W2322

Male, retired teacher, married, aged 67 Now living in Fareham, Hants Part 3: The Diamond Jubilee 2nd – 5th June 2012 Saturday 2 June 06:00 An early start for the family, as my wife is teaching on a powerboat course at the centre in Portsmouth, and because this is regulated by the tides and high tide is at 09:56 today, she had to be away from home at 07:00. So I awoke her, then stayed in bed reading. 07:00 Breakfast (coffee and muesli), put on a dark clothes wash, checked emails. 08:00 Gardening - improving the soil and planting out some bedding dahlias. Hanging out the clothes from my earlier wash, and ironing two shirts. 09:00 Tutoring my Indian student at his house. We did some cloze exercises I had prepared myself, one from The Ghost of Thomas Kempe and one from a Radio Times article on Shakespeare 10:00 Checking the post and some other domestic jobs. 11:00 I am reading the final pages of a novel (Rachel Cusk, The Bradshaw Variations) which needs to go back to the library today. Listening to Classic FM (courtesy Alan Titchmarsh) playing patriotic music as I read. 12:00 Walked into town, 15 minutes away. Went to library and also bought a new shaver, my previous one having packed up yesterday. 13:00 Began walking back from town. Noticed the small museum was offering Jubilee activity days today and Tuesday - but then it's half-term week, so they would normally do that anyway. On the way home I counted how many houses in my street had decorations. It's two out of a total of over 140. Made myself lunch (scrambled egg) and listened to Classic FM. 14:00 Mowing the lawn. 15:00 Still mowing the lawn. It is not that we have a huge lawn - far from it; but part of it, at my wife's suggestion, is lefty as a wild flower meadow, and then about now it is mown so that it becomes more like a normal lawn. This process I am just beginning now, but it takes quite a lot of time. Some of the fritillaries and anemones have not yet seeded, so I am having to mow carefully around them. Drove 4 miles to the sea for a walk in the fresh air along the prom to Lee-on-Solent. On the way I observed three houses with bunting and flags, all including the Flag of St George as well as the Union Flag. 16:00 Walking by the sea. Afterwards I drove to Sainsbury's in Fareham to do some food shopping. 17:00 A little after this I arrived home, to find my wife returning from her sailing. We talked about our days, and I fetched in the washing from the line. Went to fetch fish and chips from a shop in West Street. 18:00 We both began watching an edition of Foyle's War, which I missed the first time around but think is superb. I love the authentic wartime setting, and I admire Michael Kitchen's acting enormously. 20:00 Wrote an email or two and washed a car - in the rain, but it was covered in Sahara dust and bird shit, so needed attention. Then as my hair was thoroughly wet, I washed my hair properly. Piano practice until - 21:00 Watched Lewis. 23:00 Went to bed. Sunday 3 June 06:30 Woke and read in bed 07:30 Got up and had breakfast with my wife. 08:00 My wife departed for her sailing session in Portsmouth harbour. I answered some emails, spent a few minutes in the garden (which had got thoroughly watered overnight) and then sharpened some woodworking tools. 09:00 Went to the church, but discovered there is a different pattern to worship this morning (I'd missed out on that because for various reasons I had not been to this church for 3 weeks). So I returned home to do a little writing and woodwork. 10:30 Left again to go to church for a Jubilee service on the village green at Stubbington, a few miles south of my town of Fareham. 11:00 Tried again to go to church - but it certainly wasn't being held on the Green, as advertised. Came home, disconsolate. and did some more woodwork. 12:00 I need to walk into town to change the shaver I bought yesterday, because apparently it only trims stubble, it doesn't shave you. Now what a stupid idea!! 13:00 I've at last got myself a new shaver and put it on to charge. Am about to get myself some lunch - sandwiches and yogurt, and I read a few pages of a German novel I am reading. 