The darkness when it came was chilly

Above: the facade of the Down Hall hotel, taken just as I was walking back to my car.

In the evening I went to the Down Hall hotel near Bishops Stortford for dinner with friends. The hotel is an Edwardian mansion with modern extensions, down a long narrow lane (that leads from a village with about nine pubs in it). I arrived just after 7 as the light was fading.

Meeting one of my friends we took our drinks out onto the terrace. The garden looked well-kept with borders of pink flowers and arrangements of neatly clipped topiary. The scene had all the appearance of summer but with none of the warmth (and the darkness when it came was chilly).

The others arrived and we went into Ibbotsons restaurant. Not many tables were occupied. Mumm Cordon Rouge champagne to drink. I had a sort of terrine made from wood pigeon, roast venison, and what was called an "upside down cake" with a fruit sauce. All the food had a tangy aftertaste which I didn't care for, although the others raved about their meals. The presentation of the courses was tricksy, in a piled-high nouvellish sort of way.

We talked about economics, politics, society.

One of the group, who is a strong Conservative, praised David Cameron: "Don't you see how brilliant he has been in forcing spending cuts onto the agenda. Now both Labour and the Liberal Democrats are in a bidding war on who can cut the most. And the joke is that the blow will fall on the public sector which is mainly made up of Labour and Liberal supporters..."

We talked about books - The Long Tail; a book about geopolitics (The Next 100 Years); and (surprisingly) Suite Francais.

We had our coffee in the great hall, lounging on sofas grouped around a massive unlit fireplace.

We talked about travel and L was so insulting about Tel Aviv that another of the party struggled to his feet (he had had a lot of champagne) and announced "I'm Jewish".

Apart from myself, everyone was staying over. I left them about midnight. The drive home took me about three hours.