Thursday 6th & Friday 7th March 2025

Aki up at 0730. She brought me tea in bed. Read some Dickens before getting up for porridge. Aki had a zoom meeting. I did some ironing and finished my packing. Lovely, sunny day. Emptied the fridge for lunch. Headed for Heathrow...caught a No.91 bus to Cally Road, then Piccadilly Line to Heathrow T3. 

Kath ahead of us having flown down from Newcastle this morning. Got ourselves through security and found Kath waiting in the seats outside Boots. Bought some water supplies, and a neck pillow. Flight departed on time. We hadn’t been able to book seats together. I found myself sat between two Japanese chaps toward the rear of the plane. It was an uncomfortable 13 hour flight. Watched Ralf Fuentes in Conclave and read some Dickens. Only managed an hour or so’s sleep. By the time we landed in Tokyo my knees had atrophied, my hernia was giving me gip, and I had stomach ache. 

It was slow getting through security…Kath slowed us down as she hadn’t filled in a Landing Card, nor Customs Declaration. We staggered out into the concourse and got the Monorail, and from thence jumped into a taxi to the hotel…but got dropped off at the wrong establishment and had to flag down another taxi. It was gone 2000 hours by the time we got to our rooms. Tiny accommodation with barely enough room for our baggage, let alone more than one human being! We repaired to a little local ramen joint across the road for dinner. Very tasty…then back to the hotel and bed…

Wednesday 5th March 2025

Woke around 0830…Aki already up to ready for Rowing Club. I made tea and climbed back into bed. Got up and porridged after Aki cycled off. Put some washing out…cold but sunny. Did a little more packing and pottering about. Put lunch together when Aki got back from the River Lea. Spent some time at the computer sorting out home contents, and motor insurance renewals. Aki cooked a mushroom risotto for dinner. Set up an eSim for my iPhone for use in Japan. Aki went onto the BA website to check in…and discovered there were literally only three seats left, all in separate rows, so we will be journeying with strangers. Phoned Kath…she can’t check in as the return flight still showing as cancelled…what a mess BA are! Watched a bit of the Champions League highlights…astonishing game between PSG and Liverpool…PSG hammered them, but were unable to score…Liverpool stole it with a goal in the 87th minute…

Tuesday 4th March 2025

Woken by a fox in the backyard at 0330…it sounded more like a robot than an animal, shouting “Da da” at regular intervals…I thought it an alarm at first! Aki up at 0800 to ready herself for a site meeting in Harringay. I porridged in bed once she’d cycled off. Got up and read some Dickens. Made pancakes for lunch...with ham and cheese; Nutella and oranges for the dessert pancakes. Drove round to the car wash at the Sainsbury’s petrol station in Manor House. Popped into Sainsbury’s afterward to buy something for dinner. Had gammon shanks this evening, and I cooked some lentils up with pancetta and onions to go with it. Nowt on telly…Sat about listening to Wot’s Hip With The Chadster 2025, and reading Dickens. FaceTimed Kath…she had reported for first day at work in Hetton-le-Hole today…and was able to confirm, it’s a bit of a hole!

Monday 3rd March 2025

 

Woke around 0830…got up and made tea. Got back into bed and read some Old Curiosity Shop…hoping to finish it on the flight to Japan on Thursday! Pottered about doing nothing very much. Aki working at the computer. I made lunch…grilled mackerel rolls with butter and a salad. Walked to Finsbury Park in the sunshine. Caught a Piccadilly line train to Holborn and walked south toward the Aldwych to pay homage at the Old Curiosity Shop…named by the then owner shortly after Dickens’ novel was published. Turned up on time for my gait analysis appointment at Runners Need only to find some other bloke called Richard on the treadmill…turns out I’d booked the 1445 slot next week! On explaining that I’d be in Japan then, they saw to me once Richard had been dealt with. The gait analysis seemed OK, and measurements were taken on a fancy machine to determine optimal shoe size…computer recommended an 8, but the shoe I tried on was too tight so I ended up with an 8.5…so much for their technology! Walked up to Tottenham Court Road and caught an Elizabeth Line train to Liverpool Street, and walked to the Barbican. Bought Aki’s birthday present…a Japanese designer necklace she’d had her eye on. Got a train back to Finsbury park from Moorgate, and walked home via M&S. Aki warmed up the last of her chicken and bean casserole for dinner. Nowt on telly. Talked to mum on their new landline number. She has an appointment for an ECG at Hexham next week. Did a little packing before bath and bed…

Sunday 2nd March 2025

Woke around 0900. Aki got up and made tea, then cooked breakfast. I did a little work at the computer, tidying up the loose ends on the Peabody job. Aki cycled off to Rowing Club. I took a No.91 bus into town. Walked through Covent Garden to scout training shoes in Snow + Rock…have an appointment tomorrow afternoon for some gait analysis. Tried some Birkenstock shoes on, but they weren’t comfortable. Wandered over to Flitcroft Street to take a gander at Mick Jones’ Public Library of Rock ‘n Roll exhibition…looked like a load of old tat he’d collected over the last 50 years. I think most of it should have remained in his attic. 

