Friday 14th October 1811

Dear Diary,
The week has been quite lengthy and dull.
I have spent much time buried in my Fanny Burney and on occasions fingering my instrument.
Today has been quite an ordeal however.
Mrs Crutchlow is away visiting family for the weekend and Harden Thicke returned home after lunch as his Dick was looking a little limp and shivering so due to the cold.
I shall not burden you with the circumstances of how I came to be in the privy but as I opened the door to leave I was confronted by a large toad in the hallway beyond.
Why do these creatures insist upon invading my home?
It lunged towards me and I retreated, hastily, back into the privy where I remained until Willow returned from school, some four hours later.
Happily he discovered the creature in a dark corner of one of the guest rooms and returned it to the garden.
Such a relief for I would scarce have slept a wink tonight.