Today I have a new passport, have applied for new European health cards (valid for 2020) and received a Sainsbury’s delivery all before 10 o’clock. Washing in, desk tidied and a letter written and posted before noon. So I watch a little football as the original lunch date in Burton is cancelled due to a combination of travel difficulties, mumps and lowered immune system function. However due to there always being a balance it has proved possible to arrange a meeting in Leicester with the friend who flew in this morning from Ghana. He had been there looking at the prison system amongst other things. Any way I wrap up warm and wind proof and head into town to the Cosy Club to meet him knowing that my partner will be there meeting an old work colleague.

When I arrive I find them there including my eldest daughter who had hitched a ride into town. My friend arrived looking unmistakably Caribbean with a quite noisy shirt, light trousers and a white hat. It was really good to see him. He joined us and we chatted about his work in Bermuda and his trip to Ghana. He is an eloquent raconteur and tells us how he survived his first hurricane in Bermuda by tying loose windows to a sofa and then laying on it from hours to stop it being blown away.  Eventually he had to leave as did my partner’s friend, who incidentally is off to Australia to motorbike around it in four weeks’ time. As time had moved on we decided to eat at the cosy club and indulge ourselves before returning home to settle in for the night and sit out the storm. I hope the temporary cover for my garden shed holds up overnight. It’s quite early and I can hear the wind outside beginning to whip around and gust. It could be a long a night.