I should have known that assembling a hammock on a sunny Saturday would lead to rain on the Sunday.

And so it came to pass. When we woke up this morning the sky was grey and heavy with cloud and the the ground was slick with rain and the hammock too damp to lie in.

No matter we have friends coming round for a late lunch and now mid-afternoon the sun is making an effort to break through the clouds.

There will be a Greek influence with both the guests and the food although we will be starting with the pure English of a large plate of freshly cooked asparagus slathered in butter with hard boiled duck eggs.

Having feasted on that we will be eating chicken cooked with honey, coffee and brandy. I have in the past cooked something similar with beef.

The recipe comes from a book I was given earlier this year The Olive and the Caper: Adventures in Greek Cooking by Susanna Hoffman.

The combination of flavours works surprisingly well. The coffee and honey work off each other to create a deep sweet taste bolstered by cinnamon, bay and cloves. We will eat it with a large bowl of crusty rice and salad from the garden.

To follow that we have a box of mangos to eat. I have just taken the lid off them and had a smell. Who needs perfume when you can have a smell like that.

Listening new wave funk and modern day psychedelia.

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It would be nice to think that some of the youth might be galvanised by the prospect of another five years of the Conservatives to create something is good as The Slits or The Gang of Four.