Grrrr, another alarm call out to Argos at 2-30 this morning. Another git peeing through the door. Can't we run 30,000 volts through them or something?

Still, turned out last night wasn't a meal at Ma & Pa's but an invite out with them instead. Richard was out with friends from work so rather than taking the opportunity for a rare evening on their own they took the even rarer opportunity to see us without him. We went to the Beagle so that was great. Had the Hunter's Chicken which was absolutely superb.

Have this morning scanned some of the house pictures, so might get some fo those online this afternoon when I've trimmed them a bit.

Off into town to tax the car now. More money!

Still raining so I won't have to dodge people due to not leaving the building... I think the people of Ipswich should be fitted with brake lights and indicators the way they just suddenly stop or veer in front of you when trying to walk around town.

And now, according to the BBC, it seems people are "rushing" to buy Queen Mum stamps. Never realised there would be so many people wanting to lick her backside.

The rain has returned at last, which is great for the farmers and gardens and stuff, but a bugger for traffic congestion. Then Joan is on a course here in Ipswich today so I gave her a lift. She then managed to drop her phone getting out of the car and has apparently broken it - but it was OK to call me on and tell me it was broken so perhaps we can save it. Wonder if anything else will go pear shaped today.

Yesterday we had a grumpy delivery driver who brought 40 boxes of timetable cases then refused to take them where we wanted, dumping them in reception instead. What a git. It got me some more fresh air moving them, but not how I'd planned to spend half the afternoon!

Made up for it with a nice evening though - did our first "summer" favourite. After Joan had been to her osteopath we got chips and sat down at the port viewing area for tea. A lovely, sunny evening with ships coming in and out and a front row parking slot. Absolutely glorious and another reason I would not want to move away from Felixstowe. Tonight we have been invited to Ma & Pa's for dinner. Don't think there is any particular reason or ulterior motive bnehind it. Although they are about to have a major extension built on the house so perhaps they want to get one last nice family meal in before the disruption starts.

Hmm, so why is it that a hygenist can do procedures that need an anasthetic, and can indeed administer them to the upper jaw but has to call a proper dentist in for the lower? Must remember to ask next time (10th may). Still, no real pain to speak of except for where the needle went in and a little jaw-related stiffness today.

Still busy at work - even fewer of us today as we have 3 of the remaning 9 out at a transport forum thingy. I like the peace and quiet though.

Finally finished the Trevithick book. Quite astounding the number of things he started off then never made any money out of compared to the people who took them up after him. Have now switched back to fiction and embarked upon The Skies of Pern by Anne McCaffrey. Possibly my favourite of all the sci-fi/fantasy series' I've read, so this latest has a lot to live up to. Doing OK so far...

Now to get some fresh air and money from Ipswich.

I think we have gone through Busy now, and the word will no longer suffice. So let's go for ultra-hectic instead. Only really got time to write this now as I've just reached the end of something and am planning to leave work in five minutes so not worth starting anything else major. Pity the reason for leaving early is another of those trips to the hygenist (so agony for this evening is forecast) rather than spending tome in the sun with Joan, but never mind.

Just a quick plug for ACME by the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and Deep In The Hole by The Masters Of Reality. Plug. plug.

Let me see, my face is slightly red, my arms, legs and back are aching and I have some good blisters on my hands. What can I have been up to? Its got to be either (a) something extremely kinky we'd best draw a discrete veil over or (b) the continued good weather brought out a rash of gardening yesterday.

It's (b) I'm afraid. Took out a Eucalyptus tree that had died (real shame) and then stripped the turf from a large patch of lawn where we are going to lay a new patio. At the far end of the garden that gets the sun inthe evenings. Only something we've been planning to do for 6 years now, but I guess the inside of the house took precedence. Now all we need to do is level the remaining soil and lay the slabs. Which we do have already. Then get a skip for the day to get rid of all the turf. Then either move and convert the shed already at that end, or obtain a little summerhouse type affair for those hot summer nights. That's put a curse on the sun for the rest of the summer. And what happened to spring anyway?

Even fewer people in the office today as we now have one in hospital for an op on his knee and Dawn off for the day. So really, even less time to distract myself like this. However, I've just finished ploughing through the proof books and am now waiting for Charles to check for anything I may have missed before sending any corrections back to Pindar. Oh what a busy life.

Despite the work in the sun, we still managed a few other things this weekend. I was basically chained to the iron on Saturday, but kept myself amused with the assistance of Aerosmith (Nine Lives), The Chemical Brothers (Dig Your Own Hole) and the Hitch Hiker's Guide to The Galaxy (tv series DVD). Also assorted other musical influences through the tv I can't be bothered to list here. Watching HHG again after many years was great - especially with the quality, previous edited bits put back in and also the production notes on the disc. Almost as good as a full commentary but also not as distracting from the plot. Looking forward to all the extras on disc 2 when I reach the end of the series.

Last night we rewarded ourselves by watching Gladiator again. It was actually free with the DVD player, but one I would happily have paid full price for. Was amazed to realise we've had it well over a year and that was only the second time we've watched it. Where does all the time go? And yet another film I'm looking forward to listening to the commentary on. And watching all the extras. Oh, and we watched a borrowed copy of Boogie Nights on Friday. Quite amusing in parts (is that the right term to use??) but not one we'll be rushing to catch again I don't think.

Nearly time for lunch now...