My sister is the only one who has written to me about Jeremy Bamber. I asked Rachel about her encounter with him in an appeal court, when she thought he was guilty. She thinks we’ll never know.  She doesn’t remember much. A friend of a friend was appearing as a barrister — she doesn’t even remember which side he was on.  But i’d welcome any opinion from anyone who got through this week’s article.

   I do a lot of lying awake at night. Last night I cast my mind to the question of why knitting has been so very dim lately (including nothing today), and i wonder if the answer could be my new upsy-downsy chair. But if so, what can I do about it? I must knit something for the new great-grand child.

    Wordle: five for me. I really thot I was beaten. My starters gave me a green and a brown. A titanic struggle produced a good Jean-word: three greens. More titanic struggling. I was completely resigned to failure, wildly typing in anything that could be pronounced.

   Mostly Wordle saved me from myself, but it allowed MENGE in line four. What does that mean?

      Five for Thomas, Alexander, and Rachel. Four for Ketki and Mark. Five for Roger. Silence from Theo so far.

 

I toiled all the way through the New Yorker piece on Jeremy Bamber yesterday. I still don’t know — don’t even think I know — whodunnit. It has to be either Jeremy or his schizophrenic sister Sheila, who was among the dead.

   The New Yorker does not so much try to prove Jeremy innocent as to show that Sheila could have done it. She was the first suspect. The New Yorker is hard on the clumsy police; on the natural family of the deceased (Jeremy was adopted) who disliked him and may have delayed or distorted evidence; on the judges at his trial and appeals (tainted by bad judgments on Irish terrorists or just by being English).     The natural family wound up in brisk possession of the considerable ptoperty, if you want to know cui bono. 

   The author of the article is in touch with Jeremy, who protests his innocence and has made a career of the case.

   Nothing much else to report. I’ve had another dopey day, and my excellent carer isn’t feeling very well. Mary Lou has most generously given me access to an ideal pattern of hers for the 10th great-grandchild and I am thinking about yarn.

   Nor must I think too long. It’s going to be hard work to do this in my current state and I’d best get started. Who would have thot that the will to knit would leave me before my last breath?

  Wordle: yet another four for for me. The usual pattern: three browns  from my starters. A fully-valid line three turned one of them green and added another brown consonant. 

   Others: three for Ketki and (yet again) Mark, four for Alexander and  Rachel (and I). Silence from Thomas.  Still in bed? Four for Roger, five forTheo.

   

 I have been at work all day reading the New Yorker account of the Bamber case.  Hmmm. It’s very long. I am afraid to leave it for fear I can never find my place again. Jeremy Bamber is not very nice, but that’s not a hanging offence.

   So,  no knitting.

   Helen and her friend came this morning, and we got a bit done.

   Kate Davies has posted another pattern in her Summer of Mystery series. We’ll get a proper essay on More Work for the Undertaker at the weekend. I don’t care for the pattern much. 

   I am greatly encouraged at how well Kamala is doing. 

   Wordle: my familiar pattern again. My starters produced four browns. I’m rotten at anagrams. I settled for a Jean-word, omitting one of the browns but otherwise fine, so I would have new places where the other three  browns could or couldn’t be, and two more consonants eliminated or not. It was useful, as such line threes so often are. I now had three greens, and got it in four.

   Rachel andAlexander both did it in two — distressingly brilliant. Three for Mark, four for Thomas, five for Ketki. Three for Roger, five for Theo.

    

 An exciting day. Joe — a grandson — rang up this morning to say that  he and Becca are expecting another baby in February. They’ve already got two. So as far as knitting was concerned, the rest of the day was devoted to thinking about that.

   Your Overlap Baby Sweater is well in the lead, Mary Lou, unless I can find something simpler and chunkier. My eyes are not what they were, nor am I in my first youth. Suggestions welcome.

   C. came. So did Helen, back from Kirkmichael. 

   I learned today that the New Yorker is about to run another big did-he-do-it piece next week, on Jeremy Bamber. There was a television series on that case in 2020. I got very interested. For what it’s worth, Rachel was hanging around the high court at the time of one of his appeals, because she had been called for jury duty, and she came away convinc3d of his guilt

    Wordle: four for me again. The starters gave me two browns. I thought of a word for line three — not at all a good one, but a qualifier. It turned both browns green. 

