Friday 6th November 2026

Woke around 0700. Back was giving me a bit of gip, so I got up and made tea. Sat up in bed for a while. Aki readied herself for Rowing Club. I got up and porridged as she cycled off to the east. Gary rang to say that Charlie had failed to turn up this morning, so they would be back on Monday, though he'd pop in later to check a couple of things out. Worked at the laptop all morning. Aki back for lunch. I through a mackerel salad together. Did another hour or so at the laptop after lunch, then we walked across to Waitrose to do a hefty shop...spent just shy of £100!!! Roast partridge for dinner, with sweet potato and vegetables. It was OK...not as tender as chicken, and quite difficult to get off the bone. Watched a bit of telly and rehearsed some Xmas tunes...

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...

Wednesday 4th November 2026

Woke at 0615. Got up and did some work at the laptop for an hour. RoofPro guys turned up at 0830...didn't recognise any of them...one or two only speak Ukrainian! Got them on to the roof at the back, then waited for Gary to show up...he and his lads got here around 1000, by which time I'd helped the RoofPro lads bring some of their stuff through. Aki returned for lunch. I made do with almond butter on toast, as I kept having to attend to the two sets of roofers. The RoofPro bunch had finished by 1430...I'd thought they were due to take two or three days, so was a little surprised. I think we were sent the B Team, to be honest. Gary and his lads left at 1600. Watched the TV News platforms covering the joyous reaction to the US mid-term Democratic tsunami...great stuff! Warmed up the last of the chicken lasagne for dinner. A bit of telly before bath and bed...

Tuesday 3rd November 2026

Woke to alarm at 0800. Got up and made tea. Porridged. Gary and his team turned up around 0930. Got them parked, and left them to it. It was raining by lunchtime...hadn't been in the forecast; worried about whether RoofPro will show up to do the rear parapet tomorrow if the weather ain't behaving! Aki cycled off to the fishmonger. I got lunch together when she returned. Did a couple of hours work at the laptop. Message from RoofPro to say they planned to rock up in the morning. Aki cooked sardines for dinner...very flavoursome, but slow work, what with all the little bones. Watched a bit of telly...not much on, though. Rehearsed some Xmas tunes on our ukuleles before bath and bed...

Monday 2nd November 2026

Woke around 0430...took a while to nod back off. Alarm at 0800. Got up and descended for breakfast with ma and pa in the dining room. Jim turned up, having driven Emma into work. I set about securing the piece of the downstairs bathroom wardrobe we'd half done yesterday. Managed to find the screws for the sliding door track...Jim had made a bit of a mess of taking it apart...more demolition job! Packed my bags. Got dad to sign a couple of copies of Dagga...I asked him to write Merry Lollybrodmas in the one to Tony, but he wrote it as Lollybrodness...presumably a lake situated near the capital! Said my farewells...Jim drove me to Callerton Parkway. Got to the Central Station in good time. Bought some lunch items in M&S, and a coffee from the Centurion. Waited in vain for the 1158 train from platform 4. A train turned up at 1205, but it wasn't the KX train...they changed the platform at the very last minute, and we all had to run back over the bridge to platform 2 through the crowds who had just gotten off!!! Train was about 20 minutes late getting in to KX. Took a No.91 bus back to Holloway. Got home in time to change and accompany Aki to the GP for our flu jabs. It was our first visit to the new premises...bizarrely it's situated on the first floor of a modern block; what happens when the lift breaks down!? But it feels very spacious compared to the former premises, and, at least for now, is clean and neat. Tanya saw us both, and administered our jabs in her consulting room...we had a wee chat...she's very good. Walked back home for dinner...

Sunday 1st November 2026

Woke at 0330...took an hour or so to nod back off. Got up at 1000 and breakfasted with ma and pa at the dining table. Kath had gone to the gym. Drove down to The Broadway to buy biscuits at the Co-op, and got a takeaway coffee from Elkwater...a lass was strumming an amplified guitar and singing, entertaining the regulars. Drove down to Dobbies to pick up a couple of ready meals for the freezer. Bought some frozen Yorkshire puds to go with the evening roast. Drove back to High View to find Kath preparing lunch. I was planning to poach eggs, but discovered they were about three weeks past their use by date, so had to chuck 'em in the bin. Helped dad in trying to put the downstairs bathroom wardrobe back together...slow going. Managed to secure part of the vertical frame to the concrete structural wall...it was like drilling granite! Had to abandon my efforts and start cooking the Sunday roast. Kath did a crumble, and made cauliflower cheese. It was quite a feast for the six of us...felt a bit like Xmas dinner! Dad didn't eat much of it though. Watched Blue Planet III. Aki FaceTimed...she'd enjoyed the afternoon gig at Chats Palace, and had managed to catch up with Marianne, Katrina, and Lesley. Watched MOTD before bed...

