The New Toy

I had to wait in this morning for my new coffee machine to be delivered, and it finally arrived around lunchtime.  I then spent the rest of the day setting it up (which also involved rearranging part of the kitchen and somehow in the process the oven got cleaned too) and then taking the old machine and all of the packaging from this and earlier deliveries this week to the recycling centre.  I tried one coffee but I don't think I've got the grind fine enough yet, but my experimentation will have to wait until the morning.  If I'd had another coffee I would have been wired!

I was sad to see of the death of Dame Cleo Laine yesterday at the age of 97.  We had seen her several times at The Stables, the music venue she and her late husband John Dankworth set up near Milton Keynes.  They also hosted summer concerts in their garden and Cleo would often be seen wandering amongst the audience and sitting with her family watching the show; it was her garden after all!  I'd like to think that her final years were comfortable.  Some years ago we bought a leather reclining chair which was extremely comfortable but it just didn't look right in our room so we eventually decided to sell it.  A lady who came round to our house and bought it said it was for her elderly mother who needed something comfortable to sit on and put her feet up.  Neither of us said anything but we both recognised the lady as Jacquie Dankworth, Cleo's daughter and a Jazz singer in her own right.  We actually have tickets to see her in concert later this year so if I get the chance I might ask whether the chair was a success.