14:00 Began watching the Thames flotilla, with occasional reads of my German novel. The sun has come out here! I watched this for most of the four hours it was being broadcast, my wife coming in afgter an hour or so. I was most impressed: by the range of boats which had been assembled by the superb organisation by the good humour of the crowd and their happiness, despite the weather above all, by the stamina of the Queen and all the royal family, as they watched 18:00 We got ourselves a simple tea - bread and butter, crisps and tinned rice. Then I called my sister for our weekly chat, and arranged when we would see each other again. She had also been watching the flotilla, and also admired the Queen's stamina. 19:00 Piano practice - which for once went quite well! 20:00 This sounds as if I always spend my evenings watching television, which I don't. However, we watched on BBC2 Simon Reeve finishing his journey around the Indian Ocean 21:00 Followed by Nick Crane on Coast, a programme about extremes and disasters. 22:00 I am yawning, so I am going to get ready for bed. I'm taking with me James Patterson, Wer sich umdreht oder lacht and Sarah Rayne, The Sin Eater. Monday 4 June 07:30 Woke up and got up. Put on a dark wash. 08:00 Breakfast, discussing the day, looking on the internet to check the weather for today for this area. It is NOT encouraging! I scrubbed down the work surfaces in the kitchen, as there was a smell of salmon. 09:00 At the gym - I walked in as it is just a mile away. The brisk walk counts as my warm-up. I worked steadily for nearly an hour, and also had a chat with a couple of members. 10:00 Walked back via Tesco, where I bought some glue, coffee and cheese. The weather has bucked up, and now almost feels like April instead of February. June? That's months away! 11:00 Answered a few emails and made some drinks for us. 11:30 Began watching the film on BBC2, Ring of Bright Water. We had seen it when it first came out in 1969, and knew Gavin Maxwell's book, so it was quite a nostalgia trip for us. More seriously, it made us ponder why such beautiful, harmless, wholesome films are not made nowadays. It is very, very sad that they are not. 13:00 The film finished at 13:10 and we each made ourselves a sandwich and hot drink. Then, the day being still very cold, we put the heating on! I checked out the film locations for Ring of Bright Water - mainly around Oban and the Island of Seil, very beautiful and unspoilt places. 14:00 Ironing those things that needed it from the dark wash I did earlier. I followed this with a long piano practice. 15:00 We were on the allotment, picking strawberries and building a cage for the brassicas 18:00 Back home, with strawberries to wash and rhubarb to prepare for the freezer. But first, some food - fish fingers, followed by strawberries ice-cream. 19:00 Some more emails and writing, followed by a little time in the garden - the weather is now sunny and almost warm! 20:00 Rang an old friend and got up to date with news. 21:00 Reading and chatting in the family. 22:30 In bed. Tuesday 5 June 06:00 Woke and read in bed for a while 06:47 While in the bathroom I was disgusted to see that our binmen were coming around as usual on a Tuesday! Reasoning that we were in the middle of two bank holidays, I had not put our bin out for collection, so we shan't have our landfill bin emptied now for another two weeks. Drat! 07:00 Breakfast, emails, reading, planning the day, piano 09:00 We decided to make jam from the strawberries picked yesterday. My wife went to the supermarket to buy lemons, pectin and sugar, while I retrieved the pyrex mixing bowl from my daughters'. Then I spent ages preparing the fruit, and we discussed different recipes. 11:30 Things are rather leisurely this morning! We decided to go out for lunch, to a lovely little café we know in Emsworth. The meal was delicious. While we were out, the rain started in earnest, and continued steadily for the rest of the day. 13:20 Back home, we assembled all the jars and ingredients and began making jam, all 14 jars of it. We worked together steadily until about 16:00, then I washed everything up. 16:00 The Jubilee Concert highlights were on TV. My wife watched them, while I half-watched them and did odd jobs on the computer, including answering Part 2 of this Directive.. 17:00 Was approached by a German gymnasium student of English - would I look over her English article on a panda? I agreed to. 18:00 Evening meal 19:00 Television - BBC2 programme on trams, and Springwatch. Both excellent. 21:00 I tackled that article by a German student, which really had a lot of problems. Tried to write tactful comments and email to her! My wife is labelling the strawberry jam, which looks very good. 22:00 Watched the news, including a summary of the Jubilee weekend. 22:30 Bed and reading