Phew, what a scorcher! After the first week, June in Crawley saw a lot of the weather that we might have expected in Corfu in May, but didn’t get. Naturally, the first week was when I was still off work, and the dry weather waited until I was back working.

Not wanting to go out riding for pleasure in the rain, I took a bus down to Brighton to have a mooch around there, but did manage a little run out to Dorking. I had a few more little rides, which were fine out on the open road with the wind blowing through the vents in my jacket, but a bit warm in town. I had one long ride down to the coast, where it was lovely. The sea breeze meant it was about 7 degrees cooler than inland, as I found when I decided to come home via Tunbridge Wells so I could visit a record shop there.

I can see why so many people are riding their motorbikes in shorts and t-shirts, but having fallen off a few times I still wear jeans and a textile jacket with padded knees, hips and elbows. Uncomfortable, but I would rather be sweaty than banged up if anything happened.

I read a few more books, again mostly fiction e-books. I did read one non-fiction e-book, plus an actual old-fashioned hardback, which was the new Ambrose Parry book. I always treat myself to the hardbacks of those.

Although I didn’t watch many programmes on TV, just the new series of Taskmaster, I did watch a few films. I finally got round to setting up a projector that I have had for a while, so enjoyed the novelty of watching Netflix and Amazon Prime Video on a massive expanse of blank wall.

• Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning part one (2023)
  Having seen all the hype about the final film, which is part two, I realised I had not seen part one. It is spectacular, of course, but like all the other, way too long. I like my films to be about 90 minutes these days. I also found the story to be a bit lame, but I’ll probably watch the last one eventually.
• 28 Days Later (2002)
  I happened to turn the TV on just as this was starting, so watched it as I have not seen it for a long time and, again, there has been a lot of hype about the new one.
• The Equalizer 3 (2023)
  I think this is probably the last in this series. Very enjoyable, and a beautiful location as a background to the expected violence and mayhem.
• The Wrath of Becky (2023)
  Talking of violence and mayhem…
  I knew nothing about this before watching it and didn’t realise until afterwards that it is a sequel. Fortunately it stands on its own well enough. Lots of very explicit and brutal violence, but a lot of it was directed at American white supremacists, so it was very satisfying.

All the hot weather drove me to drink. I had a couple of small cans of cider that came as freebies with a Hello Fresh delivery. They were very refreshing and in small enough volumes for me to manage. As the weather got hotter I resorted to some of the Kopparberg that has been in the fridge for many months and had a 500ml bottle in an ice-laden glass. I still have a few more bottles and a couple of cans, so if the weather continues I will probably make a dent in them.

After last month’s £1150 win, this month’s £100 from the Premium Bonds was a bit of a disappointment, but it offset some of the cash I spent on vinyl at the Horsham record fair, and my trips to Dorking, Hastings and Tunbridge Wells, which is some consolation while I wait for a jackpot big enough for me to retire or at least buy a little house in Scotland.