Thursday 5th November 2026

Woke around 0530...eventually nodded back off again. Woke at 0845. Got up to make tea. Porridged. Gary and Charlie showed up at 0930. Charlie hoisted the zinc up to the roof...they are intending to lay the zinc valley gutter today. I got up on the roof at the back to do a bit of tidying up and take a couple of photos. I then folded the ladder away. Did some work at the laptop. Aki threw a tasty ham salad lunch together. The roofers left at 1600. I got changed and made off to meet some old college mates in a pub, the Wenlock Arms...had to take a No.43 bus down to the City Road. I was evidently last to arrive. Colin was en route home, having visited his mum in Nuneaton. It sounds as though she is at death's door! He told me that his son, Michael, now living in Berlin, had taken up amateur acting, and had won the Best Supporting Actor prize at a recent short play festival! He's playing a rock star in a production in the New Year...we said we'd try and make a bit of a group outing of it come February, if the dates work for everybody. Geordie has lost a bit of weight...and confessed that he goes swimming five times a week! Little Pete seems happily retired, he and his wife travelling the globe...they are planning a trip to the Arctic Circle next year! Widdup looked in good shape...still working on a part time basis from offices in Golden Square. We repaired to The Narrowboat for dinner. I enjoyed a very rare bavette steak and chips. Walked them back towards Angel where they jumped on a bus to Euston. I walked up Upper Street and jumped on a No.43. Seven Sisters Road was blocked off at the junction with Hornsey Road, due to a fire next door to the Turkish supermarket. Chaos! Aki still out when I got in...she'd gone to Conway Hall with members of the Book Club for a 100th anniversary celebration of the life and works of John Berger. She got back around 2315 and climbed into the bath I'd just run...