Sanded down the down pipes and guttering and facia round the bay on Monday. M didn't feel too good in the evening, she had an unset tummy and all that comes with it. Not sure why. Fortunately M had made a complere recovery by Tuesday. Undercoated the bay and down pipe. Its hot again. Madeline called. On Wednesday put the first coat of gloss on and fixed up the bench near the back door. Unfortunately Alan didn't finish the guest room and we need more paper so will have to wait for that. Went for a ride with Andy, Kelvin and Stuart in the evening. Sun at Hill Bottom, Black Horse, fish and chips in Goring and one in The Clifton when we got back. The gents in the BH have been adorned with flowers. Did the second coat of gloss on Thursday morning then had a band practice. Popped into the Castle Tap on the way back to check out the performance area. Went out for meal to Cote for a change. On Friday set off to Sheffield to see Ian and Fran. Forgot the clothes bag so had to go back. Got held up by cows on the road then had a flat on the M40. No spare so used the spray can to fix. Worked quite well and drove to a tyre place in Kidlington. Had to get a new tyre as a result of using the spray. It was caused by a screw in the tyre in almost the same place as last time a couple of months ago. Coincidence? Arrived about 7 had a nice pasta bake. Stayed up too late. Had a look round a street market on Saturday followed by a swift pint. Took the dogs for a walk in some woods. Rick and Jeanette came on their way back from Italy via Grantham. Ian cooked a curry. Watched Paul McCartney at Glasto. Had an uneventful journey back on Sunday.

Alan Mills arrived on Monday morning to start decorating the guest room. I put almost a first coat of blue gloss on. Madeline called. Finished the first coat of blue gloss on Tuesday and started the second. M went to the BRO. She took a mask as last time she went they had to wear one. I finished the blue gloss on Wednesday morning. M was back at the BRO, two people recognised her from University Challenge. Meanwhile Madeline was eating flowers and demonstrating her

Did some more painting prep on Monday. The rotten bit on one of the barge boards was worse than I thought so decided to cover with hardwood ply. Then started looking at our bedroom window and its very rotten so called out Kelly's Sash Windows who did the front room. Had a call from Madeline and later she was out blowing raspberries in the park. The Tory party had a vote of no confidence in Boris as 54 letters had been received asking for one. That's 15% of the parliamentary party. He won but 148 voted against which is pretty damning. Put the plywood up on Tuesday and primed it. M had to do a presentation for her PhD on Wednesday morning so took her up the uni. Then carried on with the painting prep. On Thursday put on the first coat of undercoat. Went out for a ride with Kelvin in the evening. Had a pint at the flower pot, fish and chips in Henley and met Stuart at the Loddon Brewery. Unfortunately it had closed at five so went to the Fox and Hounds. Discovered I had a puncture as we left so walked back. Did a  Mansfield Rd walk with Roger and Paul on Friday. Bus to Mongewell, lunch at the Cherry Tree a pint at the Unicorn waiting for the bus back and then one in the Castle Tap. Tom came round later and set up his frisbee golf basket in the garden. It should have another set of chains. He's taking part in a tournament at Dinton Pastures.

Started painting the front of the house on Monday or rather the tedious prep.

On Tuesday Tony came round to practice some songs as we're playing at the Mansfield Rd jubilee party. They are mainly songs we do with Cracking Up with a couple of others thrown in. On Wednesday had a Cracking Up practice and we took a

Still +ve on Monday morning as was M. Roofers finished, hope they did a good job. Got a call from Madeline, James is now on paternity leave. Paul Ince confirmed as permanent Reading manager. Still +ve on Tuesday. Have said I wont go on tomorrow's walk. Another call from Madeline. Looks like me and Ralph are going to renew our season tickets. Still +ve on Wednesday. It took a while for the second line to appear and M was negative so I was hopeful. Mike has put together a medely of live Cracking Up recordings we did at Pirate Studios. I'm not too keen on the last one. We cancelled tomorrows band practice as I'm still +ve. Finally -ve on Thursday morning. 

Eventually got off to sleep about 2 on Monday morning I think. Remember waking up about 5 then slept though til 8. Woke up quite sweaty but feeling OK apart from really bad sore throat. Ibuprofen seemed to sort that out though. M had a bad night as well. She went to bed before me, got off OK but then woke about 1 and felt as though she hadn't got off again. I could hear her coughing. She's sleeping in Tom's old room at the moment. We got extra supplies of Ibuprofen via the street WhatsApp group. Saw the bees do their annual swarm in the afternoon. Not sure where they went. Had a really good nights sleep and woke on Tuesday feeling a lot better. Spent the afternoon reading in the garden but also rigged up the camera on the mealworm feeder and kept an eye out for visitors. These are the best couple of shots.