Things started to happen The Claremont Project (Old Peoples' Club) tentatively started with socially-distanced coffee mornings. In the Autumn, they re-instated the usual programme & we went to the Friday afternoon concerts as before.
In the Autumn, U3A in London also restarted with a full programme. Ken gave his “European History” class as usual, with a ‘special’ catch-up talk to start with, reminding them of what they had been told about the 12th Century before Lockdown. That was talk 44a but, with much activity still inhibited, he has almost reached talk 200 in the enforced leisure.

Normally, we would have gone to many art shows. However, they still require one to book before one goes to a gallery, which is awkward when Ken has no idea when he can get Avis down to one. At least, she now has a Blue Badge, allowing parking in otherwise illegal places.

All Ken & Avis' talks are available to any club in London that wants them.

Ken's reading list of books for the year

“An American Marriage” by Tarari Jones. It is very good but about the saddest thing I have read for a long time
“How to Build a Girl” by Caitlin Moran. Wacky but makes some important social points.
“Paris Echo” by Sebastian Faulkes. Charming portrait of Paris buried in an unlikely story.
“Mum & Dad” by Joanna Trollope. Family saga of the sort she is good at.
“The Siberian Dilemma” by Martin Cruz Smith. An Arkady Renko Russian cops & killers. Cop-out ending, you might say.
“The Dinner Guest” by B P Walter. An astonishing achievement. It must have taken ages to work out the plotting.
“The Testaments” by Margaret Attwood. Raced through it. “It’s only a story” but Gilead seemed like the actual USA in some Americans’ dreams.
“Diary of a Married Call Girl” by Tracy Quan. How much is research & how much is experience, one does not know,
although the ‘heroine’ has the same ethnicity as the author of this amusing load of bollocks (literally).
(We did not buy this. Avis finished her book & picked this up in Caffé Nero’s library).
“Queenie” by Candice Carty-Williams. It had me alternately laughing & weeping.
“The Girl who reads on the Metro” by Christine Féret Fleury. Enchanting book about....books.

Similar limited reading list as last year, owing to much historical research again.