31 May 2025 (Saturday)

I woke at 3am and just couldn’t get back to sleep - having heard five bongs I didn’t then hear a single bong so I must have been back to sleep sometime between 5am and 5.29am…

Awoke again just before 7am, with Richard bringing me a cup of tea soon after, and then getting to my desk to upload the last four days worth of my bleatings to this blog.

We’ve Gerald Dickens this evening at the Great Green Barn, and I’m surprisingly anxious, and just don’t know why… I guess it's been a busy few weeks and there's been an awful lot going on.

My morning is spent at the allotment, and then back at home for a bath and lunch.  I put the hot tap of the bath on and get some meat-free sausage rolls from the freezer and into our pre-heated combi-oven they go; they’ll be cooked by the time I’ve had my bath. Richard's already had a bath and his ablutions are all done and dusted, so once we've had lunch and got some water for the journey and Richard had got all his camera stuff, it was off down to the Great Green Barn.

There was a big diversion on the way, though we were only diverted to a way that I've been before, and we arrived shortly after 4:30 to set up the bar and get the venue ready for opening doors just before 7pm.

Gerald was doing two of his shows, the first being called Mr Dickens is Coming! and is really a celebration of various of the characters and books that Charles Dickens created. After an interval the second show was Doctor Marigold, a Charles Dickens piece which is a really touching and lovely story of a traveling salesman and the relationships that he has through his life. To say I shed a tear at the end would be completely true.

The appreciative audience left, many chatting with Gerald and thanking us all on their way out, and after putting various things away and getting the venue ready to close up, and with Gerald now having gone to a B&B nearby, Richard and I said goodbye to Vanessa and wended our way home; with a different diversion on the way we came in through our front door just before midnight, and just before Sunday Chat went live.


Weather:  Sunny from the start, and warm at around 16°.

Breakfast:  Bran Sticks, yogurt, and banana
Lunch:  Lidl Sausage Rolls (vegan) and tinned baked beans
Supper:   A packet of Two Farmers Garlic and Mushroom Crisps!