   Mark, Alexander, Theo and Roger were fellow fours.  Ketki and Thomas did it in three. Rachel needed five. 

 A better day, although largely devoted to sleep. Helen isn’t coming back until tomorrow. She and her friend were going to the sheep-dog trials today.

   That is a local sporting event, famously boring. In my day there was one man (and his dog) who could do it. He is buried next to my husband, but I can’t remember his name.

   One day I was walking to the village behind him. His sheep were in front, and in front of them, his dog. When the foremost sheep reached the track before the cemetery, its gate already open, he whistled to the dog, who translated the message into sheep: “Turn right here.” They did, calmly. The shepherd followed and closed the gate. It was beautiful to watch.

   I got a bit of knitting done today. I think i’ve figured out where I am in the first Spalding sleevd. I’ve figured out how to do half-brioche-in-the-round. Not much progress but a teeny bit.

   Last night’s sleep was better. My carer took a picture of my bottom to send to the district nurse. Everyone keeps telling me it’s getting better. It looks terrible.

   Wordle: four for me today. Starters produced two browns and a fgreen. I put a Jean-word in line three, in order to answer specific questions, which it did brilliantly — I now had three greens. Not much further struggle produced the answer.

   Rachel and Mark were the threes, Ketki and Thomas the fours. Uncharacteristic silence from Alexander. Four from Roger and Theo both.

N 

 A terrible sleepless night last night because of bedsores on my  bottom — I’m stuck in the same position all night because of my necrotic hip.   Then a peaceful day’s sleep today in my reclining chair where both bottom and hip are much more comfortable.  Now it’s nearly time for bed again. Not much of a life. No knitting. I think Helen will be home from Strathardle tomorrow.

    Still, I was conscious long enough greatly to enjoy the Obamas’ endorsement of Harris. I saw it somehow as a package clip with Hillary’s nomination eight years ago — she went straight for the “glass ceiling” idea, even then. Whereas Harris ended on the word “fun”.

    The vice-presidential choice will be interesting. Shapiro of Pennsylvania turns out to be a devout, practising Jew. I fear that wouldn’t leave Harris enough room to manoeuvre on Israel, so I’ll have to switch my choice to the astronaut. 

   Wordle: five for me this morning, but many of us didn’t find it easy. My starters gave me two greens and a brown. I didn’t use any Jean-words today — all legitimate guesses. Line three made it three greens. Line four achieved nothing except to eliminate two more useful letters. There simply weren’t enough left to form any English word. I went off to read my newspaper and suddenly thought of another way of looking at it.

   Ketki and Rachel were fellow-fives. Alexander scraped home with six. Thomas and Mark had fours, which passes as a good score today.

   Roger scored six and Theo five on the far shore today.

    

 Another inert day. The weather is grey, dull, warm. I had probably better make an effort to get out, once Helen gets back who is the only one qualified to use our getting-out machine.

   No knitting, either. No excuse.

   I heard Biden’s speech. I was 3/4’s asleep — it was after midnight, Edinburgh time. It seemed to me pretty banal. Obama’s continued  silence continues to worry me. American politics will now, presumably, cease to absorb for a while.

   Archie came to see me, ostensibly not for lunch but in fact he ate more than I could. 

   Wordle: my starters gave me two browns and a green. I used a Jean-word in line three and now had two greens and a great.y-reduced range of possible places for the brown. I got it in four. The home team were evenly divided between threes and fours, and split along gender lines.

  In DC or thereabouts, Theo got four and Roger three. 

Here I am. It has been what passes around here for an exciting day. Clare came early this morning. Mungo came at lunchtime — and cooked lunch. But by then I was hit by a stone wall of weariness and couldn’t eat. I have somewhat recovered after a good nap.  Mungo and his brother Fergus had a good time in Strathardle but came back yesterday (easily done by train once you get to Pitlochry). Helen will be there until the weekend.

