Well, we are now on our third new Dyson in as many weeks. Having phoned the firm up and played it down the line to them they agreed it was something that was in need of an engineer visit or replacement so after booking the former Joan obtained the latter from Marion (well, it does still come in the old 30 day replacement window with Argos anyway despite being a replacement already) so I then had to cancel the visit. Hopefully nothing else will go wrong or we will just get a refund and be done with it. Mind you, I'm not sure what we would get in exchange as I have no desire to return to the days of emptying bags after cleaning a carpet or two, and when the thing works it does a great job.

But I was kind of right about Sunday - all we really did was go to Sainsburys and Makro to pick up a few odds and ends and didn't get a lot more than that acheived. We did have lunch at (no longer "Fatty") Arbuckles as it was conveniently located on our route. Quite tasty and they have had a repaint since we last went, but they have also changed menus and so forth and not the same as it used to be. I guess we will still go there occasionally (it must be about once a year or so) but won't be rushing back in a hurry. Mind you, we could have been put off slightly by the incredible number of screaming kids dotted around the dining area. Another reason I am so glad we have no offspring - I couldn't be doing with all the hassle frankly! Still, they do at least have variable portion sizes on the menu so we were able to go with small meals and actually finish them for a change. So many places these days seem to serve vast amounts that the wastage factors are ridiculous. I don't mind paying for what I eat, but object to a huge portion costing more then being wasted.

Yesterday and today spent getting to grips with my target of writing a procedures manual for the team. I should probably be doing things with the PSA area timetables but as Chris is off and has left no instructions I don't know where he is at with them. OK, so I could phone him at home, but I prefer not to. If nothing else it might encourage him to phone me at home on my days off, which I'm not at all in favour of.

New detective series starting tonight (55 Degrees North) set in Newcastle so I expect we will give that a try and hope it doesn't get Joan too homesick. And best of the current crime bunch Waking The Dead returns next week for a new series. Looking forward to that a lot.

And finally, finished The Gun Seller yesterday. Not much to say really, the plot all came to a nice end that was reasonably well paced but it hasn't left me wanting to know what happened next to the protagonists. Have now returned to the truth with the second Paul Brickhill world war two book in my collection - The Dam Busters. Again, one I've read before (and also seen the film a few times) so familiar ground but good stuff anyway. Am now in slight shock at realising it must be a year since I read the Great Escape but never mind, time flies and there's nothing we can do to stop it. This one is just as meticulous in searching out the facts and just as enjoyable to re-read.