The sun is still in the sky

I've melted. It's official. I'm sitting on a sofa feeling like an old dish cloth. It’s incredibly hot outside, and I’ve been working very hard. There’s an astonishing amount of arranging to do for this concert on November 27^th and also a huge amount of organising. We seem to have a full choir but for 2 tenors and a top sop. I'm not so worried about the soprano, but I'd love to find some tenors. They don’t grow on trees, and those that exist get very finely spread!

I worked all morning in the cafe, and then went for a lunchtime walk with Fiona around the edge of Highgate Woods. Beautiful sunshine and glorious green-dappled shade. I’ve been sitting on a sofa all afternoon and evening doing more arrangements, wary of the fact that I start a job in Manchester at the start of November, so have to be done, dusted and fully organised by then.

It’s now 9 o’clock and I realise that if I don’t move, or eat something in the next half an hour I’m going to turn into a pumpkin or a troll.

The 29^th September was a Sunday and Pepys went to church in the morning. He hosted a lunch for a large number of people, and everyone was very merry. They went back to church in the afternoon, and then to Sir William Penn’s house, where Pepys met Sir William’s brother, Captain George Penn, who was an explorer and seemed incredibly glamorous. There was even more merriment and a huge amount of wine. Pepys became so pissed he couldn’t say his evening prayers for fear the servants would realise how drunk he was!