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Wonderful evening with The Crowd at The Art of Change event.

Introduced by Jim Woods and chaired by Catherine Cameron, the event featured three panellists who spoke after my presentation: Richard Gillies, on his lessons from Kingfisher & M&S; Kate Millar, on how the Barclays ‘Lens’ brings society into major business decisions; and Tim Brooks, on the process that led to Lego committing to removing crude-oil-based plastics from its supply chain by 2030.

The first image in my keynote is shown above: it was only after I had dropped it into the slide background that I noticed the pubic hair, but death is no respecter of our vanities.

Then on, with Jim, the speakers and the sponsors, to a delightful dinner at Manicomio City, overlooking the rain sluicing down outside in the silvery darkness of Gutter Lane.

After Sutton Hoo, we headed across to the coast to see Orford. The Castle was very striking and its keep remarkably intact, particularly given that its outer walls and towers have somehow vanished. Then a delightful lunch at the Butley Orford Oysterage.

A test shot of tabasco on one oyster had me in paroxysms at one point, however, a hangover effect of the cold and cough I have been harbouring for the last week.

Sadly, we discovered, Orford Ness had just closed for the year, except for Saturdays. Had wanted to see the relics of the mysterious testing days on the Ness, when it was a Cold War R&D site, as much as the shingle-backed ecosystem. So we wandered along the shore, in my case plucking and chewing marsh samphire, and marshalling the stamina for the drive back to London.

But amazing how much four days away can expand one’s horizons.

Arrived at the Sutton Hoo site half an hour before the museum opened, so walked across to the burial ground – and around. Skies gloriously blue. Looking all the while for the perspective that Ramsay Gibb used when doing a painting of the area that hangs in our home. And found it.

Delightful place, despite the history of gibbets and executions nearby. Had seen the Sutton Hoo Hoard in the British Museum a number of times, so had long wanted to visit the site.

Also read The Dig, by John Preston, some years ago. Interesting to see that Cate Blanchett, one of my favourite actresses, has been interested in playing Edith Pretty in a possible film. I live in hope …

Loved the evidence of the Landgirls who stayed in the house during WWII, including carved declarations of love on one of the fireplaces and woodworm-like holes in the wooden panelling, apparently from games of darts.

The Sutton Hoo museum itself is brilliantly done, centred around a reproduction of part of the main ship burial. While the exhibits on sword-making and the world-famous helmet were a joy, the piece that really connected with me was the reconstruction of a maple lyre, with its case lined in beaver fur.

Would love to have heard – and understood – the songs of the time, at the time. On the strength of that, I bought the book A Departed Music: Old English Poetry, by Walter Nash. Something to read as winter draws in.

Arrived in Woodbridge to stay at Melton Hall B&B, but decided to visit the tide mill en route. Stunningly beautiful weather and delightful volunteers showed us around the mill. Have been interested in tide mills since I wrote Sun Traps: The Renewable Energy Forecast for Pelican Books in the early 1980s. At the time, we visited the tide mill at Carew, Pembrokeshire.

Have wanted to see to the Imperial War Museum sites both in London and Duxford for years, decades even, so Duxford today was a (great) start. The airfield has a long and glorious history, including taking delivery of the first operational Spitfire, in 1938.

Apart from seeing aircraft like the Dragon Rapide airborne, a highlight was the experience of being inside a German fighter pursuing several Spitfires over the White Cliffs. Expected something of the fairground, but it stirred an even deeper appreciation of those who took to the skies during that teeter-totter moment in our history.

Then, as we were walking back to the exit, guarded by a Hurricane on a stand (according to Wikipedia, the ‘gate guard’ aircraft is a Hawker Hurricane II, squadron code WX-E of No.302 (Polish) Squadron, Serial No. P2954, flown by Flight Lieutenant Tadeusz Pawel Chlopik), I heard the unmistakable sound of a Merlin engine in  the distance – and a Spitfire shot by, doing a roll up into the heavens.