 No more American news. Still no sign from Obama. I like Harris’ youthfulness and energy and cheerfulness. I hope the World Service broadcasts Biden’s speech tonight.

   I read a New Yorker story about Charlotte Dujardin before the last Olympics, and as a result watched the dressage with great interest, and rejoiced in her success. This is sad news.

   With the help of this blog and Google, I have discovered that the knitting I hope to return to is not a Kate Davies pattern at all, but one called “Spalding” from the Brooklyn Tweed website. And I have found the pattern in my Ravelry library. Maybe tomorrow I’ll resume knitting it. 

Wordle: four for me today — not the worst in our little group. My starters gave me two greens and two browns. Should be easy. Wasn’t.i used a Jean-word in line three, and now had three greens and a brown, which obviously had to be in the place it was’nt in. I now have a winning streak of five!

   Three for Rachel and Mark. Four for Alexander and Ketki (and me). Five for Thomas. 

   In the USA it was three for Roger in DC and five for Theo from whatever distant clime.

   

 All well. The carers have been exchanged. I’m not sure I don’t feel better already. Wendy is better at food.

And I like the way Kamala has taken charge of things, although I remain slightly worried that Mr Obama hasn’t endorsed her. 

I know the relationship with Israel is very difficult for an American administration. My own feeling is that we can’t go on like this, killing Palestians in quantity in Gaza most days  So I was pleased to hear that Harris was going to be out of town while Netanyahu was addressing both houses of congress, and pleased to learn that the Israelis were cross about it.

   Wordle: another five for me. That’s three in a row. No Jean-words today. Two browns and a green from the starters. Three greens (but no more) in line three and four. I think there was another possibility so I was probably lucky to score five.

   Three for Ketki, Alexander, and Thomas. Four for Rachel and Mark. Six for Roger, four for Theo. The latter has now gone off to lend a hand at the Convention. His lips are sealed.

 A pleasant day, weather-wise. I have done nothing but doze. My present carer insists that I keep my feet up. Dozing is close to the only option.

   I still need to look out the KD pattern which I am knitting as Fergus’ Calcutta Cup sweater . I got as far as finding the one identified in the sidebar, which is indeed here although there’s no reference to the Cup in it yet. But the nearly-finished one, with the cup in place, which we looked out yesterday, is more along the lines of a fisherman’s rib. I need to finish off the current sleeve (top-down) and knit the other one. 

Franklin is interesting on the horrors of living in Paris as the Olympics approach. He had some hope that the mayor might drown in the Seine but I gather she got out all right.

   KD’s essay on Coroner’s Pigeon was very interesting. I may have to read the book again. Interesting photographs accompanying the essay, too.

   American politics continue to be fully absorbing. I sort of hoped everything would coalesce around Kamala Harris and she could hit the ground running. I am surprised this morning at how hostile to her much of thr British press is.

   Wordle: five for me again. All my guesses were valid. Starters gave me three browns. First guess turned one of them green. Second guess (line four) was much more productive — three greens and a new brown.

Mark and Alexander and Rachel and Ketki all did it in three. Thomas was a fellow-five. Three for Theo, four for Roger.   

   

 Another day. Helen has gone off to Strathardle for a week, with two of her boys. I am somewhat anxious. I am meant to have a change of carers on Tuesday. I am not fit to look after myself, even quite briefly.

   Otherwise, there is not much to report. C. came this morning with a nephew and his girlfriend. Helen briefly this afternoon. No news from either. Helen and I had a mildly interesting conversation about how families don’t sit down and eat together any more, at least among us.

   And there are no developments on the American presidential front. Clouds are gathering over the domestic political situation. 

   Wordle: I scraped through with a five. My starters gave me two browns, a vowel and a consonant. A Jean-word in line three was no help at all — except of course for more positions in which the browns couldn’t appear. Line four was a serious guess and yielded three greens.

   I was the last to post, this morning. Nor did anyone else have so much trouble. Three for Ketki and Thomas. Four for Rachel, Alexander and Mark. Brilliance in DC: two for Theo, three for Roger. 

