Wednesday 11th February 2026

Woke at 0400…took a couple of hours to get back to sleep! Got up around 0830. Aki cycled off to Rowing Club, and I waited for Chris, the plumber, to show up. He arrived on time at 0900. He finished the siliconing in the shower, then tried to fix the water filter under the sink...looks like we need to order a new housing. He put new washers on the kitchen mixer tap...I had to run down to the Nationwide to get him £100 in cash afterward. Aki returned for lunch. Watched Winter Olympics coverage, did some exercises, and practised some folk songs before warming up the chicken and plum traybake for dinner, which we had with sweet potato and vegetables. Drove to Stoke Newington in the rain and hooked up with Katrina in the bar at the Tower Theatre to see an adaptation of "Brighton Rock", directed by Phil Ley. The lad playing Pinkie was very good, and As did a reasonable job of portraying Ida; the guys playing the hoodlums were rather unconvincing, though...they looked like they'd stepped out of an episode of "Steptoe & Son"...they brought no menace to their roles.