Good Friday. Rain.

In the morning I stayed in bed and finished my book, the one shown here. My brother Ben recommended it. Compared by some to Laurie Lee's Cider with Rosie, set in Devon near Chudleigh, it tells the story of a long hot Indian summer in an isolated farming community in 1986. This was the year of the teachers' strike and the Battle of the Beanfield, near Old Sarum. The protagonist is 13 year old Alison, younger than this cover picture suggests. At once ordinary and extraordinary, the events roll off the page to reach their conclusion, which confirms the unease that has been building as the tarmac melts, cows are slaughtered for lack of fodder, and the storm clouds tower.

I got up and watched two westerns. Shenandoah (1965) reminded me of the Civil War. Why did we never study this period in history? Because Napoleon wasn't in it, maybe? Nor Lord Palmerston.

The rest of the day has dribbled by. 'It's not supposed to be raining during the holidays!' whines my inner child.