DAY 10

The bike has 2 normal tyres – no flats. So I set off for Marlow Common and a walk with my friend, Sarah. I made it up Danesfield Hill (admittedly slowly) without stopping and arrived 10 minutes early, which was just as well because I was more than a little sweaty and needed the time to cool down. Despite her poorly knee, we had a lovely walk and then we went back to her house for a coffee in the garden, so civilised, apart from the fact she lives at the top of a hill. By the time I got home it had been a three hill morning and I was knackered.

The afternoon threw up the opportunity to go and visit the puppies, who are a week old now – their eyes are still shut, but they have grown so much. Still undeniably cute.

DAY 11

The bees have been very busy in the warm weather and so we are having an early collection of honey, apparently it will stop them becoming lazy bees. Robert and Alex donned their bee suits and set about relieving the bees of their booty, they were not pleased – angry bees. Alex managed to get stung on his chin, but other than that it all went smoothly, and after spinning and straining, we got 40 jars of honey.

It is Thursday again, they roll round really quickly, and so it is clap time at 8pm. It looks like this will be the last one. 10 weeks have passed since we began and as the lockdown regulations are beginning to be eased, the originator of the idea has suggested it is an appropriate time to stop and instead make it an annual show of support. We had our last post clap drink and I have been grateful for this opportunity to congregate. It’s been a good way of keeping the neighbours in touch with one another and creating a positive vibe towards the end of each week.

DAY 12

Another bloody puncture – I am a bit bored with this. I seem to be a magnet for the damn things. Robert had gone off to Guildford early to collect a new nuc of bees for our second hive, as the bees originally in there had died over the winter, something to do with not removing the Queen Guard – I don’t pretend to understand. On his return he suggested I call Saddle Safari in Marlow and see if they had any new inner tubes. They did, and so I bought 2, some wheel liner and a new puncture repair kit. They have a collect service and so Nick and I headed out on a brewery, supermarket and bike shop run. It took a while and by the time we got home Robert was up to his ears in admin ahead of the weekend. I waited and then in a fit of impatience and bloody mindedness, decided it was time to put Ken’s lesson to good use. I changed the tyre myself and felt remarkably pleased with myself. I think Robert was quietly impressed too.

The early evening weather was perfect and so we met Dave and Hels in the field for a socially distanced drink and it was bliss.

DAY 13

A busy day – after a relaxing start with lots of pottering about in my dressing gown. I rode my bike (no puncture) to Henley to a friend’s house. Christina is a former train chum and we had arranged to go for a walk but she had arranged a surprise for me. We walked through Henley which was humming, the good weather and talk of the rules being relaxed, had brought everyone out to the river and then she told me we were headed to Shiplake, where another former train chum, Nigel, lives. it was a lovely walk, busy at first as we headed along the Thames Path but as we left Henley behind the crowds thinned and we had a great hour catching-up as we wandered along. Nigel & his wife Jo had the camping chairs and coffee waiting for us in the garden, though naughty Christina decided she deserved a glass of wine. We had a great half and hour with them before catching an empty train back to Henley. I reclaimed my bike (still no puncture) and headed home in time for a late lunch.

I baked a banana cake, read my book in the sun and then got ready for darts. It was really sunny and so we needed to arrange a shade of some sort so that we could see the screen – it’s amazing what you can do with a roll of gaffer tape and a UoR umbrella.

We raced into a lead only to be tripped up by 16 and the Bulls Eye – the Hoares won and the Ring of Shame will be coming home! Still I played better this week, just not quite well enough.

After the disappointment of the darts, we took solace in a marvellous steak dinner, followed by still warm banana loaf. We had a nice bottle of red with dinner and then casting around for a drink to finish the evening, Robert unearthed a very tasty bottle of dessert wine. It did however, lead to the most pretentious statement of the day (possibly week or year), when Robert said “Oh Lord, there’s a f****** bug in my Sauternes!”

The icing on the cake of what was a pretty perfect day, was watching the SpaceX rocket cross the night sky at 10.15pm as it headed out on its way to the Space Station. I’ve never seen anything like that in real time and it was genuinely exciting stuff. I have not been a huge fan of Mr Musk, however I would like to say thank you to him for that piece of entertainment.