Days 299 to 302

Whoever said that when you retire you can relax more needs bringing to his/her the trade descriptions act. It's been very busy for us both.

Thursday saw me going to Yarmouth on an incredibly wet day to attend a farewell reception for Joya. It was a very pleasant occasion. A chap called Peter stood up and made one of the shortest and most effective speeches I have ever heard.

On Friday there was a letter of complaint about the length of time Angel Radio has been off the air. For anyone reading this who is a listener I can only apologise. The truth is I still don't know when the replacement mast is going to appear on the Island. Watch this space.

My normal weigh day is Sunday so I can tell you I have neither gained nor lost these last 7 days. Today I enjoyed a small portion of bangers and mash. This is I guess a sign that things are continuing to improve.

Yesterday we went to London to see the RSC Production of Twelfth Night starring Richard Wilson. It was good fun with a lot of strong performances. The edge however was somewhat taken off by various transport problems. On the Railways and London Underground weekends mean engineering works. We had already decided to travel by car due to part of the line between Portsmouth and London. We drove to Ruislip and parked the car at the station(it only charges £1 on a weekend). The idea was to travel the rest of the way on the tube. Several lines are closed on weekends. This puts added pressure on the ones that are open. The journey into Town was difficult but the one coming back was a nightmare. To start there was a delay due to someone setting off the passenger alarm. Then the train we were on got taken out of service. As a result we were very badly squashed. Sometimes despite what you hear to the contrary you get the idea the authorities want us to travel by car.

To end on a positive note we had a nice meal and chat with Charles and Jess before heading for the ferry and home.