An eventful month, one way or another. In the first three weeks I managed to get out quite a bit on the motorbike, making the most of it before everything gets colder, darker and wetter. I did trips out to Lewes, Arundel, Dorking and Camberley checking out record fairs and shops, but also found myself driving a car on five different days.

My rule of thumb is that on average I tend to walk for about an hour a day, ride for about an hour a week, and drive for about an hour a month – though in practise I manage to walk a bit more, try to ride more, and often don’t drive at all for months – but that all changed at the end of the month.

At the start of the month we went back to Essex for a family get-together and chance to catch up with my mum and sister. I hadn’t seen them since March. Time really flies sometimes. After that, Jayne had some time off and decided it was finally time to decorate the living room. So we did that. Or rather, she did most of that while I was upstairs working. The colour scheme is all very dark red, in an effort to make the room look smaller and more cosy.

As part of the re-arrangement of the front room I moved all my vinyl back down from the spare bedroom, which took many trips up and down the stairs. Since then I have found that I do listen to records more, playing a side of an LP while I have my post-lunch espresso and dark chocolate Kit Kat, or putting a record on while I sit and read.

I suppose that is why I read a bit more this month, and watched a bit less TV. I read ten books – three of them non-fiction – but only watched one film and a couple of short TV series.

The film was The Thursday Murder Club. It was OK, but like most 2-hour films it was half an hour too long. I have to admit that I haven’t got round to reading the books at all, and after watching the film I probably won’t. Its a bit too cosy for me, and that is from somebody who enjoys Death in Paradise and its spin-offs.

The TV shows I watched were Hostage on Netflix and Not Going Out, which I had recorded and only got round to now. Hostage was good. At only 5 episodes it did not outstay it’s welcome. Not Going Out is what it is; lots of very good lines and some excruciating situations. It is like a 21st Century Terry & June but with more adult humour. Best not to think too much about the plausibility and continuity of it and just enjoy it. Willing suspension of disbelief as my old English and Film Studies teacher used to say.

It was the end of the month where everything went a bit pear-shaped, leading to my increased use of the car, because Jayne had to go into hospital for a few days. I had to drive her down to Crawley hospital urgent treatment centre one night down and go down to the local chemist the next day to pick up a prescription. When there was no improvement after a couple days I had to take Jayne up to Redhill hospital on Friday. After many, many hours knocking around A&E, they decided to keep her in for a few days. So I was back in the car again Monday to bring her home.

In between that I was, at least able to use the bike to visit. Yes I did get a bit soaked on Saturday, but I am tight-fisted enough to prefer getting wet to forking out for parking at the hospital. And it is more fun to ride than to drive, of course. But the main thing is Jayne is back home now and on the mend. It is probably for the best that it all happened now and not in September, when I have a couple of trips away planned, or in October when Jayne has a trip planned.