Spent most of Monday doing admin. In the evening we went to a talk in the long gallery in Englefield House. Very interesting just because ot the location. Went to the dentist for a check up on Tuesday morning. All OK. Did a short bike ride with Bobby in the afternoon, across the uni, down to the Lodden and back along the Thames. Went swimming on Wednesday morning. In the afternoon took a dodgy foldback monitor from RSAC to Bob Noyes. Left it there to see if he could fix it. Went to see Dry Cleaning in the evening at the Brixton Academy with Pete Larrett. It's a good venue. As it's an old theatre/cinema it has a sloping floor which means it's easy to see. Pretty good sound too but the singer could have done to be clearer/louder. Didn't think much to the support acts so they don't get a mention. Before the gig we met in a really good pub called the Duke of Edinburgh. When I initially looked at the map I saw the Trinity Arms and this reminded me of when I worked in London and we used to play 5-a-side with some guys from Lambeth Council who used to be customers of ours when I worked for ICL . We used to go to the Trinity afterwards. But Pete checked out both pubs and reckoned the Duke was better. I walked past the Ferndale sports centre on my way there which might be where we played. On Thursday morning I had an appointment at the Thatcham  Community Hospital to see the consultant about my eye. M drove in case they gave me drops. He perscribed more Acular drops for 2 months. This needed 2 bottles. i tried the chemist in Coley Park but they couldn't read the prescription. Went to Boots down Broad St. They didn't have any in stock nor did their branch in the Oracle. Neither did Superdrug but they suggested Saood down Oxford Rd. They had one bottle. They took the prescription but gave me a note and suggested I went to the hospital chemist for the second. They had it in stock but wouldn't accept the note, said I needed an outpatients prescription from the eye department. Tried the eye clinic they told me to go to eye casualty and eventually they gave me one. There was a very long queue when I got back to the chemist but the woman I had spoken to said I could just go straight to her but inevitably she wasn't there. What a palaver. Installed a new extractor fan in the downstairs loo. Spent most of Friday doing housework and stuff. No 81 came round for pizzas in the evening. We opened up the pizza oven for the first time this year. James and Amy dropped the kids off on Saturday morning so they could pack for Amy, Madeline and Owen's trip to Canada.

A quiet day on Monday but in the evening I went to RSAC for an ops meeting only to find out from Larry that it was just online. He was doing it from a laptop in office so I joined him. An AFD. Blasted the table and storage box on the patio on Tuesday. M got some pots from Lorraine down the street including this chimney pot. Went to the garden centre near Playhatch.

M had started painting some of the outdoor chairs on Monday and finished off on Tuesday. I painted the downstairs window sills and started touching up some of the wood work. Went for a haircut. Finished off the windows on Wednesday. Did the Retreat quiz in the evening and came our usual 3rd. Went swimming on Thursday morning, just me though as M has conjunctivitis and didn't want to risk it. Went to get some food waste bags from the library, thought it had moved to the civic centre but it hasn't yet. Had a band practice in the evening followed by first Thursday drinks. I left my Doc Martens in Sedbergh and they arrived safely back home on Friday. That was the excitement for the day. Quiet days on Saturday and Sunday but JAMO came round for dinner on Sunday.

On Monday I attempted to remove the cotoneaster (cotoni aster as opposed to coton easter) from around the bay. It went into early lead, first breaking a tine off the fork then bending it completely. After a struggle though I prevailed in the end.