Friday night was Charles and Andrea’s 25th Wedding Anniversary which was lovely, out in the Stone Trough Inn in Kirkham, a tiny community around an ancient priory, and the seeming hub of a cluster of villages there near the A64. There was some salsa and some regular music: it’s interesting to see how salsa folk get lost when dancing to music there aren’t any rules for! We’d gone in the wee car which ran almost like a dream all the way there. After the pub it was back to their house and a quick jam in their well-equipped practice room in the west wing. Well equipped, that is, apart from a snare drum, necessitating creative employment of the tom toms.

Next morning Kate and I headed north to Norton and dropped the Spitfire off for a service, distributor overhaul and general tweakings at the hands of the Heritage Car Company. I’d approached with a sense of foreboding after someone at the party from Norton had said if the guy was who they thought it was he was extremely dodgy and not to be trusted. Well it turned out not to be the guy he described so I’m feeling a little more relaxed about things, but I won’t be happy till I get her back, intact, for a less than extortionate bill.

With Kate, my native guide to getting around sans car, I took the bus back to York. We went into town and managed a personal best each for getting in, done, and out again.