Mar 29th (Sat)

Awake very early and luxuriate in a lie in as A is not due till 10. At 9 I get a text from her. Very short and brusque. Ill can't make it. A bit pissed off. It's my money and an hour's notice is out of order. Suspect a heavy piss up the night before is the probable cause. Pick Emsy up from a netball tournament. She is black and blue with plasters on both knees. She seems so young, helpless and vulnerable. I go to B&Q and buy more timber to complete the rabbit run, and treat myself to quite a posh tool box. Hopefully can tidy up the garage.

Nothing happens during the afternoon, more weekend's wasting away. Dan drifts off to the flics with his mates, and is then going to a gig, which is good to see. Apparently he is staying the night at his mate Any Burnham's place. Sohpie is at work despite her woes. Another sign that spring is not far away. It's boat race day. Once upon a time this was a big Beeb production number. We spent the day befriending the crews and briefly learning strange boating jargon. ITV have to cram it into a shorter time frame, and without the intimate getting to know you proccess, it's revealed for what it is. Crap. There was some effort to convince us that one or both of the boats sinking was a possibility, but sadly all stayed afloat. Somewhere between Putney and Mortlake my minimal interest vanished altogether.
The rain beats down and Ems is restless, not even getting dressed till well gone six. She rings K and invites her round.

We go out for a drink. A pub, the Falcon (no, not that one) I spotted one day whilst delivering for DHL. It is parked right under a massive concrete flyover section of the M40. Were that not there, the spot would be idyllic, nestled by a babbling brook. Inside it is wonderful. Low ceilinged, log fires, snug nooks and not a fag or a rip off machine in sight.

We stay there an hour or so, struggling forsomething to say to each other. I flip 21 bar mats and catch them. Possibly a record, possibly a sign that it really is getting hard to take one another's company.