We're following the piper!

We're in Hackney, where we've just taken delivery of three lady rats who are coming for a holiday in Highgate.

It's nothing sinister; we're not trying to breed them or anything, we're simply looking after them for three friends who are going on holiday in Slovakia. The guest rats are the mother, sister and the aunt of our Tyndarids, and they're absolutely tiny, which makes me wonder if we've been feeding our two rather too much "Reggie Rat." One of the lady rats is very old and frail. She's called McCann - named after Maddie - and she's not expected to last the two weeks she's with us. If she dies we're under strict instructions to put her in the freezer, so that they can bury her somewhere nicer than Hampstead Heath, or Highgate Woods, though quite why they think this is going to be possible in Hackney, I'm not sure.

It's very important that our rats are kept away from the girls... They may be related, but that won't stop them from doing naughty things, and having seen the way that Pol is with the back of my hand, I wouldn't wish that on anyone or anything.
 
It rained heavily in the night 350 years ago, Pepys' guttering became blocked, and he woke up to find all of his ceilings completely ruined. 

He spent the day with Captain Holmes, walking around London and generally putting the world to rights. Pepys liked Holmes. He was loyal to Sandwich, and cunning, which was a compliment. "Two-faced" (which feels like a very modern phrase) was also used as a term of endearment. I think Holmes simply knew how to keep his enemies close, and Pepys didn't want to get on the wrong side of him.