Thursday 28th November 2024

Woken at 0415 by noise of police helicopter hovering overhead. Turned out to be due to a fire at a takeaway on Seven Sisters Road. Got up at 0830 and brought tea to bed…Aki still snoring. Porridged. Headed out to get some ingredients for making fridge cake. Seven Sisters Road still blocked off by fire engines…they were dousing the smouldering loft space in the flat above the kebab shop, the latter being completely gutted. 

Back home, I started mashing chocolate orange cookies and mixing the resultant crumb with melted chocolate and butter…stuck it in the fridge to chill. Made lunch. Struck out for Colindale to pick my car up from the service centre. Walked from Burnt Oak station, which took me through Silkstream Park, and Montrose Playing Fields. Spotted a heron in the stream, and stood on the little yellow bridge watching him for a few minutes. 

Picked the car up…amber warning on my windscreen wipers, but otherwise given a clean bill of health. Drove home. We had readymade biryani and dal for dinner, with spinach and pitta bread. I then cooked the sticky shallots tart ahead of our guests arriving. Aki hosted this evening’s Book Club session…full quota of attendees, save for Jane from No.36 who, being American, was celebrating Thanksgiving. I hadn’t read the book, so pottered about getting teas for people, and washing up. They chose a novel set in wartime Holland, and centring around a competitive rower, for their next read.