At the end of October, Sue and I had lunch with Joan and Phil, who had popped over from Italy to visit friends and family before the Christmas rush. We met at the Cherry Tree in Little Bowden along with Roger, Fran, and Bobby Jarvis. I’d hoped to visit Marche this autumn with Roger, but he’s been spending a lot of time with Fran, and our schedules haven’t aligned. It was wonderful to catch up with Joan and Phil after so long and to exchange news. Annoyingly, despite being committed vegetarians, they looked in fine health. Perhaps there’s something to that Radio 4 piece I heard this week, extolling the virtues of nuts for health and longevity. Cashews, perhaps… though it must be a cold coming on!

The following evening, Sue and I were invited to a fancy dress Halloween party at Paul Bissell’s house. Sue went as a witch, while I donned my usual bloodied surgeon’s costume, complete with devil mask and tail. The surgeon outfit is my go-to fancy dress, adaptable for any occasion: a pirate night, I’m the ship’s surgeon; a millionaire’s evening, a plastic surgeon, and so on. We had a brilliant time, drank plenty of wine, and sampled a good amount of the food (I managed three platefuls). We enjoyed catching up with friends who’d also been invited, and the night ended with a fireworks display and a brandy. The house had been marvellously decorated with spooky props, which must have taken all week to set up. Fingers crossed they’ll do it again next year!

Before flying to Bulgaria, I discovered the hole in the garage roof that had caused leaks all last winter. I managed to repair it and then coated the roof with reflective paint. Emboldened, I foolishly decided to give the garage interior a bit of a makeover. The plan was to paint the ceiling white, followed by the walls and floor to brighten things up. I started with the roof joists, devoting three hours a day for a week. Each joist got two coats, and some even required a third. It was an excruciatingly tedious task, watching the wood hungrily absorb the paint, but at least Radio 4 kept me company. I even developed a liking for Woman’s Hour!

After the joists, I tackled the boarding in between. I’d used four litres of paint on the joists, but the boarding demanded eight! The boards seemed to soak up the paint with relish, mockingly asking for more. I lost track of how many coats I applied, and the result is a shade of white that’s… well, pale enough to pass if you don’t turn on the lights or look too closely. It took a solid two weeks.

Thankfully, painting the walls in a mid-stone colour was far more straightforward, two coats over two days, and they look brilliant. Better to admire the walls than the ceiling. Finally, I tackled the floor in slate grey, which took two days and came out looking great. Two very good reasons to keep your eyes off the ceiling!

Next, I organised all my tools, made numerous trips to the tip, and painted the wooden cover of the pit red. Job done! I just about managed to hold onto my sanity, though, as Sue pointed out, not my wallet, I spent over £200 on paint. Oops!

On Thursday, I met up with John Lee, who’d just returned from Rome and was keen to stretch his legs. He planned the route, as I was still recovering from my painting ordeal and couldn’t concentrate on anything that didn’t involve a brush. We met in Belton-in-Rutland, outside the Sun Inn. Phil and Joan used to live in the village before moving to Italy, though I doubt they frequented the pub; it looked quite the dive, with online reviews to match.

The weather was pleasantly warm, and the walk flew by as we caught up on family gossip and attempted to solve the world’s problems. We drove into Uppingham for lunch before heading our separate ways. I took the route home via Corby, as Sue and I had bought her a mountain bike from Halfords earlier that week, so I picked it up on the way back.

The following Saturday, Sue and I joined a council walk to Medbourne. It was quite a well-attended event, with several new faces among the group. The weather was dry and warm. As we walked through Millennium Wood, I was reminded that my class and I helped plant it back in 2000. Unfortunately, the saplings we planted hadn’t grown as well as I had hoped and were only around six feet tall. It seemed as though we had only covered about three-quarters of the area, and I had expected it to be much larger. Perhaps they hadn’t received any more volunteers to help expand it.

The following day, I played a round of golf with Jack and Andy at the 18-hole course in Corby. It was a memorable afternoon because of my choice of food in the clubhouse afterwards. Glaswegian Oyster: A thick McDonald’s-type bun with a meat pie topped with baked beans sandwiched between a moat of chips. Interesting, tasty, filling and loads of cholesterol. I didn’t feel like eating anything for the rest of the day and surprisingly survived to see the sunrise the following morning.

