2011 — 18 June: Saturday
A busyish day coming up1 so — with one episode of "House" left on DVD #4 of Season #2 — I'm calling it a day for tonight (or should that be the other way round?). Peter rang earlier to say that he, too, will try to get down here for 10:30 (which I will believe if and when I see him). If he accompanies us over to see dear Mama it will be the first time he's seen her since he was 16; his choice, but Christa and I understood and respected his reasons.
I spent a couple of hours sucking further old data files off another 120GB drive (in another of the almost impregnable Belkin enclosures) and stashing them away on to the networked Terastation for more detailed examination at that mythical point sometime in the future when I hope to find the round tuit I need.
I'm also hoping the weather will lighten up this weekend to the point where we can squeeze in a walk on Sunday, and I've arranged to nip over to the vicinity of Bordon and see my ex-ICL colleague Ian for lunch at his place on Tuesday. I could use the mental workout. It's now 00:34 so... g'night.
The delightful young...
... lady here (some eight years younger [at the time; mid-1974] than niece #1 currently is)...
... had not yet quite made up her mind to marry me, but I was persuasive :-)
Niece #1, by the way, was born in NZ in September 1974, just two days after Christa and I had donned our Turkish puzzle rings to say "I do" at the Registry Office in Maidenhead. We saw her for the first time in early 1975. Picture here, showing her in the grounds of Royal Holloway College, though I doubt she remembers that particular visit.
After noon
Niece and son are safely gathered in, and a cuppa is preceding any lunch decision.
Before you know it...
... it's 19:36 and the house is once again reduced to its single occupant, who has just finished his evening meal, too. After lunch in the "King Rufus" (second day running for me, of course) dear Mama was visited, as expected, by just two of us. It rained, heavily. Several times. Various piles of books have been handed over. Some have even been identified for disposal. An iMac has now left the building, as have a number of MP3 files riding on a now-redundant hard drive in one of those Belkin boxes. To save Michelle travelling on the train, and to give us a bit more time together, Peter kindly agreed to give her a lift back into London.
Time to kick back for a bit, methinks.