Hard pressed Leeds beaten by Hull.

Up at half past six again, to another fine morning, it's cold outside as I let Norman into the garden. The frying pan needs washing up after last night's crash out, but by seven o'clock we are sitting down to our breakfast. Both eggs this morning were double yolkers, and free range eggs, fresh from the farm, always taste better than those from the supermarket. After breakfast I am showered, changed and ready for the off by nine o'clock, but for some strange reason the battery in the car is flat, eventually I have to call out the AA and by ten past ten we are on our way to Cherry. I leave the engine running as we collect Dolly and Teddy before making our way to the Westwood. The cold Northeasterly wind is still with us, but the sky is clear blue between the occasional clouds, and in the lee of the wind, it is pleasantly warm. Andrew has left the empty petrol can out for me, so he mustn't have had time to fill it up, so we call at Mill Lane filling station on our way back to Cherry. It is half past eleven when we get back, so after filling the mower, there is only time to do the lawns at Two Riggs, before heading back to Tickton for a quarter to one. Pruning and pollarding will have to wait for another day. It is after one when I get to the pool, and I end up sharing a double lane with a couple of other swimmers. I warm up on 400m backstroke, but don't feel quite right, it is taking an extra stroke or two for each length and the same happens on 400m breaststroke. A class of schoolchildren arrives, and immediately half the pool is allocated to them, and I find myself in a double lane with eight other swimmers, so swim a slow 400m freestyle and still feel below par. I decide to call it a day and warm down with a very gentle 100m IM. I conclude that I am either coming down with something, or fighting something off. In either event it is prudent to take things a little easier for a day or so. After tea in the cafe, which is dead again, I drive home to Tickton, arriving around a quarter to three. Normy is waiting for me, wondering what we are going to cook, I took a couple of chicken filets out of the freezer to thaw this morning, and it doesn't take long to transform them into schnitzels and serve them with chips and salad. We eat in the garden, but I have to wear my fleece due to the cold wind. As well as a bit of chicken, chopped small, Norman also gets the beaten egg that I used to dip the filets, fried up. He says the chicken was OK, but he preferred yesterday's steak! After coffee and a puzzle, I meditate for half an hour and then sleep until six. It's time for Normy's tin and afterwards we walk down to the little bridge and meet a young guy and his daughter walking a Labrador and a jackawowa, a chihuahua, Jack Russell cross. Norman is delighted, he doesn't get to meet many dogs smaller than himself. When we get back home, I get out the ironing board, make a pot of tea and then put Radio Humberside on for the commentory on the Leeds v Hull football match. After my holiday, there must be a backlog of about twenty shirts, and ironing whilst listening to the match, is a way of catching up. Last year we went to the same fixture, taking Andrew and Clement and meeting up with Jackie and Gino for fish and chips at the Mermaid before the match. It was a memorable night out, not least because Andrew's blackberry was stolen by a couple of East European Gypsy girls, and although we chased them to their getaway car and got the registration number, we were met with total indifference by the police when we reported the robbery. Leeds beat Hull last year, as they have at Elland Road for the past twenty five years, but not tonight, Hull win 3:2 after going a goal behind early doors to a penalty. I have divided loyalties, coming from West Yorkshire, but having had a season ticket at Hull for five years until Clement went to University, the balance lies in favour of Hull. By the time the match has ended and the interviews with the manager and a couple of players are done, the ironing is completed and folded away into drawers. Before retiring to the Garden Room with some cheese and crackers, I put a load of whites into the washing machine. The forecast tomorrow is for another bright day with a cold Northeasterly wind. Good drying weather! To bed around half past eleven.