But all of that is for another day. First thing was to check my blood pressure. A mere 15.1\/8.0 this morning, and 16.0\/8.5 last night. This medication might be beginning to work after all. It’ll be interesting to see what it will be tonight.<\/p>\n
After heaping down the medication and doing the usual things that you need to do after 8 hours sleep, I washed my hands and then went to make the bread<\/p>\n
It kneaded up quite nicely and when I reckoned that it was done I rolled it out into a long tube, cut it into three equal lengths and then flattened them down onto the baking tray.<\/p>\n
There was a rice pudding to make too, seeing as I’m running short on desserts. And after all of the trouble last week, Brain of Britain remembered this week that he had a selection of bread moulds that would fit into the oven with the baking tray and one of those would be good enough to use as a rice pudding dish.<\/p>\n
When the bread had finished baking I let it cool while I made coffee and then made some cheese on toast with one of the bread rolls. And it was lovely – warm fresh bread just out of the oven with cheese and toast all over it, washed down with strong black coffee.<\/p>\n
After breakfast I came back in here to listen to the rest of the dictaphone notes. We were a brigade of soldiers last night being interviewed to go abroad to fight. Of course we had our families to consider so they asked us where we would like to go. Our response was that we’d like to go somewhere as close to base as possible but on the other hand if an interesting war was being fought somewhere 100 miles away we’d quite happily go there if there was good rail connections to come back to London where all out families were living. As most of us came from South London, the Wimbledon area, we reckoned that we were probably going to end up in South Africa anyway and given a chance to make a name for ourselves there rather than some mundane, dispirited and disorganised clash of arms closer to home in the UK maybe<\/p>\n
We were back in the military again later on. The girl who lived next door to us in the family there was my eldest sister’s age but she was dealing in drugs and distributing them about the army base. It seemed at first that no-one was after her. She also had a little side-line going stealing sidecars from army motorbikes and sidecars and selling them on into civilian life. She’d borrow a motorcycle – fill in a form to say that she’d taken a motorcycle but in fact taken a motor cycle combination and undone the couplings so the combination of the sidecar and taken back the machine as it was just written on the form that it was a machine so she was covered in case anyone ever noticed that the sidecar was gone. She had sold several like that and was continuing onwards<\/p>\n
But if that’s ever likely to happen – me in the military. If a war ever were to break out again I’d be in the Merchant Marine, unarmed, not fighting, but nevertheless in the front line confronting the odd submarine or ten.<\/p>\n
And that reminds me of the time that I started my chauffeuring in Brussels. We didn’t even have a police escort either. Just an ordinary, large family saloon with ordinary, not diplomatic, number places and we used to just pass by quietly and un-noticed. And he survived to live to a ripe old age of 82 and die peacefully in his bed despite my best efforts, which just goes to show …<\/p>\n After the dictaphone notes I had a few matters to attend to and then I began the next radio programme. <\/p>\n First task was to track down a film. And then to extract the sound-track, followed by cutting out a certain song which I needed for a forthcoming radio programme. And you’ve no idea how long that takes to do all of that.<\/p>\n But once it was done I had to track down another song and download that, and then convert both songs into a usable format.<\/p>\n Having collected them, I could then go on and collect another 8 to make the basis of a programme, pair them off and join them together.<\/p>\n By the time that I was ready to call it a day I’d written the notes for three of them too. I’ll try to have the other seven done tomorrow ready to dictate Saturday night, but that’s unlikely as there’s a lot happening, including Y Bala v Mynydd y Fflint in the Cwpan Cymraeg, live on Youtube.<\/p>\n The cleaner came round today and had a lap around the apartment. Now it looks as if someone lives here, and that’s always nice. It won’t last long, though.<\/p>\n Tea was some of those nuggets (first thing that I could grab from the freezer) with a vegan salad and chips. And it really is a nice meal. My air fryer really is good for the chips.<\/p>\n The salad is really good as well, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, mushroom and olives with a liberal helping of vegan mayonnaise. <\/p>\n But while we’re on the subject of mayonnaise … "well, one of us is" – ed<\/em> … I’ve found a recipe for making it without eggs and using a food processor. And seeing as I actually have a food processor I feel that I ought to try it out. In fact that might make a nice Sunday afternoon activity seeing as there’s no baking this weekend<\/p>\n As Keats said in a letter to Benjamin Bailey, "he will have the pleasure of trying the resources of his spirit"<\/em><\/strong>, or as Aragorn said,"there are some things that it is better to begin than to refuse, even though the end may be dark"<\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n And "the end may be dark"<\/em><\/strong> will probably be a pretty good description of my home-made mayonnaise.<\/p>\n
\n"Are you armed, Mr Hall?"<\/em><\/strong>
\n"No I’m not"<\/em><\/strong> I replied
\n"But what would you do if we were confronted by an armed villain?"<\/em><\/strong>
\n"I’d rely on the force of my personality, Sir Brian"<\/em><\/strong> I replied.<\/p>\n