   

 Another quiet day. The world seems to have calmed down after yesterday’s exceptional computer outage. Helen was here this morning and we got some tidying done.

   We found the knitting I was doing before I switched to the KD MKAL. I’m much further along than I remembered. Only a sleeve to finish. I need to find the pattern, but I think I can do that. And I think I’ll be able to knit it, once I do. The yarn and the needles are much bigger.

   Helen says she would like a simple, short pullover such as other people’s mothers knit. It would be wicked to buy more yarn.

   A welcome, quiet day on the political front. I continue to follow events in America with obsessive interest. My current carer, who does not read or listen to the news at all, thinks Biden is not strong enough to go on. How does she think she knows? Even odder, a woman who comes most days to read the bible with me — we’re about to finish First Samuel — occasionally tells me that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. 

   Wordle: my starters gave me three browns and a green. I found a word, not at all likely but qualified, and typed it in. It was right. Three for me.Rachel and Ketki had fours. Three for the rest of the home team.Three for Roger. Four for Theo. 

 Nothing to report. I”ve been largely dozing. No news of Helen — was she teaching today? We have various problems which need referral to her. I’ll try phoning soon.

   I failed at Wordle — my winning streak hadn’t even reached 10. Roger had sox and Theo five, Mark a distinguished three. Four elsewhere . 

  A good day. Helen came. Without Mungo, whose birthday it is, because he has a cold. I sent them off to a near-by restaurant which is lavishly praised in today’s Times. Helen had the great pleasure of telling them about the article. The food was indeed delicious, Helen says, but no one was there.

   I haven’t anything much else to report. I haven’t knit. What am I to do? Perhaps I should look around through my project bags for something simpler and more suitable.

    Politics continues to obsess me. I am looking forward to Trump’s speech tonight. I have been listening to JDVance’s autobiography (see Tuesday) and wanting to find out more about my mother’s family, the Carrs. I think maybe my sister investigated them once.  Critics who comment on Vance pass over his Scotch-Irish heritage lightly, if they mention it at all, but he makes much of it.

   Wordle: yesterday’s word was QUITE. I would have done better — three instead of four — if I had remembered my own rule: when you’ve got a free-wheeling U, try a Q in front of it.

   I struggled today. Five, where I was joined by Alexander and Ketki. Six for Rachel. Four for Thomas and Mark. In DC, three for Theo (brilliant!), nothing from Roger yet. 

 An excellent day, weather-wise, and so also in London. Maybe St Swithen is doing his stuff.

   I watched the State Opening of Parliament. GB is not as divided a country as the US but still we have just come through a punishing election and I think a moment of national unity, however Gilbertian, does us no harm. (Bow! Ye lower middle classes! Bow, ye tradesmen! Bow, ye masses!)

   My husband had an MBE — “passing out of life with a second-class degree”, he said of it. I got to go to Buckingham Palace to see it being awarded, and I can assure you that singing the National Anthem in the presence of the sovereign is a spine-tingling moment. But there was also a lot of sitting about with the Palm Court orchestra and I can also tell you that they eschewed Gilbert and Sullivan altogether.

   I did a bit of knitting, but not enough to assure you that the task is properly resumed.

Wordle: today I forgot one of the few principles I bring to Wordle-solving and thus scored four when I might have had three. Three for Rachel. Five for Mark and Thomas. Four for the others, including Roger. No news from Theo yet — he may be too involved in politics for such frippery.8

 Grey, uninviting — but I don’t think it rained. St Swithen has stood by us that long.

   I’ve been trying to resume knitting that KD KAL shawl, and I’m not at all sure I can do it. What am I to do?  Try again tomorrow and try earlier in the day, would be a good first step. 

   Trump’s choice for VP sounds like a good one, except for having a name that sounds dangerously like a Wordle Special. Especially coming after a previous VP named Pence. I’ve started reading (listening to) his book, which Helen recommends. I was interested to learn that he claims a Scotch-Irish family. That’s what I am on my mother’s side, but James who’s keen on genealogy largely confines himself to Mileses. I can’t take the Scotch-Irish Carrs back much further than 1860 or so.  

