On the coffee table (no coffees allowed) chocolates and fruit, two bird books, one article by the Professor, the latest blog book (I turn all the blogs into hard copy editions) a bestseller non fiction about our race…..Homo Sapiens, a book about Maimonides and a book of Bedfordshire walks.  And the Little Red Book…..not the one from Chairman Mao but a spoof called “Quotations from Chairman Trump”.  We have to laugh else we will cry.  Let’s see if “opposites attract” this afternoon in Washington.  Meanwhile here at The Gables we will be drinking whisky or wine or sloe gin, eating a hot dinner and enjoying congenial conversation.  The world can manage without us for 25 hours and we can manage without the news.