The sling came off at the beginning of the month, so it was back to work. This meant a lot less time for reading, but I did still manage to read 10 books in the month, 2 of them non-fiction. There was also a lot less time spent watching television, but I did watch the second season of The Lincoln Lawyer, the limited series Who Is Erin Carter?, and re-watched the first two series of The IT Crowd. I also watched the Heart of Stone film which must have been a bit underwhelming because I can’t remember anything about it, though maybe that is because I had a large pina colada while watching it – only the fifth time I have had an alcoholic drink this year.

With the sling off I was able to get back on the bike just in time to ride it up to Coulsdon to get it serviced. I wasn’t going to ride much more, but a few days later I realised I had a hospital appointment in Guildford that I had forgotten all about so had a 60-mile round trip in the pissing rain for a 15-minute appointment.

On the bank holiday we had planned for Jayne and I to go out for a ride together, for the first time in ages. Unfortunately her bike wouldn’t start so I took the battery out to charge it up and went out for a little ride down to the coast on my own. Basically I just went to Newhaven and back, by the end of which my shoulder was really playing up and I was thinking that maybe I should have stayed off the bike, but it is still preferable to driving the car, which I have managed to avoid so far this year apart from one very short local trip.

Generally it has been a pretty quiet month, but with a few family activities. We went to a motorcycle club open evening/barbeque because Frankie is a prospect so he was there with his kids, and then the weekend after we had the kids for an overnight stay. While they were here we took them down to the car boot sale at Faygate. I had not been to a car boot for many years and I don’t think they had ever been, so it made a change for all of us. I treated the kids to some earrings and Pokemon cards, and managed to find a few LPs for myself. On the bank holiday weekend, The next weekend it was another barbeque at the in-laws’ an all the kids and grandkids were there. Now they have all moved away to Storrington, Waterlooville and Norwich we don’t see them all as much as we used to, so this was a good afternoon.

On the bank holiday Jayne and I went to the Rusper car boot sale. I wondered if it would be better for vinyl than Faygate but it was about the same. I picked up another three LPs but that was about all there was. It is a fun way to spend an hour or so, but I think I will stick to the record fairs in future.

No more wins on the Postcode Lottery, but I did get £125 return from my Premium Bonds. Quite chuffed to get triple figures two months running. I wonder if I can keep this run going.