Saturday 31st October 2026

Woke at 0500...took a while to get back to sleep. Woke again around 0915.  Eventually got up and descended to make tea. Breakfasted at the dining table. Dad already pottering about in the garage! I did an hour's work at my laptop. Drove into Westerhope with mum in the passenger seat...bought washing machine hose from Wickes, then drove over to do a shop at M&S on Kingston Park. Stuck some diesel in the car, then drove back to High View to put some lunch together. Spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen, though occasionally having to dive into the garage to give dad a hand with the DIY! Cooked up some roast apples with toasted pecans, and a sausage ragu, which we ate for dinner. I'd left the apples in the solidifying caramel in the frying pan on the hob, the intention being to slowly warm them up tomorrow for Kath to add to her crumble. I found that mum had emptied the contents onto a plate, and the frying pan was sat upon the kitchen table, so I returned the apples and sauce to the pan, and set it back on the hob. There was a bit of caramel on the egg flip I'd used to transfer the goods, so I licked it off, and was surprised by an odd, bitter flavour...mum had put washing up liquid in the emptied frying pan, and it being black, I mistook it for caramel sauce! Watched a bit of MOTD before retiring for the night...

Friday 30th October 2026

 

Woke around 0430...took hours to get back off to sleep! Got up around 0945. Text message from Gary saying he wasn't feeling too good, so wouldn't be working on the roof today. Got up and descended to make tea. Breakfasted with ma and pa in the dining room. Drove in to Ponteland and parked up at Waitrose. Walked mum round to Sip & Loaf for coffee and half a chocolate brownie. It's housed in what used to Maynard's sweet shop when we were kids...bit cramped in there, and very noisy, though no complaints about the coffee. Did a quick turn around Waitrose, then drove mum back to High View. Warmed up some soup for lunch. Just as we sat down, Payam, the plumber, arrived. Nice fella...he said he was here in his lunch break, so I gave him a mug of the soup. He re-plumbed the pipework in the upstairs bathroom, and successfully got the cold water supply to the downstairs shower unit...so hopefully, all is well. Dad insisted he put the vertical bar back up in the shower...it allows you to move the position of the shower head up and down, higher or lower. Took about 2 hours to basically get two screws in the tiled shower wall! I was exhausted afterward, and my bad hernia repair was giving me gip. Put dinner together...chicken tikka masala and wholemeal rice...forgot to boil up some vegetable accompaniment! Watched the final episode of Celebrity Traitors...good fun, though mum and dad were not into it...it allowed dad to nod off on the sofa!

Thursday 29th October 2026

Woke around 0745. Got up at 0815 and made tea. Warmed up some soup to take for lunch on the train later. Grilled kippers for breakfast, with poached eggs. Packed a couple of bags. The roofers turned up around 0930. Got them sorted, then headed for KX station. Got there in good time. Bought myself a coffee, then headed for my train. Uneventful journey. Managed to finish Dagga. Train rolled in to Newcastle Central at 1415 and I hopped on a Metro train to Callerton Parkway where Kath picked me up. Ma and pa were in the car...she'd taken them down to the GP surgery to get their flu and covid jabs, only to discover that dad had got the appointment time wrong! We drove back to High View for yea and cake. Mum and dad looked in good fettle, I thought, all things considered. I drove them back down to the surgery, giving Kath a bit of me time before she headed out to Matfen to attend to a client. I drove down to the village to buy fish 'n chips from Gill's. Dad had warmed up some plates by the time I got back with the food. I made some custard to have with Kath's bread and butter pudding for afters. Watched the penultimate episode of Celebrity Traitors. Mum and dad didn't know what was going on, so I watched Uncloaked upstairs on the computer. FaceTimed Aki who had watched it from home. Returned downstairs for The Ten...

