Went for swim on Monday lunchtime. Rishi Sunak will be the next PM  Had a Goolie zoom in the evening as quiz night was moved to Tuesday because of the Rugby League world cup. Cycled out to Sonning Common on Tuesday to meet Mike for a coffee. Lazy day Wednesday working on the next animation and some guitar practice. Same on Thursday but had a swim in the afternoon. Had a band practice on Friday followed by helping out with the sound at RSAC in the evening. Had some issues with the PA but Rich came up with a solution. Great gig. The Dianas, Jopy, and Doops. Ian and Fran came down on Saturday. They had taken tests before setting off. I wouldn't have thought of that. Cooked a meal played cards. On Sunday it was Cracking Up's third gig at the Woodcote Food Fair.
We were playing outside in a small tent. Saturday had been an incredibly warm day and I'd kind of assumed Sunday would be the same put it was not the case. Quite cold and then started to rain quite heavily and as the tent was leaking we had to stop playing towards the end of our first set until it cleared up. Eventually it did and we we finished about 3pm which was when the fair finished. Cold fingers made for quite a few mistakes but we were well received never the less. Our first paid gig. £100  between us.

Did a ride out to Sonning on Monday morning and back via Sonning Common and Caversham. Did my 5 hills ride on Tuesday morning. Wednesday was mainly house tidying and started on a new animation. M's computer crashed about 6 times which has been happening a lot so ordered a new one on 0% finance. It turned up on Thursday. We wondering about how to transfer all stuff across but they've thought about that and you can do it as part of the setup. Liz Truss resigned as PM, she has been in office for less than any other PM. She'll stay until they pick another. We went to Robert Cox's funeral on Friday. A good turn out with mixture of his friends and Andy and June's. Very sad. 

Did a ride round the north of Reading on Monday morning. Baked some more bran cakes in the evening. Did a ride along the Thames and across to the Loddon on Tuesday morning. The artwork under the subway in Old Coley has been finished and at the moment is graffiti free.

Had my seasonal covid booster and flu jabs on Monday. On Sunday I'd had a call from Danny asking me if I fancied a trip to Goole this week. A bit short notice and not too convenient so I tried to put him off for for a couple of weeks. Unfortunately he couldn't do that so I agreed to go. Andy and June came round in the afternoon. Got the train up on Tuesday (there was a rail strike on Wednesday). All went well until I got to Doncaster and due to a problem on the line at Saltmarsh got stuck there. Had to get a train to Brough via Selby in the end. We were staying at Cave Castle in South Cave so it was actually better than going to Goole. Met up and had a pleasant meal at the hotel. On Wednesday we went to Goole for a wander round. Couldn't get on the docks unfortunately as the footoath was closed. Went to the museum in the library. Got chatting to the curator chap and it turned out his father used to work with Danny. They chatted on the phone. Tried to get to a fishing pond we used to go to called Oak Hill but couldn't. Its now a nature reserve. There isn't a hill. We went to Beverley next to try to find some of Danny's old neighbours from North Cave. He didn't have there address but I found it on Google. We couldn't get in the restaurant in the evening so ate in the Bistro. Plain sailing on the way back on Thursday. Had first Thursday drinks in the Greyfriar but just me Dave Kirkham and JR. M had her covid booster and flu jabs. Unfortunately unlike me she had a bit of a bad reaction with a temperature and sleepless night. Finished my animation on Friday. It was Tom's birthday on Saturday, we'd sent him some vinyl. Had a call from JAM on Sunday. Madeline is pulling herself up to standing quite a lot now. Did some gardening. Cooked a chicken tikka masala.

Did my 5 hills ride on Monday morning. On Tuesday did my ride out through Swallowfield. There's a new footbridge called Observer Bridge over a new bit of the A427.Here's why its called that.

Its been a busy month or so with a lot of drinking and not too much exercise so Tuesday is the start of a healthier period I hope. Did my ride out along the Kennet and back through Mapledurham in the morning. Did the ride out past the London Brewey on Wedhesday morning. M has done 40k words of her thesis (that's half) so.....

Had a band practice on Wednesday and did some new songs. The queen was taken from Buck House to Westminister Hall to begin 4 days of lying in state. Went to watch URZ get thrashed by newly promoted Sunderland 3 0. They didn't turn up. On Thursday booked my seasonal covid booster for 3rd October. Drove over to Tom and Sally's for the Greenwich Comedy Festival with Stewart Lee. The compere was a chap called Ian Smith from Goole. All pretty good but Stewart Lee was excellent. Tom and Sally flew out to Rotterdam on Friday, it was Sally's birthday present. We had a chilled day, walked round the heath, popped into the church, had a couple of pints, cooked a meal watched telly. On Friday we went to the Cartoon Museum just off Oxford St, bus to Woolwich then Elizabeth Line to Tottenham Court Rd. Dead easy and an interesting museum. We popped into the very ornate All Saints church first. After we helped a woman who had locked herself out of a room with all her stuff inside. She was a therapist and it was a room she'd rented from this lot. It makes you realuse how vulnerable you can easily become if you dont have access to your phone or money. Looks like Cracking Up have another gig as part of the Henley Living Advent Calander where they put on secret gigs at venues round town from 1st to 24th Dec. In the evening went to the pinzeria place in Greenwich. Lovely walk down as ever. They are the just the best pizzas. Then went to comedy at Up The Creek. A bit different to the Sunday night shows as it doesn't start til 9pm and the audience is quite pissed by then. Also lots of groups in, a stag do and a birthday party. So the sniping at the audience is a bit more vicious. Very funny though, particularly the compere, Thomas Green and the last act, Kane Brown. On Sunday headed out to the SE end of the Elizabeth Line, Abbey Wood and looked round the Lesnes Abbey ruins. Then wandered round the riverside at Woolwich on the site of the old arsenal.