Got back to London around 6 tonight, after what seemed like an endless train journey. And now I’m sitting here just about to write up today’s Journal. (God, sound a bit like Jonathan Harker there, which couldn’t be further from the truth!).
Funny really; Yorkshire seems so far away now, but I was there only this morning! I think!
Funny thing happened in the early hours last night down by the weir though. I have already explained that we had to give Gareth a tent so he could do his Ancient Greek chanting without molesting Drew’s neighbours (actually, this wasn’t strictly true really; it was because Drew simply didn’t have enough room!), but about 2 am it started raining quite heavily and we noticed a small fire out of the window in the direction of Gareth’s tent. It stopped after about 15 minutes, and, as we were all still up, we decided to go and see if he was OK. We could hardly believe our eyes when we’d covered the 200 yards or so to the tent. There crouched Gareth in front of a small fire he’d somehow managed to make; his clothes literally steaming in the proximity of the heat and it was obvious he’d got soaked to the skin. He was glad to see us, although not surprisingly a little embarrassed to have been found in this predicament, and a little less pleased when Della decided to take a flash photograph!
He explained that Drew’s tent had been leaking ‘in the middle’ and, although his legs were fairly unaffected, he’d woken up to find himself semi-soaked by the sudden deluge! He still had some wine in his rucksack so we stayed half an hour or so to try and make him as comfortable as possible, and as we turned to leave he forced a laugh and said somewhat acidly . . . “At least it didn’t rain when I slept in the tent in Babs’ back garden”! (He was referring of course to the occasion when my friend ‘Babs the Witch’ had put him to bed in her tent after a ‘drunken revellery’ at her house in nearby Brighouse a few years before to mark the celebration of her 60th birthday).
Anyway, Gareth made his way back to his flat from Euston station, while Della and myself jumped on a bus to Highgate. And, apart from that short digression, here we are! But I have to say, everybody seemed pleased to see us! More people must follow my Blog than I thought, for arriving in Muswell Hill, we were surprised to see a large number of people who were waiting to greet us. That involved signing yet more autographs and my hand really is getting cramp now!
So we’ve decided to have a night off tonight, and literally do nothing. I think we’ve earned a little rest!
For now
David and Della.