Wednesday 28th October 2026

Alarm at 0730...Aki up to ready herself for Rowing Club. She brought me a mug of tea. I got up in anticipation of receiving the roofers, but Gary rang to say that Mark wasn't able to come in this morning, so he'd aim to turn up about lunchtime. I did a little work at the laptop trying to work out some routes for the Suffolk and Norfolk inspections for Hastoe. There's a lot of mileage! Will have to base myself in Bury St Edmunds for a night, and in Norwich for a night or two. Popped out to Waitrose to buy courgettes...came home and made courgette soup for lunch. Gary and Mark showed up at 1330. Supplied them with a bucket of water to mix cement...extensive brickwork repairs required to the parapets! Warmed up the chicken lasagne for dinner, with lots of vegetables. Noticed a sad post on FaceBook from Nicky Bolton stating that her husband, Howard, had passed away after battling a brain tumour...I alerted the GGMM community, and will look out for funerary details. Ventured into town...No.29 bus to Tottenham Court Road, and a short walk to the Brunei Gallery at SOAS for a concert of Bangladeshi music and spoken word, part of the Bloomsbury Festival, and centred around the publication of a novel, Red River, set in a village in Assam. Fortunately, the readings from the novel were all in English. An interesting, cheap night out! By the time we got home, I'd decided I needed to head for Newcastle tomorrow to help Kath out, who seems to be struggling a bit with the aged folks...bought a ticket for an 1130 train tomorrow morning. Eddy York had left a phone message in response to my flagging up Howard Gray's passing...I gave him a quick ring before bed...may see him at the funeral.

Tuesday 27th October 2026

Woke around 0530. Strange noises going on...I thought perhaps a mouse had gotten into the wardrobe...if not, then there's definitely something crawling about in the roof void above our heads! Alarm at 0745. Got up and made tea. Porridged. No sign of the roofer...eventually showed up around 0930. Lynne's TV still not working. Nobody seems to be able to work out why! Drove Aki down to Sainsburys at Angel and we did a fairly hefty shop. Back for lunch...soup and toasted sourdough. Ventured into Southwark to visit Tate Modern...wanted to see the photography exhibition, Light & Magic, focussing on the Pictorialists, pioneers of photography as art...some extraordinary stuff going on in those early days. It was dark by the time we came out...caught a train from Blackfriars, and walked home from Finsbury Park station, popping into M&S for bread. Julie Williams rang with some inspections work...I say some, there's loads of it!!! Mostly Suffolk and Norfolk...should earn me enough to pay for my share of the roof replacement! Aki cooked mapo for dinner. Watched an hour of "Avanti", a 1973 Billy Wilder movie we heard being talked about on R4...it's slow going, but some great laugh-out-loud moments from Jack Lemmon. Had to hit the pause button to watch the Ten...hopefully, Netanyahu is on his way out as Israelis take to the polls...

Monday 26th October 2026

Alarm at 0745. Dozed for half an hour then got up to make tea. Gary and Mark showed up. I went up the scaff rig to inspect some dodgy brickwork at second floor level. May need to get the front re-pointed!!! Noticed Lynne's timber window sills are rotten. Pottered about for a bit. Raining again, so trapped in the flat for the morning. Put a sardine salad lunch together. Gary and Mark knocked off early as they had errands to run. We headed into Covent Garden mid-afternoon...to see "Fatherland" at the Garden Cinema. It follows the author Thomas Mann and his daughter as they return to Germany from exile after WWII. Beautifully shot in black and white. Very short for a movie...about an hour and a quarter, but it had emotional heft. Glorious! Caught a No.91 bus back home. I cooked up some tortelloni with a garlic and mushroom sauce. Watched 70Up...rather moving final episode, the director Michael Apted having passed away five years ago. They managed a final interview with Nick, the farmer's lad from Skipton, three days before he died. An amazing document...

Sunday 25th October 2026

Clocks went back overnight, so an extra hour in bed. Woke at 0600, but nodded back off fairly readily. Got up at 0830. Aki cooked breakfast. I got some costume together from my wardrobe, namely a scarf and a couple of hats, and then drove in to Stoke Newington for a morning rehearsal session. Got rehearsed into the first piece, which basically has me coming in at the end as the director. Broke for lunch. Wandered through Abney Park Cemetery, and then double-backed along Church Street and picked up some soup from Pret. Walked back to the theatre to eat it, joining some of the rest of the cast in the bar area. Did a run of all eleven pieces in the afternoon. Lengthy dinner break...wandered down the High Street, then walked back to the theatre to eat my packed dinner. Surprised by how big an audience turned up this evening...about 70 odd altogether. It all went down very well. I got a lot of congratulatory comments afterward, especially for my drunk acting. Sloped off around 2130. Aki drove us home. Watched a bit of MOTD before bath and bed... 

