CR III

Tomaso Meoni has put up most of the fence between us and Bosco; only the top part remains to be done. Rob has been wetting the concrete of the new balcony daily. The engineer came to inspect the construction and said everything was OK. He says it will not bounce, although Tomaso thought it would. Massimo brought Sebastiano to view the old iron which he will take away next week, and also the trees that need surgery. Massimo started waterproofing the concrete surface of balcony. Annalisa wants Rob to disable disappearing messages on the family Whatsapp group. Rob wants Annalisa to remove the cat litter tray from the sun-room and keep it outside. Rob went to the Pubblica Assistenza to collect Tosca after her session with the ophthalmologist, and he was seen by the ear nose throat specialist who scraped some wax from his right ear and arrange for a hearing test; he also met Silvio there.

Charles was crowned at Westminster Abbey, and we watched the whole service and the processions before and after. It was raining throughout. About 60 people were arrested on suspicion of planning disruptive demonstrations. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, a Hindu, read from Colossians. The conservatives suffered heavy losses in council elections. French police fired tear gas into a crowd of people protesting against the raising of the pension age from 62 to 64. Drones attacked Moscow for the first time, and explosions were seen at the Kremlin; Ukraine denied responsiblity. Chinese drones circled Taiwan. Nato believes Russia has laid explosive devices which could be used to damage undersea gas pipelines and data cables. On the day of its annual celebrations in Red Square, Russia launched drone attacks on Ukraine.