   Wordle: we were remarkably uniform today.  Three for Mark, five for Rachel: four for all the rest of us, including the two in DC.i

 Saint Swithen’s Day. It hasn’t rained here, and for much of the afternoon it could justly be called “fair”. We shall see.

Helen was here this morning, on her way back from taking David to the airport. We got a bit of paperwork done.

The pundits don’t seem to be quite as sure as I am that Trump is now a shoo-in for the election in November. Last night, dozing and listening to the radio as I do, I heard somebody talking about the shooting and I thought it was Trump himself and I thought, he is much more upset than he thinks. But it turned out to be Biden speaking. No gaffes, just a general inarticulosy, hard to understand and follow.

     The King’s Speech is on Wednesday. I thot it was tomorrow. That will lay out a programme of domestic issues for me to worry about.

   The Princess of Wales seems to have done her Wimbledon to high praise all round. It was much more demanding than her previous appearance at the Trooping of the Colour. She was on show all through the match, and had to talk in royal fashion to strangers, and to stay on her feet throughout the presentation. She came through with flying colours. I am less happy about Princess Anne. She chose not to wear colour for her outing to Riding for the Disabled. The effect was a bit depressing.

   No knitting yet. Much dozing.

   Wordle: we were all on much of a level today. I scored four. My line three had four greens, with a gap in the second space. Several others fell into the same trap. Three for Rachel (brilliant!), five for Ketki, and otherwise four all round, including both Roger and Theo in DC.

 Oh dear. It’s all over. Youth won. The end was extremely gracious and good humoured. And I’m sure Djokovic enjoyed having the crowd cheer for him for once. The Princess of Wales looked well — awfully thin but she always was that.

   Helen and David came to see me this morning. (C.  has Covid.)  We were all agreed, for what that’s worth, that the American election is over. I can abandon my obsessive interest in whether Mr. Biden can be persuaded to stand aside. It doesn’t matter. He might as well run, since he’s obviously so keen to do so. He’ll lose, and so would any alternative.

   Am I wrong? I hope so.

   Tomorrow we get the King’s Speech, and I can settle down to worry about local affairs. And also to knitting again. I got yarn straightened out today, with Helen’s help.

   Wordle: five for me,with the help of a Jean-word in line three. Fives for Thomas and Alexander and Theo. Four for Rachel and Ketki and Mark. 

 I:m having a grand day of Wimbledon. The weather is fine both here and there, but I can’t get out because the current carer doesn’t know how the apparatus for the stairs works.

That much I wrote for you yesterday. Not until substantially later was it known that that tomorrow’s men’s singles final will be between Alcaraz and Djokovic, youth and age. So was it last year, they say. I have no memory of it. I’m for age.

Good news from both princesses. The Princess of Wales will hand out the men’s prizes tomorrow. The winning lady, today, will have to make do with the head of Wimbledon. And the Princess Royal has been to a Riding-for-the-Disabled event, saying she has no memory whatsoever of her accident. 

   Comment Thursday,Kirsten M: it had occurred to me already that we have a part-time queen. I am a great fan of hers. I think she is doing a terrific job of loving and supporting her husband and turning up for the boring things monarchs  must do and promoting interests of her own such as reading.  But, uniquely among senior royals as far as I know, she has humble family of her own and goes off occasionally to spend time with them. She still owns her own house. 

   Wordle: I failed yesterday. Like many of us, I had greens in the second and final positions (both vowels). Unlike anyone else, i kept on guessing wrong.

   Four today. But the NYT was acting up. It wanted me to sign up for a free app but try as I would I couldn’t do it. Eventually it let me in to save my grid. Nobody else seems to have suffered. 

  Mark got it in two, Rachel three. Four for Ketki and Thomas, five for Alexander. No news from DC yet today.

 A summer’s day, at last. At Wimbledon, even more so. The first woman’s semi-final was satisfyingly exciting. I am leaving the second to its own devices for the moment.