On the 8th of November, Sue, Charlotte and I drove to Sheffield for Sarah’s graduation. I parked in a Multi-story car park close to Cutlers Hall, where the ceremony was to take place. We met Sarah and Lee off the tram from her accommodation and were the first into the Hall. We had refreshments while Sarah got changed into her cap and gown, and then had her photo taken professionally. We waited along with all the other parents and guests in the rather impressive Hall, watched by past Master Cutlers framed in large portraits hanging on the walls.

The ceremony was lovely, featuring some amusing and inspiring speeches. But of course, we were there to see our little girl receive her first-class degree (with distinction), the only one in her year to achieve it. She was on stage for just a few seconds before disappearing again, but we recorded it in preparation for a family movie.

Afterwards, we met her for more photos before she changed back into her student clothes and then moved on to her accommodation to pick up Lee’s car. We drove through the rush-hour traffic to a pub we knew for a meal, but it took ages. When we eventually arrived, we ordered our food, and then ten minutes later, there was a power cut. The whole area was in the dark. Sitting there with our drinks in the gloom, we guessed we wouldn’t be eating, but lo-and-behold a few minutes later our food arrived. The waitress informed us that ours was the only order completed before the power failed. It was interesting using your knife and fork in the half-light, stabbing at shapes on your plate; luckily, we were sitting in the window, so we got some illumination from the passing car headlights.

Next, we drove back to Sarah’s accommodation so that Sue could see where she was living. We stayed for about an hour, said our goodbyes, and then made our way back to Harborough.

During the week, I picked the grapes. I managed 2X25 litres of red grapes and 3X25 litres of white grapes. I squished them with a potato masher to release the juice and then set them fermenting in two large tubs. I had planned to make my own press during the summer, but had forgotten, and now I regretted being so absent-minded. I had to waste so much! I have now transferred the juice into demijohns and they are bubbling away. Hopefully, I may get a bottle or two ready for Christmas. Unfortunately, I couldn’t pick all the grapes; some were not quite ripe enough, and they will have to wait for more sun to appear.

Last Saturday, the two Jims, Peter, and I took the train to Twickenham to watch England face New Zealand. We had breakfast at a café outside St. Pancras Station before taking the underground to London Bridge, where we enjoyed a stroll along the river. We then tackled the subway again to Richmond, where we had lunch at a pub before catching the supporters’ bus to the ground.

It was a good game, although England ended up on the wrong side of the result. Our journey home was delayed by half an hour as we just missed our scheduled train. Undeterred, we waited it out at an Irish bar outside the station. We made it back to Harborough just in time to catch England v France (Rugby League) at The Angel Hotel.

Sarah surprised us all by coming home. She had a week without lectures, and as she was preparing material for her research project, she thought it would be nice to do it at home and enjoy some company. I dedicated a day to helping her and reading through her material (or at least the bits I could understand). She managed to see Charlotte and Nan quite a bit and also had her hair cut in Harborough. On her way back to university, she stopped off in Cotgrave to visit Lee and his family. Charlotte, Jamie, Sarah, Lucas, Ellis, and I had a productive afternoon picking chestnuts in the woods near Gumley. Afterwards, we spent a very pleasant evening roasting and enjoying them.

Last night, Sue, Jim, Brigit, and I went to Leicester to see Bellowhead at De Montfort Hall. We enjoyed a drink and some tapas at The Old Horse near Victoria Park before walking to the venue. As expected, it was an excellent concert, featuring eleven talented musicians who knew exactly how to get the audience on their feet and dancing.

Nan managed to take a trip to Spalding with the other seniors from Huntingdon Gardens. It sounds as though she thoroughly enjoyed herself and made a few more friends. She now plays Wii one afternoon each week at the centre, which is a lovely initiative to encourage them to socialise and stay active. She also helped out at a bring-and-buy sale one afternoon and bought me a set of second-hand golf clubs (thank you, Nan!). She has Charlotte over for lunch every Tuesday, and now I believe she also has Isabel visiting on another day during the week. Busy, busy!

Jamie was considering changing his car for something much more economical, but he has decided to put that off until after Christmas. Sarah and I went round one evening to see his gerbil, and I almost got a cup of coffee. We’ve started to see more of him recently, as he comes over for the occasional evening meal and, of course, every curry night. He is planning to go skiing again in the New Year, returning to Andorra.

Suraj and I went to see Gravity. It’s an excellent 3D film with spectacular effects, and I thoroughly recommend it.