Thursday 4th July 2024

Woke late...it's Election Day! We voted via postal votes last week, so don't need to walk round to the Polling Station. Aki brought me a mug of tea, but I dozed for another half-hour. Got up around 1000. Porridged. Read some Lampedusa. We walked across to Lidl to buy some bits and pieces for tonight's Spanish themed evening...black beans, cheese, olives, and sliced meats, then wandered round Waitrose. Headed home for lunch. Watched tennis from Wimbledon. I cooked some of the black beans up with chilli oil and preserved lemon, and Aki cooked some garlic prawns, and a tortilla. We headed for Helen and Martin's on Fairbridge Road a little before 1900, walking up there with the foodstuffs in a couple of heavy-duty carrier bags. Helen and Martin had set table outside in the back garden, but the sky had rather greyed over, and a wind was beginning to get up. We persevered...the tapas starters went down well, followed by Helen's Basque chicken and rice. We moved inside for dessert...she'd made a burnt Basque cheesecake, and I supplied my homemade liquorice sauce. We chatted about politics...they had voted for JC...and Vox Holloway, among other things, over beer, wine, and tea. We headed for home on foot at around 2230, feeling rather uncomfortably full. Watched a bit of the Election coverage...exit polls predicting a Labour landslide. I gave up around 0130 and went to bed...