I was just about awake at 5:30 AM, five minutes after sunrise, and decided to open my bedroom door when yowling started and then the 20 year old cat remained flopped upon me on my bed for another 40 minutes. It was 13 degrees Celsius when I said good morning to the 2 chickens at the end of the garden, I scratched Soots ears back on my bed, he walked off just before 8am, but returned as the bells of the 15th Century church chimed at the end of the road, and I heard the news headlines, mentioning a new species of butterfly had been named after the Lord of the Rings villain Sauron – and called Saurona. It was cloudy, a squirrel was hoovering bird seed out from between the gravel on the patio, and the Phormium continued to shrivel and be overwhelmed by blackberry stalks…

…and it was 8.55am when breakfast was served – and church bell ringing started, and the sun was out.

My mother was intermittently giggling while doing the washing up after breakfast was eaten with a Radio 4 programme playing into her ears, and once I’d dried a lot of kitchen implements I re-joined the cat. I was continuing the typing of my notes from 28th April (I write – or type, depending on length – up into a diary as a way of reviewing them and making sure there’s no gaps) when there was a squawking outburst at the end of the garden, which was Willow the chicken announcing an egg; it was just before 11:00 AM when I finished the typing and there had been a table stuck in the middle of the road outside our driveway and Mum was seating herself on the sofa with a coffee mug, so I gave Soot a stairlift. He had his spa treatment/grooming. I started last Saturday’s diary entry and was flopped upon, kept writing and had just over one page to go by 1:00 PM when there seemed to be people beginning to gather outside, so I properly dressed myself and went out with a bowl of soup that had been warmed up by Mum, and joined her and our next door neighbour at a table outside.

The man from number 18 came out with a big table, some Japanese people renting house number 41 said hello and after my (by then quite cold) soup I went exploring and saw a big board with Charles and Camilla on by a tree and some toddlers waddling around in wellies holding crisp packets. The woman from number 21 told me a bit about her granddaughter, I continued strolling around and met the woman from number 14 and the man from number 10, the Japanese bloke from number 41 was wandering round with a big box of Haribo sweets, and Mum showed him our back garden – as he didn’t know what a chicken looked like (and afterwards she told me that him and his family had fled Hong Kong). Our next door neighbour was showing the lady from number 13 a tree peony in her front garden, the man from number 18 said hello, I had a chat to his wife’s dad who asked about me and what I did, travelling came up, and as we talked about things in history he told me he’d written his autobiography. The man from number 16 was stood by a tent with a massive golden Labrador called Wilbur (a guide dog in training) who was sniffing the road and found a crisp, our next door neighbour and I reminisced about the giant conifer falling on the garden that occurred in December 2012…

…and talked about the dogs yapping; and a little badminton net had been erected in the middle of the road by the time the bells chimed 3:00 PM. A tiny toddler in wellies was walking around with a tennis racket almost the same height as him, a woman was walking around with a beer bottle, a phone on a garden wall had ‘Baby I’m ready to go’ playing very loudly from it at 3:05PM and a woman had a game called Quoits on the verge outside number 13.

The bloke from number 7 was chasing a toddler around (who I wasn’t sure was male or female), another man – from number 45 was chasing a toddler around and we had a chat, the woman from number 12 was giving them name stickers and was trying to get the cardboard Charles and Camilla to stand up (and mentioned that the perforations around Camilla’s face were there because Camilla’s face could be popped out and people could stick their face in).

The woman from number 13 was beginning to serve out ice cream, some girls were sweeping leaves off number 18s trampoline with a brush, I spotted Soot flopped in our porch when I peered through the front window, the man from number 27 continued to chase his toddler around (and this toddler was finding mud to stick his or her fingers in), the woman from number 19 asked a bit about me, then spoke to her husband in Cantonese. The child from number 27 was sucking her thumb, a couple of the girls seen earlier were bouncing around on the trampoline in number 18’s garden while an odd fish shaped bubble machine was blowing bubbles, the husband and wife who live 2 doors down from us had another chat to me, and told me I was catching the sun, and Mum was chatting to our next door neighbour about driving, her first car and having to double de clutch – and was wondering when seatbelts were made compulsory (when I checked – I discovered it was 1983).

The lady from number 16 was serving out trifle, I showed her and the woman from number 13 my encephalitis info card after being asked what I was doing, the lady from number 16 mentioned repairing her car’s fan belt with a pair of tights, that she’d once been a hairdresser and a classroom helper, mentioned she’d had an accident and been floating around the operating theatre, and seeing people after their death was talked about, The Life of Brian and Always Look On The Bright Side.

The woman from number 19 came over, and something led to my posture being complimented, the trampoline continued to be bounced upon by several boys, I was given an ice cream by the lady from number 13, and the man from number 18 had the tiny infant whose name I forgot on his lap playing with some car keys, the husband and wife from number 39 asked about me; and things were beginning to wind up by 5:30 PM. The lady from number 18 was holding the royal bear and litter picking was talked about, she complemented Charles the bear, a tennis ball on the string was being whacked around, her husband continued to play with a toddler who he had on his lap and his car keys, our next door neighbour gave her 2 dachshunds (called Boris and Bella) a few leftover salmon-y bite things, I nibbled a tiny pork pie, and it was 18 degrees and 6:40 PM when we decided to return inside.