|||
08:40 In the bathroom. The clocks went forward last night.
The day is spectacular: bright and warm, even muggy.
Lovely porridge breakfast, chats, sitting in the sun room with Lesley looking at maps. I pencil in my route to Caen.
Lunch of baked potato with salmon quiche and home-baked jam tarts for dessert. Lesley invites me to stay a second night. I spend more time tuning laptops, setting up photo backups to Google Photos, investigating what’s involved to update Windows Vista to Windows 7 or 10 (you can’t, it’s nuke-and-pave) and finally get the WiFi extender sorted by invoking the correct incantations.
Mike shows me his amazing collection of cars. Their camper van is a wonder and the Thai tuk-tuk he’s currently working on is coming together nicely but Mike’s pride and joy is a 1969 racing green soft-top E-type Jaguar complete with chrome spoked wheels which he rebuilt himself. It was an American import: he changed the carburettors to make the engine deliver more power (it’s a 4.3 litre flat six engine) and switched out the original four speed gearbox for a five speed one, to make motorway driving more civilised.
Lesley brought me for a leisurely wander through the fields around their property, showing me the old mill race and the who-knows-how-old stone-lined channels. She’s a fan of social history. Barney demonstrated his amazing sense of smell by retrieving his ball from random corners of the garden, but didn’t figure out that I wasn’t too comfortable prising the ball from his jaws to throw it again for him.
19:05:33
Dinner was rich sausages with hash browns followed by profiteroles. This is exactly the kind of food I need.
22:40 Up in my bedroom.
