Saturday 17th October 1936

Left the works 12:30. Lunch at Magna Charta Café. Packed my final possessions – shaving kit, blanket, hair brushes etc – and delivered up the key to Kapai. I walked out of that little white gate with regret!

A pull on the river. Quite a warm day. Around Whitchery Island, up the Colne (the same dear, familiar way!)

(1982 : Was that the last Egham water voyage ever? There are no boats (punts or skiffs) now at Bell Weir. No bungalows. No boathouse. A giant concrete motorway bridge spans the Thames there. Where “Kapai” and the other riverside bungalows nestled, is now a tangled wood.)

The trees are changing colour and there are many dead leaves drifting on the water…

Evening: a Londoner, then. Met Anne and went to the Hammersmith Commodore. Back about 12 0’clock. Wilf staying the night. I went into his bedroom and we talked until half past one. Then supper and bed.