1 Yes, the longer one stays, the more the opportunities, the more that what was hidden, unmentioned, becomes known. The local town, as it were, with shops, probably with stalls. A place to explore. There might even have been a place to take a cup of tea. You know about it now; there's time to know more.

2.1 I've received a letter, a bluey, from the young officer. I learned that there are some 15,000 personnel on the base, including British, American, French, Estonians, Danes, and others. Heavy transports and medium, the airfield is constantly busy. As he said,d it's much like being in barracks only the scale is different, and so is the urgency. And the heat. So I can imagine that he has settled in .

2.1.1 Remember his address: 547112 Maj Giles Cooper, 91 GS Sqn RLC, OP HERRICK. BFPO 772.

2.2 The bridge result was something of a surprise. It was a reminder that what matters is what other pairs do. Out of 24 boards, it emerged that we had eight top-scores and two shared tops. Yet, we could do better. We're not as closely in touch with each other's plays are we could be.

2.3 Ah the day in London. As the northbound buses from Waterloo were not crossing the bridge, I walked from the station to the British Museum. A fine day, a steady walk. We bought our full-price tickets to the Hadrian exhibition and had time for a cup of something to drink. The exhibition? It took us about two hours to make our way through it.

2.3.1 And what has remained with me? I'm working on that question. Of course, the exhibition strengthened one's perception of Hadrian. I can place him in the set of emperors. I have also been prompted to think about the progress from emperor to god and how that progress is represented in statues. The emperor-as-commander is represented in military uniform, the hard aspect of the person. The god is expressed in a nude statue, and, as I key, I am reminded of the statue of Napoleon in the Wellington museum. The commander is rooted in this material place; the uniform identifies the man, the rank. The god has the unadorned attributes of a young, unblemished man. The god has the quality of the ethereal. The person is nude, not naked.

2.3.1.2 And Hadrian the builder. There was a remarkable three-dimensional model of Hadrian's villa. His mausoleum was also shown and discussed, the building which we now know as the Castel d'San Angelo. And the Parthenon. And the buildings which he caused to be built throughout the empire.

2.3.1.3. And the empire. The extent of the empire. When Hadrian became emperor, the empire already extended beyond the Caspian sea. It was Hardian who ordered the withdrawal of the legions from the distant, unconquered provinces. From Spain to Asia Minor, from the northern plains of central Europe to the settled lands by the southern side of the Meditteranean.

2.3.2 We also talked about Byzantium: remember the ehibtion open at the RA later this month. The western empire remains in the recollection. The eastern empire is less well known. As I put it, 'We view Byzantium through a Roman lens'. Yet that eastern empire continued for a 1000 years after the sack of Rome in 410. Ken is reading about Byzantium and was enthusiastic.

2.3.3 We will exchange book titles: he will send me the details of the book about Byzantium; I will send him the details of McCullough's The Reformation. (I talked to him about my enlarged compass of the Reformation in Europe, or Christendom, a compass which now includes the reformation, the energising of the Catholic church in Spain after 1492)

3 The cases. They continue to be lodged with me. There are three new ones to handle. I must set up the first visits, whilst seeking to visits Brian Wright and others.

3.1 There are the Thank-you letters to be sent to the collectors. And I am about to telephone the Events co-0rdinator at ASDA to say Thank you and to seek another collection. What for? It's in the blood. Get out, get the money.

4. Liam has paid your Maypole subscription.

5.1 Next Monday, Liam and I may play at East Grinstead. Liam will not be playing next Thursday (as he will be leaving early on Friday morning for Ireland). Between now and then he will have to arrange for others to open the hall, to close the hall, to collect the travellers (and, if I am not there) to deliver them to me. On Thursday you will have an option: play or not-play.

Go forth; explore.

Stayathome.