Hot and Humid day with Daniel, working on The Lady  before rain as riders die in the British Motorcycle Grand Prix

A day that started hot and humid but gave way to increasing cloud until the evening became quite wet with heavy showers. Daniel helped me to fit the strips to The Lady and she was well trimmed by the time we had finished. Unfortunately the rain prevented me from varnishing the results and we must now await a drier day. Daniel was quite good company, swapping juvenile jokes and full of horseplay. I notice he is an old 11and growing up fast.

Our plot neighbours came down for the day and their daughter joins them for the first time in a year. I notice how she has grown up and is quite attractive sunning herself next door. Between times I watch the television sport and see the British Motorcycle Grand Prix. There is one accident which is too horrific for the television to show and I fear that two motorcyclists are dead. They would not comment on their condition which I take to mean they are trying to inform their relatives first. Tonight I have cleared out my workshop in the rain and also reorganised my toolbox. As the evenings gradually reduce, I expect to spend more time inside.

The news tells us that July has surely been the hottest since records began to be reliable in 1659. There are cases of Typhoid for some British Holidaymakers returning from the Greek Islands and the roads this weekend have been full of traffic and cars of holidaymakers travelling to the West Country and other coasts. The pound is thankfully falling on the foreign exchanges against the dollar because of speculation that US interest rates are due to rise.