Started on time, a bit cooler today due to cloud cover. Work was dullish. Didn’t walk Sasha lunchtime as I decided to walk to the doctor’s as the traffic around that time was horrendous. Got there in under an hour. Was actually seen bang on time. Nice lady doctor. She had a poke around and asked lots of questions. She offered to refer me to a physiotherapist, which would take ten weeks. I polity declined. I’m seeing mine again on Saturday. It was a nice chat, but fairly fruitless. Walked back and finished off work. Took Sasha out late in the evening.

Now watching an in/out referendum, I think Boris Johnson will come out eventually.

Still got a cough, definitely falling apart. I blame my mother. Work was dull, but filled the day I guess. The cleaners arrived after a five week break. There are about thirty-thousand dead flies on the cooker hood, there’s more black insect that steel showing, they failed to give it a wipe. Need to look for new cleaners. Went out for a wander this evening and read a book. Also charged up some model helicopter batteries and got that going again. Someone contacted me and asked to meet up about flying models, so may see about that, haven’t touched them in ages.

So started vaguely on time. New guy started today, he hasn’t said much or left yet, so take that as a good thing. Mother picked me up so I could collect a new car battery from down the road. She enjoyed talking about how much other people spend on their shopping and how she had no money to spend on it. I’m sure that by getting a lift I will be indebted for life for something or another.

Worked until about 2PM then took Sasha out, beautiful hot day. Then worked through until early evening. I didn’t do Combat tonight as I think Laverne would have shouted at me. I’m still doing my stretches. Fitted the car battery. I was quite impressed with ‘Tracker’ they called the house phone within one minute of the battery being disconnected and my mobile within two minutes. Went for a nice walk this evening, came back and finished off a book. I’ll have an early night I think. Still need to sort that damn SSL certificate.

So had a nice quiet night until about 5AM when I got up for a piss. That was fine, but Jamie with his plague was making more noise than club night at Liv. I reconvened in the spare room, which wasn’t great as the sun was rising so it was almost daylight in there. Still, managed to get some sleep. Went back to the main bedroom after he’d left for work. I had breakfast and coffee quite late. At bout midday there was a constant nice from the front door, I’m not sure what he did but basically the front door lock was now fucked. You could no longer close it without the key in it. I then spent the next hour stripping the mechanism down and cleaning it all out. It all works now, but I’ve ordered a new lock barrel as thats very much on the way out. It’s interesting to see that you can still get parts for Coldseal about fifteen years after they went under. Spent the bulk of the rest of the day in the front garden. Must have spent five hours out there in making heat. Felt like I’d chopped down the whole of Endor. Then walked the dos for two and a half hours. Had a bath. Now curry time.

So this morning started with all good intentions at 7:30AM. By 8:45 I was up and in the car. By 8:46 I had a problem. Pushing the start button on the car yielded very little, flat battery. I then phoned the Physio Clinic and left a message. Then with a bad leg I ran to the gym and got there at 9:20.

She had a good number of questions and had a good feel around. I think this is probably the only acceptable environment that a man and a lady of similar age can share a small room with a bed in it while wearing speedos. She found that my left groin was certainly far more solid than my right groin, also that I had an old hamstring injury that had torn a muscle so big that she could put her finger in it. Apparently I have torn a muscle somewhere that I can’t pronounce and that it has failed to heal properly. She then proceeded to pummel the said area into submission until it was boiling hot and throbbing. I’ve been given some new stretching exercises and an appointment at the same time next week.

I walked home and put the car battery on charge. I walked to the community festival which was shite. I then walked the dog. Then finally caught up with four weeks of paperwork. Put the charged battery back in the car and it was fucked. Put a meter on it and it read 10.2 volts, so that’s as dead as anything. Had a bath. Now time to eat. May do some gardening tomorrow as I certainly won’t be driving anywhere.

Today my leg was hurting like hell so I phoned another doctor, actually it was a receptionist, I couldn’t get an appointment without having a phone call with a doctor, so they phoned me back, she said to make an appointment. I then finally managed to get one, oddly she said that I may need physiotherapy and it would take up to sixteen weeks. So I have a physio appointment tomorrow morning, oh how many talks. Walked Sasha, nice weather today. Limped to the gym, limped through Pump, caught up with Laverne and then limped home. Had about thirty minutes of work to finish off, hour and a half later….

If you get a weird message about SSL certificates it’s because I haven’t updated them yet. They have to be keyed and everything and that requires logging into the SSL site and that requires remembering the password, so that’ll have to wait.

So I started at 9:15 and had a fairly dull morning. Spent all afternoon though arguing with the art director so was quite a productive day.

Weather is horrible, walked Sasha and it looked like it was about to piss down constantly.

Wrote a complaint email to Virgin about Alamo. Went out and got a local Geocache that was new. Sat down and watched the Spanish GP. Now watching the Monaco one. Think we’ve both come down with diphtheria over the last couple of days.

Not sure exactly how many days out I am, but as usual check the videos at www.youtube.com/mannmansion

In the evening we ate a ‘tasting menu’ at a very upmarket (Michelin starred) Italian.. Next day was horrible weather in the morning, so we lazed around the room until afternoon. We then headed down to the pool and had a sun bed and a few beers. In the evening we ate at another Michelin star Asian restaurant, which was more fancy than the last one.

Next day we picked up the hire car, which was a Chevy Camaro, it looked fairly pretty but had the performance of a sofa and not a very nice one at that. Still, we drove the six hours to ‘Key West’ in heavy traffic. Got there. Spent less than an hour there and then drove back. Finally ate just before midnight and had a rather mediocre but expensive steak. The beer was nice though.

This morning I drove down to Pompano beach. Picked up an R22 and flew it with a Swiss guy as safety pilot (can’t fly solo due to security laws). We flew down the coast of Miami at 300 feet, it was crazy. Then flew over to the everglades and crossed them at 100 feet. Finally over to a lighthouse to see some sharks. It cost me what I would pay in pounds, but in dollars, far far cheaper in the US. But it’s a bit more noisy as they don’t bother with things like doors. Stopped off in an iHop for lunch. Drove back to the hotel, picked up the luggage. Drove to airport, where Alamo successfully pissed me off again.

Eight hour flight back to Heathrow. Car was waiting which was nice. Need to call ‘Tracker’, apparently some alert was triggered, will have to look into that. Drove home, picked up the dogs. Now pretty much all unpacked. And the washing machine is on. Back to work tomorrow.