Well, here we are. That’s the worst of it over. I was very touched by, and grateful for, all your messages.

 

Three such days are a lot, to sum up the news for. I had hoped to have reached the mid-point of the central square of the hap, but I am afraid that there are five or six rows to go. I’m sure it’ll go much faster on the return journey.

 

Here’s my chicken, as it came out of the oven:

 

It was delicious, although I haven’t eaten very much of it. Manaba and Christina rang up on Christmas morning. He said they had had a black chicken once in Singapore, and that it tasted of concentrated essence of chicken. (Manaba is a serious cook.) I think that more or less sums it up, especially when taken in conjunction with the gravy, the top layer of which, after a few hours in the refrigerator, is an unspeakably delicious jellied consume’.

 

I wanted to bake myself some sourdough so that I could have chicken sandwiches – but yesterday morning the starter wouldn’t float; and today I made a levain, and by after-lunch that wouldn’t float, so now I’ll go on feeding the starter (of whose health and vigour I have no doubts) and on Tuesday simply proceed with the bread without testing for flotation. Daniella is coming tomorrow to rescue me from squalor, and she won’t want me running in and out of the kitchen stretching and folding.

 

We had a jolly quiz on Christmas day. I didn’t do very well. Someone asked, Who was Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s successor on the Supreme Court? That was a good question. I knew, perfectly well, but couldn’t recall all three names.

 

My questions were:

 

1)    The word “draconian” appears constantly in the press these days. Who was Draco?

2)    What is the better-known pseudonym of these three British authors:

a.      Eric Arthur Blair

b.     Mary Ann Evans

c.      David Cornwell

3)    70 years ago today – for it was Christmas Day – a famous crime was committed by Ian Hamilton, Gavin Vernon, Kay Mathesort, and Alan Stuart. What did they do?

I think the questions were a bit too easy.