Walked across to Foyles hoping to grab a bite to eat, but it was rammed…decided to take a No.29 bus home instead, getting off at Waitrose to buy some rolls. Got home ahead of Aki. Made myself an avocado and ham roll with a little side salad for lunch. Watched some FA Cup football. Phoned Kath to find her languishing in bed with a cold! Hope she’s feeling better by Thursday!!! Knocked up Carlos and Jane from No.36 and walked up to the Great Indian, a new eaterie on Sussex Way, for our dinner date. The pub refurbishment I thought rather ordinary, but the food wasn’t bad…we shared a platter, a lamb curry, and curried sea bass…desserts were good. Chatted about Carlos’s recent visit to Paris, and Jane’s trip home to New York. Got home in good time for bath and bed…

Saturday 1st March 2025

Woke around 0900. Got up and made tea. Porridged at the computer. Took most of the morning to finish the VP research. Made a lavish ham and chicken salad lunch. Worked on until 1730. I walked to Stoke Newington…Aki off to Blackhorse Road for dinner with Rowing Club comrades. I dined at the City Kebab shop on the High Street before repairing to the Tower Theatre to see “Afterlife”, an adaptation of a Japanese film that Aki and I had enjoyed very much when we saw it some years ago, set in a Purgatory during which the recently deceased have five days to decide which memory from their lifetime on planet Earth, they would like to take with them into eternity. It's a lovely idea, and the film has a certain spiritual glow about it.  The Tower production was rather slow and dull. I can't figure what it is...whether it's simply the amateur actor has no verve, or whether it can be blamed on the fact that rehearsal time is so truncated compared to the intense day-by-day rehearsal schedules of the profession...I suspect it is the former, though, unfortunately. Got a No.106 bus back to Finsbury park, and walked through the crowds of Muslims marking the beginning of Ramadan outside Finsbury Park Mosque. Watched some FA Cup MOTD before Aki got home...she'd had an enjoyable evening of Mexican food and cocktails at Ellie's flat in the new development at Blackhorse Road.
 

Friday 28th February 2025

Aki woke to alarm at 0730…she got up to ready herself for Rowing Club. She brought me a mug of tea in bed. Got up and porridged before she cycled off to Stamford Hill. Made a packed lunch, and headed out on the road once more. Headed for Pitstone, near Tring, first, and then on to Aston Clinton, Aylesbury, where I ate my lunch in the Tesco car park, before heading for Wallingford, and finally up to Oxford. I had been tempted to go off grid for an hour or so, and head for Pangbourne, and pay homage to Jimmy Page outside the Boathouse, but decided I needed to finish my inspections. Got home around 1830. Watched some FA Cup football on the telly before bath and bed...

Thursday 27th February 2025

Woke around 0800. Got up and porridged at the computer...got to finish this Peabody job before we head for Japan next week! Put together a packed lunch, and drove back out west, this time working my way from Datchet, and Slough, over to Maidenhead, then up to Marlow, and ending the working day in Hazlemere, to the north of High Wycombe. Managed to get into two or three units. Drove home in good time for dinner with Aki, before we ventured to the South Bank for the evening showing of "Becoming Led Zeppelin" at the IMAX. Really enjoyed it...sat there grinning from ear to ear as the film documented the member's early lives and musical careers before coming together rather randomly when the Yardbirds broke up, and forming Led Zeppelin. Jimmy Page emerges as the quiet, unassuming genius behind the whole project...they wrote and worked on the songs for the first album in the Boathouse at Pangbourne, which Jimmy owned by then, having worked from a comparatively young age as a session musician for the likes of Lulu, Donovan, The Kinks and The Stones, before joining the Yardbirds when Jeff beck left. The cinema was all but full, and everyone seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed themselves...great stuff. We walked back across Waterloo Bridge, and caught a No.91 bus from opposite Holborn tube station...

Wednesday 26th February 2025

Woke around 0800. Got up, made tea, and porridged at the computer. Made myself a packed lunch, and jumped back in the car for another day out west, mostly doing inspections in the Hayes, Yeading, and West Drayton areas. Drove home in good time for an early dinner. Drove over to the Tower Theatre for this evening's Moby Dick rehearsal. We basically did a read-through, on our feet, of the whole thing. I thought Angharad's script hung together very well, though she has a lot of work to do on marshalling her Furies, an ingenious addition who will act as a chorus, and off-set the otherwise male crew of the Pequod. I shot off fairly promptly afterward to avoid the pub social...but we won't reconvene now until the end of April...

Tuesday 25th February 2025

Woke around 0730. Got up and made tea. Porridged at the computer. Aki cycled off to Harringay Ladder for a site visit. I made a packed lunch and headed west in the car for inspections in Hillingdon. Lunched in the car on a street in Hounslow. Got home around 1615. Did some work at the computer before Aki served up a salmon and lentil dinner. Walked to Finsbury Park station and caught a Piccadilly Line train in to Leicester Square. Walked down to the Noel Coward Theatre where we met Kate and Titus before taking our seats in the circle for the opening night of the West End run of "The Last Laugh", starring, among others, Bob Golding as Eric Morecambe...I shared a dressing room with Bob at the Vic in Stoke back in the early 1990s. 

He does a grand impersonation of Eric...I saw his one-man show on Eric and Ernie about 15 years ago, which remains one of the best solo shows I have seen. We repaired to the Lamb & Flag around the corner for a swift half afterward. Bob unable to come meet us, as he was having to schmooze with his producers, it being first night. We walked to Covent Garden and caught a Picadilly Line tube train to Cally Road, where we said farewell to Kate and Titus, and caught a No.91 bus home from outside the tube station...