   The Queen was there yesterday. The BBC didn’t bother to tell me. So they must have things satisfactorily in hand for the weekend, if the Princess of Wales isn’t well enough to hand our prizes.

  I  meant to remark yesterday on the fact that Mr Dkokovic travels with a chef (along with much other staff). What a good idea, I thought. Meal times must be very uncertain during those long days on court, or waiting to go on. The last thing you want is to have to eat foreign muck in the middle of the night when it’s finally over.

   Helen was here this morning but is going off to the country to provide emotional support to a friend who is having a major depressive crisis about turning 60. I won’r see her until Monday. Archie however is coming on Saturday.

   Wordle: six for me. A narrow escape. Three vowels from my starters.  I was forced to resort to Jean-words and was resigned to defeat. Three for Rachel and Roger. Five for Alexander. Fours for the others.

 Better weather today, and for once better in London than here. I haven’t been very interested in today’s Wimbledon, since Djokovic’ opponent withdrew. 

David and Helen were here this afternoon,on their way back from a happy weekend in Kirkmichael. My iPad was still dropping the signal. (See yesterday) David seems to have fixed it by switching things off and on — the sovereign remedy. But tomorrow’s play will probably be entirely Ladies.

   KD has sent the third instalment of her MKAL. I like it, so I must try to forge on.

   C. was here this morning, in good form. No news.

   Wordle: luck again. My starters gave me a green and three browns. Should be easy. Wasn’t. But eventually I thought of a word. It was right except for the first letter. I tried another. Success. So, four for me.

   Little did I realise how many possibilities there were for that first letter. Ketki failed. Alexander and Mark and Thomas all needed five. Rachel and Roger were with me on four. Theo scraped home with six.

 

Groundhog Day

 I’ve been trying to watch Wimbledon but the signal has been unsteady. And every time it resumed, it went back to a few minutes before the previous break. I watched one section five or six times. I still have no resolution for either of the day’s big matches, but I’m ready to give up.

   At least I saw Mr Sinner. He has a very young and not very interesting face. A few years should help.

   And we had a Princess in the royal box — one of Prince Andrew’s daughters, I think. 

   I meant to say a few days ago: we have had the King and Queen in Edinburgh, doing a garden party and handing out awards. Literature figured prominently because the Queen is very keen on it, but there was no mention that I heard of JK Rowling, surely Scotland’s top author at the moment. Was she on holiday? Staying in the background on purpose? Or non grata in royal circles because of her views?

   Wordle: A familiar pattern for me. Two greens and a brown from my starters. I thought of a possible word. It was right. Ketki shared my three. Mark and Rachel were the fours. Five for Thomas and Alexander. In DC, five for Roger, four for Theo. Various people had to make various guesses at various letters — one and four, especially. I was lucky again.

   

 Sorry about yesterday — Wimbledon. I am surprised at how short-changed one feels without royals in the royal box. Perhaps memory deceives.. Aging tennis stars are almost as interesting. Rod Laver looks impossibly old and rather stout. Ann Jones is aging well. And we have McInroe and Henman commentating — completely ageless

   I still haven’t seen Mr Sinner. Nor is he playing today. It isn’t a perverse wish — he’s the top seed. I’m watching on my iPad. I might have more choice on a television set. The main BBC broadcast available on the iPad tends to stick to Centre Court unless there is a British Girl playing somewhere and mercifully they are all gone now.

   There is no news that I can detect of either of the princesses about whom I am concerned. Princess Anne must have been more badly hurt than we were told. She had to cancel an overseas trip, so presumably there were a few days without domestic engagements around now.  When she starts cancelling those we can really get going with worry. Nor is there any news on the American presidential front. (I am a Gretchen Whitmer fan.) I am concentrating hard on that one to avoid thinking about GB.

   Wordle: a Wordle special today. I scored three. Poor Theo failed and says he feels like a dunce. But there was nothing in it except pure luck. My starters gave me two greens and two browns. I formed them into a word, easily found a letter to fill the empty place. It was right. But it turned out there were five or six possibilities for that space. Theo reached my pattern by line four and kept guessing wrong. Pure luck.

