. Then on to Berkhamsted, and from thence cross-country to Blackbird Leys in Oxford. From there I ploughed southward toward Wallingford, stopping off at Shillingford Bridge to eat my lunch in the hotel car park there. Then on to two postcode stops in Reading. It was here that I started to notice some strange sounds coming from beneath the car...it sounded as if a tree branch had got snagged under the chassis, but I couldn't see anything. Parked up on a local retail park and peered into the bonnet, and inspected what I could see of the wheel arches, but nothing. 

Drove home down the M4, stopping off at Heston Services, getting home around 1730. The noise of twanging twig only manifests itself as I slow in heavy traffic, but something still there...I'd hoped the 50 mile drive from Reading would have shaken the offending twig loose. I'll maybe have to drop the car in at the local garage to see if they can undertake a proper inspection underneath the engine block. Aki had made a tomato and butter bean sauce to go with the leftover Dover sole. We headed for the No.43 bus stop, and took a bus down to Angel, then walked hurriedly to Sadlers Wells for tonight's performance by Tanz Theater Wuppertal. It looked like a full house. The set was eye-catching...covered in coloured carnations, through which the actor-dancers had to wade, as if through water. The piece felt like one of Pina's early works, and to a large extent rather naif...there wasn't a lot of dance going on, but when it did happen, it was marvellous. The audience seemed to lap it all up, but we left a little disappointed. Walked home via Upper Street, which took us almost an hour. A lot of people about. Got home a little before 2300 and fell into bed, exhausted...