Devon Knows...

We're in deepest Devon in a farmhouse. I have very little, if any, phone reception. Heaven knows if this post will appear, so I'm not going to spend too long trying!

There are 21 of us here; all either related to Nathan's mother, Celia, or her partner, Ron. It's a beautiful house - absolutely enormous - but it has an extremely strange atmosphere on the stairwell.

This morning, I returned to our flat to find the most enormous bouquet of flowers on the doorstep. They were from the good folk of BBC Yorkshire and came with a lovely note thanking me for talking at their event. It was absolutely unnecessary, but one of the nicest gestures I've known. Men should be given flowers more often. They made me feel valued, cheered me up enormously, and more than made up for my not getting breakfast yesterday morning!

April fool's day, 1661, was a pretty typical day for Pepys. He did a bit of work, wandered around London, drank a pint of wine and watched a play at Whitefriars. "Rule a Wife and Have a Wife" was apparently a pretty dreadful play. It sounds it!

Pepys called in on his parents, who were having the mother of all rows about their new maid. Dad liked her. Mum didn't. I suspect she was nubile and not unpleasant to look at. Pepys stayed til 10pm, persuading his mother to "understand herself." He lost his patience with her, and harsh words were exchanged. He felt guilty but claimed that he had to put her in her place on account of the "poor woman" having grown too "froward" - an archaic word meaning disobedient.

He walked home in brave moonlight.