Saturday 24th October 2026

Woke at 0530...got back to sleep in relatively short time. Got up at 0830. Porridged. Shaved. Stuck guitar, mandolin, harmonicas, and cahon in the car, and drove over to Camden Square to hook up with some of the guitar course members who had organised a one-off meet during our half term break. Six of us showed up, four from the current class, and two from previous classes who I hadn't met before. Colin was very handy on the tin whistle...may be able to persuade him along to our Scottish sessions at some point in the future. Four of us adjourned to the Lord Stanley afterward, and I ordered arancini for lunch...the other three shared a couple of pizzas. The food was very good. By the time we left the pub the rains had really started to come down, and it poured relentlessly until about midnight! Drove home and dumped my stuff, then drove over to Waitrose to do a bit of shopping. Aki was back from the Rowing Club AGM by the time I got home. I put a chicken lasagne together for dinner. Watched 70Up, and the final gruelling episode of "Time". Put together a packed lunch for tomorrow. MOTD and bath...

Friday 23rd October 2026

Woke around 0530...didn't really get back to sleep properly. Aki got up at 0700 in the vain hope that the rain would clear so that she could go rowing. I got up and made tea. Porridged. Spotted Lynne outside with the dog, so ventured out for a chat and updated her on the scaffolding saga. She reported that the rain was coming in through her back bedroom ceiling, and through the flat roof in her bathroom...that's what I could hear last night, as I lay in the bath, making dripping sounds as the rainwater hit her bath more or less above my head! The scaffolders turned up around 0830 and finished putting the tin hat on. Gary showed up at 1000, just after they'd gone on to their next job of the day...in pouring rain. He made a quick survey of the leakages upstairs, then started to take off the roof slates. Did my exercises. Aki made ramen soup for lunch. Rain came down relentlessly...not a great day to be a roofer! Wind got up mid afternoon, too! They packed up at 1615, promising to come back tomorrow to check that the tin roof hasn't blown away in the night! Aki cooked sea bass for dinner, which we ate with the remans of the baked rice I'd cooked yesterday. Watched "Celebrity Traitors". Miranda Hart was murdered...she's been very entertaining. Watched The Ten before bath and bed...

Thursday 22nd October 2026

Woke around 0530...took an hour or so to nod back off again! Alarm at 0800. Got up and made tea. Had expected the scaffolders to be finishing off the tin hat, but no sign of anyone. Porridged. Scaffolders eventually showed up...they winched several loads of corrugated tin sheets up to roof level...the lad doing the hauling was completely uncontrolled, letting the sheets swing into the door of the bike shed, and catch on the metal trim around the green roof. I had to go stand in the front doorway to make sure he behaved himself. Pain in the butt! Light lunch. Gary and Charlie turned up to take a closer look at the southern parapet wall...it's in a bad way, but they had taken a look at it back in August at my insistence, so I'd rather assumed any works had been costed into the quote. Gary wanted Casey to extend the tin hat toward the party wall with No.5, and they vowed to come back and finish it before dusk, but needless to say, didn't turn up. Lentil curry, baked rice, and vegetables for dinner, preceded by a baked fig and taleggio starter. Watched "The Traitors", and started 70Up. Had a bath...as I lay there, I could hear the rain battering our skylight, and an alarmingly loud drip, drip sound somewhere above my head...I surmised that it was rainwater being diverted from the tin roof onto the wrought iron guttering to the church next door. Hope there's nothing coming in behind the bathroom tiling!!!

Wednesday 21st October 2026

Alarm at 0700. Got up and made tea. Put the ladder up in the back yard in anticipation of the arrival of the scaffolding team. I swear he'd told me last night that they'd rock up at 0800...by 0945 there was no sign of them. Rang the roofer, and he chased them up. They had had to go and pick up some more poles from a depot in Crouch End, and rocked up at around 1015. I made them tea. They got on with sticking a 'tin-hat' on top of the scaff rig. Took them most of the day. Aki and I moved the dining table so that we could take up the rug...we had a non-slip layer delivered, cut to the same size as the rug; hoping that it will protect the floor from the black staining from the rug. Aki tried to clean the stains off the floorboards, with only partial success. Stopped for soup for lunch. The underlay turned up and we got it laid successfully and repositioned the dining table. Early dinner...chicken chasseur and vegetables. Drove to Southgate Road for rehearsals at Martin and Janet South's house. Same set up as yesterday...worked through three pieces...I was only in one piece, which we happened to do first. It was the worst crafted piece of the lot, unfortunately, so was a bit of a slog. Martin was in the scene with me, which is always fun, but he seemed to have come down with a very heavy cold, or may be suffering the onset of a bout of flu...sincerely hope he hasn't passed it on to me!!! Made my escape after doing my piece, and left them to it. Drove home, listening to the Bayern v Arsenal game on R5Live. 

