After time with Di and the gardener, a delayed trip to Cambridge and her purchase of passion-killing nighties for our forthcoming holiday. Lunch at the sad Cambridge Theatre restaurant and some flowers sent to Lynn Smith who is recovering in Bedford Hospital from a hysterectomy. A rush to St Albans later to buy some optical devices and a new tale of woe from Nigel
Diana was not all keen on calling me early today as she could not handle the competition in the bathroom! I walked the dog after breakfast and took the girls to the bus stop on another very cold morning. The forecast was for milder weather to come over later in the week and that would not be too soon for us. I caught up with the gardener after my week away and settled him down and paid him at the same time. He had been getting all up tight over the long list of things that I had left him to do. I was late, therefore, in taking Diana out for our regular Tuesday trip to Cambridge but we were not missed as her parents had also been delayed.
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A little shopping with Diana afterwards trying to get some influence over the type of nighties she was going to buy for our holiday in America, but we could not agree on my preference for short ones with splits up the sides and she went off afterwards and bought some right passion-killers! Lunch at The Arts Theatre Restaurant where we found the soup and lunch as nicely done as usual but now the old theatre is beginning to look very down-at-heel as they it deteriorates prior to closure and modernisation. Home via a St Neots flower shop where we ordered and sent an arrangement of flowers to Lynn Smith who is recovering in Bedford Hospital from a hysterectomy.
I went over to see Nigel later this evening and showed him my new binoculars and telescope and exchanged information ahead of our fishing and roe-buck stalking trip to Scotland. It was a pleasant visit, but I was appalled to hear of Nigel's predicament which he had confided to me. Three disenchanted former employees have accused him of making a false insurance claim over some damaged computers and it will be difficult to prove his innocence. This kept me awake for some of the night just thinking about it, but it is his talent for falling out with people and lack of administrative procedures that could be his eventual downfall.
I had rushed down to St Albans this afternoon and bought these new optical devices and was particularly pleased with the telescope which is light and robust for field use yet gives good viewing and magnification. I bought a 27X wide-angle eyepiece and universal clamp to steady the instrument against a car window, fence etc. A small pocket pair of 8X24 binoculars will also come in useful when stalking.