   Two for Ketki and Alexander and Roger. Three for me and Mark.Four for Thomas and Rachel.

A whole day of a Labour government! and they haven’t come yet to take away my house and cat. Maybe it won’t be so bad. It sounds as if they’ll be going after the NHS and the trains and immigration first.  It has old people with big houses (and cats) in its sights, however. Council tax? Property tax? Wealth tax? Helen’s family will take the cat when I can’t afford to stay here, but I think she’s happier with me.

I had a happy day with Wimbledon. I watched Norrie-Zverev. It was exciting and the right man won. But this was the day — the first Saturday — when I went to Wimbledon with Helen, twice, and Rachel, once. Early train from Birmingham, bus from station to Wimbledon, half-an-hour’s queue, and it was all yours except for the show courts. I remember seeing Billie-Jean King win on an outside court, and Adriano Panatta in four sets on No. 3. He was the great love of my life.  “The supremely handsome man if you like your ice-cream runny” someone said. I don’t know quite what that means but I’m sure it’s true.

   He’s still alive. If you look him up, skip rapidly past to the old photographs. BJK has aged much better.

   But what I started to say was, if I had been there today, there was nothing I wanted to see. And I don’t think it would have been so easy to get there from Birmingham.

   Wordle: Well, I’m back in the saddle with a string of two. I got it in five today.  My starters gave me two browns. Line three, a Jean-word, turned one of them green. Line four, a serious guess, did  better: three greens. And line five was right.

   Three for Ketki. Mark and Roger were fellow-fives.The other locals, and Theo, scored four.

   Helen and David were here this morning, on their way to Kirkmichael. David knocked it off in four while she was having a pee.

 Another not-too-bad day. Grey, dull but dry. Better than Wimbledon, anyway. I wasn’t entirely well this morning. Things improved somewhat. The day’s other crisis was a blocked drain in the kitchen. Helen found us an emergency plumber who was very apologetic about how much he charged us to put it right. I was pleased to find that my fingers remembered the bank code to pay. 

   Another quite-good Wimbledon match. Alcaraz again. They are still keeping Mr Sinner from me. Rachel says that, although technically an Italian, he comes from the Alps and speaks German as his first language. Today’s match was between Mf Alcaraz and an American named Frances Tiafoe. Alcarez won in five sets. It is difficult enough remembering the difference between Francis and Frances without having to record exceptions as well.

   I’ ve seen a bit of Coco Gough’s match. She’s doing well.

  Wordle: a doddle today. My starters gave me three greens and a brown — which amounts to four greens, when you stop to think about it. There was a bit of Wordle-special about the initial letter, but I got it in four. I still don’t know what yesterday’s word was, and probably never will.

   Thomas, Ketki and Rachel were the threes today; fours for the rest of us, and for Roger and Theo inDC.

   

   

 Weather on the edge of summer again. I have largely devoted the day to tennis again— a memorable match, the first I’ve seen this year. 

  Helen came to see me, and (separately) Archie, briefly. He is hoping to come back next Thursday when we will face up to the Computer Question. I can’t go on like this, picking it out with one finger and showing you no pictures.

  The tennis was between Djokovic and a total unknown who not only comes from Edinburgh but went to the same school as Archie.  Djokovic won, but it was a close-fought thing.

   No news from the princesses, but plenty from poor Mr Biden. I watched some more of the infamous debate and it remains true that I don’t entirely see what the fuss is about. Biden didn’t do well, but he tried to address the questions. Jill’s encouragement afterwards — “You answered all the questions” — is not entirely as idiotic as it sounds. Whereas Mr Trump rarely or perhaps never made the slightest attempt to answer the question.  But lots of people seem to have despaired of Biden while still watching the debate.

   It continues to serve well to keep one’s mind off politics here.

   Wordle: I didn’t even finish today. My starters gave me three browns. A Jean-word,  in line three, turned one of them green. Another, in line four, achieved nothing. I got no further. The two remaining browns are both vowels. Someone will have to tell me the answer, after midnight.

  Ketki had three. Five for Mark. Fours for the other British-based. Four for hRoger in DC. No news from Theo so far. It’s a big holiday there, of course.

