Wednesday 13th January 2021

Quite vivid dreams again last night, but couldn't summon up a narrative on waking. I recalled being on the top deck of a bus in driving rain, and going down a very wide and deep concrete staircase in a very cavernous ultra-modern art nouveau railway station...

Spent the day in the car inspecting property in east London. Had to drive over to ASDA in Beckton for a comfort break, so had my packed lunch in the ASDA car park. Got home around 5.30pm and popped in to TescoExpress to buy some things for lunches later in the week.

We watched and cheered as the House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump...but can't see them winning over the 17 Republicans they'll need to convict in the Senate. What a bunch! Meanwhile, over 1,500 deaths due to Covid reported today...it's beginning to run amok...

Tuesday 12th January 2021

Spent most of today in front of the computer screen. Aki popped out and cycled to the greengrocer in Stroud Green Road.

BT sent an engineer round this afternoon to check for faults on our internet provision. He checked the box outside, and said he could find no fault, so we let him in, suitably masked, to check out our router. He seems to think the problem may lie with our Devolo wifi extension system, as the signal strength almost halves by the time it gets to the desktop computer, but our wifi readings when in close proximity to the router were even slower. The BT guy didn't seem to know why this would be the case, so we'll just have to live with it for the present, and see what happens.

Aki set up the gas burner for a Japanese style salmon hotpot for dinner.

 

Monday 11th January 2021

Cake for lunch! Though I only had a bit of the sharp end...Aki's portion definitely looked bigger than mine...

Aki FaceTimed Naoya in Tokyo, and we said Happy New Year to him and his family. Otherwise, it was a day at the computer interface for me, as I finally got some work done. It's beginning to pile up a bit, worryingly! Still, I guess I need the money, though I'm not looking forward to having to track down functioning public conveniences on my travels!!!

Sunday 10th January 2021

More strange dreams last night. Dreamt I was going on holiday with Geoff Hoare, a retired colleague, and his wife. Geoff and I were walking along a city pavement pulling our suitcases behind us. We crossed the road at a pedestrian crossing. Walking down the opposite side of the street, Geoff realised he'd lost one of the lenses from his spectacles, which we could see glinting on the opposite side of the road. I went back to the pedestrian crossing, but by the time I got near the fallen lens, Geoff had crossed the road and retrieved it. So I attempted to board a bus, but just missed it, and had to jog beside it to the next bus stop. I got off at the train station, and looked for Geoff and his wife on the crowded platform!

Played my Christmas present from Aki...the vinyl edition of Exile on Main Street...just to check it wasn't scratched, really...sounded great, and we had a bit of a jig about in the living-room to Turd On the Run. Read a bit of A House for Mr Biswas, which I am enjoying hugely, and then watched FA Cup football on BBC1. Crawley Town hammered Leeds United 3-0...great stuff! Rebecca from next door phoned to say she had cooked a Victoria sponge...Sush passed me a couple of slices, in a plastic container, across the fence in the front garden.

Saturday 9th January 2021

Languished in bed listening to Saturday Live, and Soul Music, the latter focusing on Life on Mars? Intriguing listen. 

Aki dragged me out for a Saturday constitutional mid afternoon. We took a circular route up and over the hill to Crouch End, and had a quick look at the redevelopment going on in and around the old 1930s era Town Hall building. A lot of flats going up to the rear. Popped in to Dev's the Chemist to pick up fresh supplies of statins.

Watched Arsenal v Newcastle live from the Emirates. Aki was pleased that The Gooners ran out 2-0 winners.

Friday 8th January 2021

More funny dreams last night, though can't quite remember the sequence/narrative. I can recall preparing goods for sale at an open air market...my speciality seemed to be sponge cakes, sliced in half horizontally, laid in a baking tray and covered with custard! Retired for the night to a mattress in a warehouse, shared with numerous other market traders, prior to opening the following morning. I rose at dawn to use the loo, and found myself in a long queue that snaked down a grassy bank toward a building by a canal. I gave up waiting, and took a walk along the canal, passing a three-storey apartment building; on looking up, I saw Jim Lister on a balcony waving at me, and I asked if I could use his facilities. Katherine met me at the communal front door and let me in...

FaceTimed mum...wanted to see the snow that had fallen in the early hours. The back garden looks to have had a generous covering.

Popped out late afternoon for our constitutional, via the greengrocer in Stroud Green Road, and TescoExpress. FaceTimed Kath when we got back...she'd been working overnight looking after Muriel. Called Nigel, but he was on another line, so caught up with Julie. She said Nigel has almost fully recovered from the virus, though he's now having problems with his liver.

Thursday 7th January 2021

Woke once in the night to check the BBC live reporting on the attempted coup in the US. By morning, the news confirmed that Biden's election win had been certified by Congress. Now all that remains is to drag Trump kicking and screaming from the Oval Office in a couple of weeks' time.

Did a little prep work this morning prior to planning a drive to Medway next week...am having second thoughts about going, though, as hospitals are now so full, I'd be in danger of not getting intensive care treatment, or a timely response from the emergency services, should I be in a car accident! Will monitor the situation, and make a decision next week. In the meantime, Savills have issued us with a letter to show the police should we be stopped whilst out and about on Savills business.

Only contact with the outside world today came when Sush rang the doorbell, looking for Lynne. He had a traffic warden with him who was about to issue her with a ticket. I knocked on her door, and she finally materialised, and Sush took her car keys and moved her car for her, much to the traffic warden's bemusement.

Spoke to ma on the landline. She said their second covid jabs were still scheduled for a couple of weeks' time, and it sounds as though Kath is in line for a first jab soon.

No sign yet of the republican members of Trump's Cabinet moving to invoke the 25th Amendment. Looks like an Impeachment Trial will come from the House of Representatives, though. Bring it on!