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