Post 326. WAS THAT IT THEN?

HOME. 

Summer came early. 

Too early? Well it lasted right through the Easter holiday when the schools were closed. It's not supposed to do that, is it? 

This year the stick-at-homes were genuinely able to feign sympathy with the many sun seekers stuck in airport terminals. 

It was brighter here. 

Needless to say, the perpetual pessimists are of the mind that an Easter like that can only mean one thing: a lousy Summer. 

There's no pleasing some people. 

The cat Shadow woke the world at dark o'clock one morning last week when he came through the cat flap with a large (and very dead) mouse. 

How, in his dotage, he had caught/found/stolen the poor creature he did not say, but he did say, loudly, that he was still up to it, so what did I think of that? 

“I think you're a boastful, murderous little bugger,” I said. 

“And will that replace, or accompany, a pernickety old sod?” he enquired silkily. 

I really must moderate my language. 

Pernickety? 

TELEVISION. 

The Durrells. (ITV) 

Hurray! The Durrell family is back for Season 4. 

Keeley Hawes (as matriarch Louisa) and the usual excellent fellow cast, ensure that Simon Nye's Corfu romp - based on Gerald Durrell's books - is quirky and eminently watchable. 

My own favourite is young Gerry, played by Milo Parker (pictured). Love the hat. 
Make the most of them all, though. This is their last season. 

Line of Duty. (BBC One) is also nearing the end of another series. The ubiquitous Jed Mercurio's bent law enforcers are fast setting the benchmark for television police personnel. 

I know I've said this before, but it bears repeating: I have known and counted as friends many police officers over the years. There have been the occasional drinkers, the frequent philanderers, some poor marriage partakers and a few ebullient bullshitters among them, but the majority have been decent, ordinary blokes who made the best they could of an often unpopular and sometimes dangerous job. I don't think any them was corrupt. I doubt some of them could even spell the word. 

So who in Line of Duty is determined to end the career (even the life) of Superintendent Ted Hastings? And is he H? We'll probably find out next Sunday. Meanwhile we shall burn the midnight oil watching Game of Thrones (shown here on Sky Atlantic). 

The battle episode this week was the most gripping I have ever seen on television or in a cinema. Marvellous stuff. 

Can't stop. Tele to watch.