A day reading, relaxing, cooking and working with the ducks and The Lady as the NGA dispute drags on and the Syrians shoot down two US planes over the Lebanon
Although family early awake, a good lay in bed reading. Samuel Pepys, 1662, before breakfast; and the Sunday Times afterwards. A good cooked breakfast of fried egg, bread, mushrooms and bacon reminds me that my weight has risen again from 12st 7lb to nearly 13st and I resolve that I will take eating easy until Christmas and then try to get my weight back again. The paper full of press comment and views on the NGA dispute and the way in which the Fleet Street proprietors did not cooperate in the wake of the London industrial action.
Almost lunchtime before I rise, quickly shave, and empty the duck house of soiled litter to allow it to dry out. Also to open up The Lady for ventilation and charging of its batteries. The first cooked Sunday lunch for some time as Diana strives hard to be well enough to cook it for us. After to watch televised snooker with Steve Davis and Hurricane Higgins hammering away. At dusk to put the ducks away with relief after transferring the battery charger to Diana’s car, putting fresh straw in the duck hutch and closing up the boat. Back inside for tea and after a hair wash and bath as my sore throat deteriorates. An evening watching a thriller on television before a little late to bed. The evening news tonight has the Syrians celebrating over the shooting down of two American warplanes over the Lebanon.