On finding another way to become tired

Just back from an evening with Princess, a pleasant dinner on her balcony with a gentle French rosé wine and the cries of the circling swifts, followed by a half-hour of badminton under the streetlights. It's quite an amusing sport if taken lightly, but also a surprisingly good work-out. I haven't played badminton in about 35 years, not since summer evening games in our back yard as a child, and I must say that I enjoyed it greatly. I might even be inclined to do this again sometime.

It's midnight and the temperature outside is still 25°C, so I guess that this is officially, really, truly summer. I have showered and shampooed and am now off to bed, where I shall probably sleep like a log and wake like a pile of rusty iron junk, creaking and groaning.