After the meeting, the garden

1 If things look good the day after, then there are grounds for believing that they were good. The day after our two meetings, I reckon that we accomplished what we set out to.

1.1 A day later, I am also occupied with the matter of dress. As you know, I choose my blazer-and-tie presentation; Peter was in shirt-sleeves without a jacket or tie. I wonder to what extent the difference was noticed and was (even slightly) influential; or perhaps I felt more like the chair of a public meeting than I would have done had I dressed as Peter had dressed. From this point of view, the dress influences the way in which the person behaves: 'put on the kit and the kit will carry you through'.

2 In the garden today. A clearing of the alley outside the back door. Overgrown it was, really overgrown. (Recall the slide of the field which had been left for a year.) As with all big jobs, I tackled it by starting, by cutting the accessible growth. No hurry, just snip, snip, snip away. The alley now is clear, though there is foliage on the wood store. Perhaps the foliage is acting as a waterproof cover; in any case, i think I will get rid of the wood which is there now, as they are the branches from trees which were cut down (and they do not burn as I would wish them to). I've looked at containers in Homebase, and I think one of them would do just fine.

3 David has just arrived. He is taking tea, having shown me the position of my house on his mobile telephone. It's not just for making calls, you know. He will have his cake, that is, he will eat it. Then we'll talk about tomorrow's bike-ride. The forecast is good; if the weather is as good as the forecast, then we'll have a comfortable exploration of the far east.

4 Look in this week's Economist; there's a piece about the commemoration of an exploit in the Black Hills.

5 By the time David reached the front door, he had well-nigh consumed an apple from the tree. They are succulent. A tribute to benign neglect.

6 And I have listened to two broadcasts on Radio 4. This morning, Sue McGregor presented The Re-union of people who played important parts in the negotiations which led to the release of Nelson Mandela. Archbishop Tutu, Thabo M'Beki, de Clerk, the head of the SA secret service - they all contributed. Make a point of listening. And listen too to the programme about Boswell and Johnson. Both programmes are a tribute to radio. Just listen to the voices.

7 I have your father in mind. You really do need to be there, to see how he is, and to hear what the professionals have to say. By the way, how did any one of those professionals respond to your observations on the treatment of Mandi?

Courage, courage

Stayathome