Wednesday 28th January 2026

Woke at 0100, 0200, and again at 0300!!! Took a while to get back to sleep after the 0300 awakening. Aki up early…she’d cycled off to Rowing Club by the time I got up and porridged. I headed out on inspections for B3 Living. Drove up to Enfield, then on to Waltham Abbey, Cheshunt, and Hoddesdon. Stopped for a lunchtime special at Captain Cod in Hoddesdon High Street. Delicious! Drove on to Roydon near Harlow, then north up the A10 to Buntingford. I was turning the car around in a cul-de-sac here when a woman came out of her house, as I was about to take a photo, and asked if I’d come to pick up the rocking horse! Cue some jokes about horse boxes. Final stop was the village of Pirton, northwest of Hitchin…then turned for home in the gloaming. Stopped for a doughnut at South Mimms service station, then home via the A1. Aki warmed up the last of the chicken chasseur for dinner. Watched some more of Abel Gance’s “Napoleon”…Antonin Artaud’s Marat got stabbed in his bath by Charlotte Corday. Then a long sequence detailing the Battle of Toulon…couldn’t help wondering how many extras had died in the making!