Cars, and planes, and boats

1 The light is returning; I know it is because I was cleaning the interior of the Escort about 0715 this morning. I was expecting a prospective buyer at 0830, and so I had to get on with the cleaning before the buyer arrived. In the event, he didn't arrive: a no-show. A telephone call later led me to expect another prospective buyer at 1030 or soon after. No show.

2 An hour or so ago I spoke to yet another prospective buyer who lives in Slough and yet a fourh who lives in Watford. I may have to forego the pleasures of cycling in order to accommodate these two people. (We'll see.) I need just one buyer. A likely buyer who travels from Slough, and who has spoken to me about the car, must be one who is inclined to buy. Maybe.

3 The star of the day however was not the shining car but the man who commands the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and who is himself a one-time Jaguar pilot and one-time member of the Red Arrows. Spitfires, Hurricanes, and the Lancaster. He knew each one as it appeared on the screen; he had something to say about each; what he said was delivered in a robust vocabulary and was complemented by appropriate hand-signals. A treat for the elderly audience, some of whom had flown Spitfires, some of whom had flown in Lancasters. He was the star of the show at Headley Court.

3.1 The route to Headley deserves a mention. From the A25, west of Reigate, the road rises and rises. At the top there a cricket field, a village, a shop, a pub. There were cyclists on the road, riding up as well as down. And I was taken with the idea of riding up to Headley, from the world of the A25 at the bottom to the world at the top. A steady climb, you understand, with a steadily lengthening line of vehicles behind.

4 And boats? Well, I collected The Times from Haulcon. Whilst there I turned on the television set to watch the rugby. From rugby to a programme - one of a series - about The Empire of the Seas. The episode was about the British Navy in the nineteenth century. A style, in my view, which is suited to those who are comfortable with undemanding narratives, a succession of 'Well, I didn't know that's, and a narrator who talks emphatically to the camera.

5 And a call from my sister.

It must be time for tea and to-bed-with-The-Times.

Stayathome.