Saturday 31 July:

Fetched the newspaper first thing (ie. usual Saturday routine)… morning coffee inside.
Set out more stuff (ie. mostly the same stuff) outside the front of the house early on the basis that the forecast was for rain just after lunch. In the event, no rain and we managed to get rid of a couple framed pictures and quite a few of my old (quite large) mounted photographs and sketches – which would have been a nuisance to store.
Spent much of the morning vacuuming under my bed (VERY dusty!) and changing the bed linen… and then, in the afternoon, more shredding! Also caught up with some of the Olympic stuff.
I watched some of The Hundred cricket on telly… and also filled a page of my sketchbook… and then a Sue Perkins documentary on Japan (very good).
Evening telly: started re-watching the original Montalbano series (again!).
Image: My ‘Hundred’ sketch. 

Friday 30 July:

Yet another early morning of non-walking…
Wet, very grey, windy morning (Storm Evert forecast)… not surprisingly, morning coffee indoors!
Had hoped to exchange contracts today, but the sellers’ solicitors hadn’t been able to get hold of their clients… and then it transpired that their solicitors didn’t not hold a signed Contract and Transfer deed in readiness (so were sending these out to their clients today!)… so, hopefully, we will exchange next week (but fingers firmly crossed).
Preparations for the house move have made me realise just how many postcards we have around the house (used and unused)… dozens and dozens of them!
Had a dental appointment (check up)… Dr Horsman reckons I can persevere with my current plate (and no other treatment required!).
Spent a couple of hours in the afternoon shredding paper (all old investment/pension paperwork)… all very time-consuming.
Watched ‘Lady Bird’ again on telly catch-up (just love that film).
Evening telly: Another re-watched ‘Young Montalbano’ on catch-up.
Image: collage of postcards…

Thursday 29 July:

Yet another ‘no walk’ start to the day…
I read and sketched after early breakfast… and put more stuff on the pavement in front of the house.
Morning coffee with Moira in the garden (bright but windy).
Took Iris and Rosa out to lunch at ‘Wild Beer’. Lovely to have the opportunity to site and chat and catch up on various stuff. They are both very lovely (and funny). We walked home via Vauxhall Bridge and had ice cream and chocolate buttons for ‘late pudding’ when we arrived home. They left for Temple Street at about 3pm.
More chilling and reading for the rest of the afternoon.
Evening telly: ‘Fake+Fortune’... I’m not keen on the repetitive, formulaic format and it so often feels as if they know the outcome very early on, but then invent a somewhat false 'dramatic' storyline to pan things out until the end. 
Image: house move clutter sketch.

Wednesday 28 July:

Yet another day without an early morning walk!
It should have been BP at the Society Café, but it was raining so we ended up zooming (DaveM, Dru, Robin, Nick, me and briefly Jeff)(no Ed or DaveP). Jeff joined us after 30 minutes but only stayed 2 minutes (having decided that our discussion about churchwardens meeting the archdeacon later today was unacceptable… which was utterly RIDICULOUS!!). We weren’t trying to pre-empt the discussion, simply offer the discussion up for prayer! After Jeff departed (very abruptly!), the rest of us just looked at each other in disbelief.The forecast rain was pretty heavy during the course of the morning.
I spent much of the morning and some of the afternoon taking down pictures (from the back bedroom, the stairs, the hall etc) – setting aside the framed pictures we planned to re-hang at Deanery Road and removing the images from most of the other pieces (and setting them aside for the portfolios)… and making the frames available for Stu, Ru+Han (if desired)… or others as necessary.
Spoke to Rosa briefly in advance of our arrangements for lunch tomorrow (she would be at a sleepover at friends tonight and was keen to know the meeting up arrangements).
Managed to put out some more stuff (mainly unwanted pictures) outside the house during the course of the afternoon (no rain, but plenty of wind)… and actually managed to get rid of a few things (which was somewhat surprising).
Listened to my Guardian podcast of ‘Everything you need to know about politics’ from Jess Phillips (excellent).
Evening telly: Another V+A museum episode.
Image: bare walls on the stairs. 

Tuesday 27 July:

Another no walking day!
Another disturbed sleep night (the pattern was just like the previous night… got up at 2am, read for an hour, went back to sleep quite easily, woke up at 6am).
Decided I wanted to finish my Atkinson book before the day really got started… and ended up finishing it just before morning coffee (outside).
Had left some of our ‘free to collect’ goods outside all night… and added further stuff first thing in the morning. Sadly, by lunchtime, it was raining so the process was duly reversed!
Moira and I popped into Storysmiths – which was rather nice (it seemed like ages ago that we’d gone to browse the shelves – we both ended up buying new books!).
Started the process of taking down pictures (with a view to storing some of work in portfolios – we won’t be able to hang ALL our current images (less space and we want a change).
House-sorting seemed something of one step forward, one step back… so it felt somewhat frustrating.
Evening telly: More from V+A documentary, then bed to start my new Roddy Doyle book (‘Love’).
Image: bare walls have started to emerge! 

Monday 26 July:

Another no walking day!
I woke incredibly early at around 2.30am… and read for an hour, before managing to climb back into bed and sleep for another couple of hours.
Morning coffee inside today (despite the fact that the weather was pretty fair). Saw Ru (on her first day back after isolation) and Iris briefly (Iris was having her nose pierced!)... and later Ru explained that the Southville Centre had allowed her to return hom from work (as they felt they had enough staff and because RU still wasn't feeling 100%).

It was a case of spending most of us both (independently) spending most of the morning clearing out the under-stairs cupboard (me) and the front bedroom (Moira)… and then putting of our discarded items outside the house for free collection. Some things went (actually quite a few), but it’s a long, slow process. Moira was absolutely zonked by the process, but I think we both felt as if it had been a positive day.
Evening telly: ‘Connect’ and ‘Challenge’… then bed to read.
Image: street wares.

Sunday 25 July:

Fetched the newspaper first thing (in the slight drizzle).
We went to church (Saint Stephen’s)(delivered various signed house documents through our solicitors’ letterbox)… and managed to get through Frances’ talk(!). I had to leave early to get the urban sketching session at The Cottage/Underfall Yard… still drizzling very slightly as I walked along the harbourside to The Cottage.
Fortunately, it had more or less stopped by 12noon and (I think) there were a total of eight of us (not bad considering we had changed the day at the last minute because of yesterday’s grim weather forecast). Felt pretty zonked by the time I got home, but prepared the vegetables for tonight’s roast supper.
Read my Kate Atkinson book for a while.
Sent off our 50^th birthday wishes (for Sarah) to Chris.
I watched another episode of the Ernest Hemingway documents (fascinating).
Evening telly: arty tour of European capitals (Lisbon).  
Image: Sarah’s photo montage.