Sunday 5th April 2026

Woke at 0100, 0200, and 0300...then managed to sleep through to 0730. Got up and brought tea back to bed, and some almond buttered toast. Aching all over! Voice a little tattered after last night's social gathering. Aki FaceTimed from Evie's in Osaka...she'd gotten to visit Ha-chan in hospital in the afternoon...she's undergoing intensive cancer treatment, and it doesn't sound as though she will be discharged before Aki returns to Tokyo. Got up around 1130 in a bid to get my act together. Sat at my laptop for a bit. Turning into a bright, sunshiny day after last night's Storm Dave. Drove to the theatre to pick up David and Georgie, then on to Rough Close for Sunday lunch at the Swynnerton Arms. As we drove along Stanley Matthews Way, the dual carriageway A50, a car came hurtling toward us going the wrong...a car two or three car-lengths in front of us in the outside lane braked suddenly, and the van behind it went into the back of it, smashing the rear window. Numerous police cars appeared in pursuit of the presumably stolen car, which had lost a tyre and was running on a wheel rim, but they went hurtling away into the distance as I watched in my wing mirror! The drivers of the van and the car it crashed into looked OK, but their vehicles will have to be towed away. We got to the pub in one piece. I went for the slow cooked beef, with Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, roast vegetables, cauliflower cheese and red cabbage...the beef was melt-in-the-mouth. Excellent Sunday lunch. Learned that Georgie has a job starting in May, touring with Rude Mechanicals, and David is in two out-door shows in a park in Chester over the summer. Drove back to the theatre and dropped them off. FaceTimed Kath from my parked car...Kath, Jim and Emma were getting Sunday lunch ready for mum and dad, and apparently Ronan and Nieve were expected to join them. Spent the rest of the day in my room, too exhausted to venture back out. Got into bed and listened to the last hour or so of the West Ham v Leeds FA Cup game, then listened to music. FaceTimed Jim Lister from my bed...and was surprised to find him in bed too! Katherine is in Cayman, and he's been busy leafletting ahead of his standing for Holme Valley District Council in May, under the Greens banner. I recommended a couple of possible hotel venues for their trip to Stoke to see Good Golly Miss Molly later in the month...