Friday 12th July 2024

Alarm at 0745...dozed on for an hour before rising. Porridged. Watered Aki's plants, which were looking a bit thirsty. Read some Lampedusa, and rehearsed some Kinks songs before lunch, then watched the Men's singles semi-finals. Alcaraz was lucky to come through in four sets against Medvedev, as he wasn't playing consistently good tennis. Watched the first set of the Djokovic v Musetti game, then had to set off for Dalston. Decided to walk to Blackstock Road via the Emirates stadium, then caught a No.236 bus on Blackstock Road...which promptly got stuck in traffic. The bus went around the houses, taking a route around Newington Green, over to Shacklewell, and down to Ridley Road market. It was a slow journey. Got off at Graham Road and found some beers at a local convenience store on Dalston lane, then walked down to Sarah's party at her house on Lenthall Road, which she shares with Stephen Ley...both are very long-standing Tower Theatre members, and indeed, were instrumental in finding and purchasing the current venue. I was one of the first to arrive. Stephen's brother Phil was in the kitchen...he'd directed our Tower Theatre production of "Improbable Fiction", so we had a good catch up. His band, Guitar Gangsters, are due to play the Hope & Anchor soon. Chatted to Matthew and Katie in the back garden. Gail turned up...I'd been her best man, or rather her ex-husband Richard's best man, back in 1986!!! I left around 2245, and headed on foot for Dalston Junction station. Got down onto the platform only to learn that my train wouldn't be arriving for 15 minutes, so walked back up to street level and caught three buses home! Took ages!!!