Wink went home yesterday, on a very windy day – she has a small car and wasn’t greatly looking forward to driving on the motorways. There’s not too much of that, though – from here, one drives to Bury St Edmunds, then down towards the M11 is the obvious route, but we all prefer the quieter A505 road. It’s a few less miles (you can argue for few fewer, but that’s too clumsy) but nominally slower; however there is less scope for hold-ups. Anyway, she was planning to stop for lunch with a friend in Hemel Hempstead, wherever that is – Tim knows, I don’t – and then head for home.

I’ve not done a great deal today apart from my blood donor thing, which was fine. I’m not supposed to drink alcohol for a couple of days afterwards, but it’s not clear why. It’d be more to the point if I were not supposed to drink beforehand, but there’s no such requirement. Anyway, all is well. As I got out of the car, I hesitated, looking at the grey sky, and put an umbrella in my bag. Once I was sitting sipping my pint of water and reading the blurb that we dutifully read each time, I was passed by several people who were, literally, dripping wet. Apparently, there was a cloudburst in the minute and a half between leaving their cars and getting indoors. `it was just plain raining when I left, not tipping it down.

One of the people there mentioned that she’d been turned down a few times – she’s AB+ which is a fairly rare group and, if there are adequate stocks, they nowadays cancel your appointment. I’m O+ which is as universal as Rhesus Positive gets, so I suppose I’m more useful – at any rate, I’ve not had an appointment cancelled. It’s all very automated, which is not at all bad, though I still find the online booking thing doesn’t always work as well as it should. It has this evening though and I’m booked in for July, so I’ve nothing to grumble about any more. Nothing at all – gosh!

Another free meal, we said gleefully again this evening. I bought lamb leg steaks the other day, but they were more than we could eat. I’d braised them in onion, red pepper and mushroom. We cut them in half, so I gave a helping to Wink to take home and we finished the rest tonight. Tomorrow, I’ll get to grips with the ham stock and chicken bones that are left over from the weekend. And I’ll make yoghurt and a loaf of bread. Such a domestic god is your Z.