Saturday 13th June 2026

Got up around 0900. Cooked brunch. Set about fitting the grille over the hole in the wall above the boiler. Had to vacuum out the squirrel droppings first! Awkward space to work in...the walls turned out to be plasterboard cavity...so the rawl plugs I put in failed to work...had to use special plasterboard fixings...lost the head off my ratchet screwdriver in the process...it disappeared behind the boiler somewhere! Eventually succeeded in getting the grille fixed in place, and tidied up. Settled down to watch Emma Raducanu's quarter-final win against Rakhimova. Lunched on pici and cheese sauce with fried mushrooms. More tennis...semi-final Boulter v Vekic...Vekic came out on top. Then Emma was back on for her semi-final tussle with the exciting Iva Jovic...she was a set up when we had to leave for Stamford Hill, though we managed to watch as Emma took the match, on my iphone as we took the No.253 bus to Clapton Common. Walked down to the Rowing Club where Kate and her partner, Titus, were celebrating their 70th birthdays. We sat out on the balcony overlooking the River Lea. Really enjoyed the food...bussed in from Rasa in Stoke Newington...went back for seconds. A handful of Aki's rowing mates had been invited, and we sat with them. Ended the evening having a jig about to The Stamford Hillbillies, before walking back up to catch a bus home from the Common. Watched the Brazil v Morocco game...Morocco were fantastic, but the game ended 1-1.