Tuesday 20th October 2026

Woke around 0530, but managed to nod back off relatively swiftly. Aki got up at 0830 and brought me a mug of tea. Got up and porridged. Grey, dull morning. The roofer phoned to confirm that a tin hat would be going on tomorrow...reckoned it would probably take all day! Pottered about on the laptop for most of the morning while Aki worked at the computer. Put a simple lunch together. Did some exercises after lunch...too damp to venture out for a walk, though I'll have to face it later, as I've got rehearsals at the South's this evening. The scaffolder came round to dump a load of scaff poles ahead of tomorrow morning's appointment! Interesting lad...must be mid-thirties, and runs the company...half Scottish, half Greek Cypriot! Early dinner...Aki cooked miso cod with rice. Headed off to rehearsals...two buses, changing at Manor House. Got to Martin and Janet South's house about 5 minutes late. We rehearsed three of the eleven short pieces; I was in two of them. Enjoyable evening...although I thought the pieces didn't read terribly well, they took on some life once we'd stood them up. Ian Hoare, co-directing with Janet and Martin, offered me a lift back to Holloway. As we were leaving he seemed to have severe breathing difficulties...I offered to drive, but he rallied enough to drive us back up the Holloway Road...he didn't look well. Sounds like emphysema or something. I asked if he'd seen anything of Angharad...he told me she'd been diagnosed with myeloma and was undergoing treatment! Got home about 2215. Watched some news and a bit of Later With Jools before bath and bed...

Monday 19th October 2026

Woke around 0800. Got up in anticipation of the roofers turning up. Sat in the living-room with a mug of tea. Porridged. Gary and a roofing mate turned up around 1000...they reckoned they wouldn't be able to start work today, as the forecast was bad for tomorrow, so he didn't want to expose the roof...he's planning to get a tin hat put on, which he is hoping will happen on Wednesday! Spent an hour waiting for someone to answer the phone at Islington Council. Eventually got through...but they weren't much help. Next to useless!!! Put a simple chicken salad lunch together. We headed in to town to watch "Naza" at the Garden Cinema. It's a series of interviews with anonymous Israeli Army operatives, spelling out a very deliberate Israeli government policy aimed at taking out as many Palestinians as possible when targeting Hamas operatives, namely whole families executed by association. It was chilling, showing the Israeli government to be the Fascists we all think they are! The audience sat in contemplative silence while the credits rolled, and we staggered back out into the day. Walked across town to the Japanese grocery near Piccadilly Circus. Found a table at Bolo, a little Italian canteen set up in the name of Gennaro Contaldo, the now 77-year old Italian chef and cookery writer. Portions were small, which allowed prices to be kept reasonable for central London, and my al forno was very tasty. Aki wasn't quite so convinced by her octopus bolognese. Hopped on a No.19 bus back home. Watched 63Up and The Ten before bath and bed...

Sunday 18th October 2026

Woke to alarm at 0800. Got up and porridged. Hauled myself off to Camden with my guitar strapped to my back...got there in good time for a coffee in the Pink Cafe, but no sign of any staff. The lesson plodded through the arrangement of "Sheriff's Ride" for an hour and a half. We adjourned for a coffee afterward...plans afoot for six of seven of us to meet up next Saturday for a jam, since there's no Sunday class, as it's half term. Walked back into Camden Town and did a little shop in Sainsburys, then caught a bus home. Aki lunching at the cafe next the Rowing Club, so I enjoyed a mini pizza and salad for my lunch. Cooked a chicken chasseur for dinner, with boiled vegetables and toasted sweet potato. Tried phoning Roz, but no reply...maybe she's trapped on the barge somewhere! Spoke to mother, who reckoned the boiler had been repaired, but when I asked her if the heating was on, she said "no"...so not sure what's going on...will have to try and speak to a responsible adult at some point! Watched 63Up, and episode 2 of Jimmy McGovern's "Time"...a tough watch! Bath and bed...