Long day

This was an oasis of calm in it.

I confess to being a lover of nice coffee shops. Charlie and Ginger is a new addition and ticks all the boxes (nice staff, good coffee, bit of vegan naughty) except the one that really matters: genuine fake authenticity. It doesn’t quite make the "feel Iike I’m an in an episode of Friends" test, Give it time.

This is in a very un-trendy place - Leatherhead, home of the ghastly Ugly Duckling (sorry Swan) centre shopping mall and more charity shops than you can shake a second hand walking stick at. Worse, the charity shops are of a very high standard as the surrounding area is full of rich people with time on their hands who volunteer and bring their former professional eye to the arrangement of the books and clothes on shelf and rack. I shouldn’t sneer, they are dying to do well, although you also know that a lot of them also think Boris will do a good job -

Damn nearly didn’t mention him. He got his foot in the door today. Can’t not talk about it. I think Fintan O’Tool’s tweet sums it up better than I can:

in Heroic Failure I deal with the delusion of British "pluck". Now @BorisJohnson "no-one in the last few centuries has succeeded in betting against the pluck, nerve and ambition of this country" The book is not an instruction manual.

This is my latest bit of fun https://twitter.com/justindix6/status/1154241096953806849?s=21

Sat in the garden until after dark again tonight. We have a lovely little shaded encampment on the lawn where we sit and talk with the boys, play kalooki and take the odd call from loved ones. Within easy reach of the beer fridge. Bit of a safe haven.

Delighted to hear today that Elif Shafak made the Booker long list for 10 minutes and 38 seconds in this strange world.