Jul 17th (Thurs)

G calls. She has a four hour lesson but doesn't reckon she can take me for that long, so we decide on a lie in, and a get another final chance to drop Emsy at HGCS. She jumps out in traffic so I never see her disappearing up the path for one last time. A couple of hours with G. She is a delight, bright, funny,interesting, and a pretty good driver to boot. The ideal pupil! T next, with only one lesson to go before his test and he is driving like a bag of cats. He really thinks he is god's gift to motoring, but at times is totally clueless. He shouldn't be taking a test yet, but with an eight week waiting list it's hard to tell him to change. S has a new test date.....4th September...disgraceful.
An hour off, and then away to GX to pick up S. Again, bright, intelligent and pleasant, and again a decent driver, who is receptive to learning.
The summer drives onwards. All the while, for the past two weeks the Tour de France pounds through the Hexagon. I am no great aficionado, but it does remind me of my happy summers over there, where it seemed to be a perennial backdrop to l'haute saison. The British Open begins. Again, no great passion for the event,, but another sign of summer's inevitable progress. What's not arriving is the sultry summer weather, the sun pounding down on us, wearying us all with it's heat. It may be doing it somewhere, but it is certainly not at Royal Birkdale (not too sure where these golf courses are located, but have an impression it's somewhere northern), and it's certainly not in High Wycombe. The sun pokes through as an occasional visitor, but most of the time the battle is between the mucky grey skies and the rain, which sometimes spits, every now and again pours.
I've never been, but I always imagine the Albert Hall to be heavy with the oppressive summer air as the expectant prommers fan themselves whilst awaiting the arrival of the orchestra. Now, tomorrow is the first night of the Proms, and this suggests, if not the end, then possibly the beginning of the end of the summer. However the season runs for two months, so still time for the sun to shine on us before we start scraping the frost off the windscreens.
Home very grumpy. The place, already a complete state due to the seemingly abandoned decorating, is deteriorating fast. I don't think any of the kids has touched a dish cloth in the last three months. They just dump their used dishes at the nearest convenient dropping off point,saafe in the knowledge that their servants will eventually clear up in their wake. I make my views known amid general unpleasantness.