 Another not-quite summer’s day. Things were worse at Wimbledon, where it’s been raining. I watched a lot of it again today, but have been frustrated in my desire to see Mr. Sinner. There were too many British Girls in the way. 

   C. came this morning. She had solved Wordle and I hadn’t but there was no cheating this time. See below. Helen also looked in. 

   No knitting. I think, in decades past, I might have knit while I watched tennis, but that is more than I would be capable of now. 

   Franklin is faithfully logging on to Facebook almost every day, with photos and sometimes videos and brief reports on life in Paris. Sometimes I don’t understand, but it is always nice to hear from him, and I’m glad he’s well and has made a whole new life for himself.

   Wordle: I found it really, really, really hard. My starters produced two browns and a green. Line three — it was easy to find something — turned them all green. After that, I found it impossible to think of anything, even a Jean-word. Eventually I did. It was nearly lunch time.  Four for me.

    Rachel and Ketki had threes. Alexander and Thomas and I were the fours. Mark needed five (at last!)  Roger was another five, Theo another three. 

   

 Another somewhat-summer’s day. I have spent another pleasant afternoon at Wimbledon. I have still to see Mr Sinner in action. I was glad to watch Mr Djokovic’ easy win. The most disagreeable of players gradually becomes sympathetic as he becomes old.

   Helen was here. She finally found a nurse in a&e yesterday who gave Fergus some antibiotic — no doctor.  (See yesterday) And he seems fine this morning and the oozing wound has largely dried up. They can always take him back to Thessaloniki if all else fails. David is coming on Thursday and they hope to spend the weekend in Kirkmichael.

   Wordle: success today! My starters gave me three browns. Line three was a most unlikely word. I more or less made it up. But it turned one of the browns green and added another brown consonant. And I got it in four.

   So did almost everybody else, except for Thomas and Mark (again!) who had three, and Roger who hasn’t been heard from.

 Another summer’s day, albeit grey. I have had a nice time watching Wimbledon. It looks to me as if there are far more people these days. The last time I was there was the famous year when Smith and Psmith fought the men’s semi-final to a fifth-set score something like 27-25. Since then, and because of that match, the tie-break has been introduced into fifth sets.  So I saw tennis history being made. Nadal was on next but it was late and I was exhausted.

  Helen came this morning. Fergus’ wound is oozing a bit. He is the one who had an emergency appendectomy in Thessaloniki last week. He is travelling home as planned, but Helen will meet him at the airport and take him straight to a&e. 

   No knitting, for shame.Kate Davies has released a new pattern in our club. The current book is Traitor’s Purse, one of my absolute faves. The new pattern is very nice, too, but I have too much to knit already.

  I have been thinking, I don’t know why, about Sunday lunch at my grandparents’ house in Dallas in the old days. I think it possible that everything on the table except salt and pepper were home-grown. My grandfather had a cow, and kept chickens, with an extensive vegetable garden. I remember the live-in servant who kept it all going killing chickens and also making ice-cream in the proper old-fashioned way where you put ice and salt in the ice-cream maker, and then the cream mixture, and turn it (by hand, of course) until it becomes ice cream.

   I don’t remember any of this tasting particularly nice. I’m sure it was cooked to death before it reached me.

   Wordle: I failed again. That’s three in a week. I wonder if it is time for me to retire from Wordle? Today’s failure was especially humiliating. Starters gave me two green vowels. An easy guess for line three contributed nothing but to eliminate three more letters. A Jean-word in line four eliminated another and gave me a brown consonant.

   And here’s where mental incompetence comes in.  My guesses for lines five and six omitted the brown consonant.

   Three for Mark (that keeps happening); four for Alexander, Thomas, Theo and Roger; five for Ketki and Rachel.

   It is interesting, in a melancholy way, how the news media have shut down entirely on the three big stories I am interested in: 1) Princess Anne, now out of hospital and presumably conscious. There were no photographs of her leaving hospital. 2) The Princess of Wales; and 3) President Biden. Maybe tomorrow.