Well, I was right about one thing - the name book was indeed finished on Wednesday night. Very interesting and one that will no doubt be dipped into again in association with other London Books. Am now re-reading Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett. I seem to have managed to forget the majority of the plot so it is proving just as enjoyable as when I first read it a few years back.

Yesterday was very busy sorting out nit-pickedy changes, surprising the purchaser of the millionth Park & Ride ticket and a New Routes meeting. Today is more book changes and more book changes and yet more book changes. I'll be glad to get home tonight for a long weekend I think, even if it does feature the last tooth out on Tuesday. And of course we aren't going straight home either. Instead we are having dinner at Helen & Bhupen's to make up for not doing it on her birthday due to Joan being so ill.

OK, film review time (finally, scream the millions). Stuff we have watched and (mostly) enjoyed of late:

The Fast And The Furious - A bit different from what I was expecting but very enjoyable anyway. I admit I am a bit of a sucker for fast cars, but also got gripped by the plot too.

Legally Blonde - Much better than I was expecting. Have seen so many American College comedies that it was nice to be surprised by a bit of difference in the plot and intelligence in the script.

Saving Private Ryan - Been putting this one off for years after hearing about the grisly first half hour or so, and yes it is pretty gruesome at times but glad we gave it a chance at last. Very well played piece of drama and not too sentimental in the end for Mr Spielberg.

The Parole Officer - Steve Coogan not playing up as much as most of his charachters and actually being watchable as a result. I saw this a while back with Gary and have been meaning to watch it again with Joan ever since, so it turning up on Sky Widescreen was great.

Bridget Jones's Diary - Had avoided this like the plague after all the hype surrounding it and the book inthe first place but finally caved in and found it pretty good. Not as good as all the hype but better than a slap in the face with a wet haddock.

Star Wars Episode II - Attack Of The Clones - I'm turning away from this even more. Not even sure if it's better than Episode I now. Too many things that mess up the continuity of the rest of the series (and indeed internally in the film it self), the plot os just appalling and there are just too many CGi stupidities. So glad I resisted buying it and just borrowed Richard's copy.

And probably some more I can't remember now.

My mouth hurts again. Yup, another tooth out yesterday - that in itself is fine, it's the spot where he stuck the needle in to numb me up that hurts (as usual). The tooth actually came out easier than the first one and I didn't even have to stop him for a rest half way through the pulling process this time. I was about to when he stopped himself to change pliers or something and two seconds later it was out. And less blood than the other one too.

Otherwise yesterday is nothing much to write about. Having got up early ish for breakfast I then went back to sleep until nearly 11! And the afternoon was spent lazing about reading as well. So now I am at work again, clear in my head what to do with the area books (full scale delay, major checking and poking to ensure as good as we can get accuracy) and possibly even ready to do some of the work on them this afternoon.

OK, so as I type this I am waiting for 100 or so pages of book 5 to print out and if the speed doesn't pick up on the printer that's about all I will get done today! Mind you, I had a pretty good meeting this morning with a chap from the Ipswich hotels association about doing more to promote Park & Ride through them so I will still have managed something constructive today. And during that sentence my eagerly awaited reports on whether it is possible to change the layouts at the existing P&R sites has been delivered, so a little light reading there for me.

Speaking of light reading, I guess I should update that section of my musings while I am at it today. Finished off The Riddle And The Knight and enjoyed it thoroughly. Looking forward to reading the other two books I have by Giles Milton over the coming months. I have also started and finished volume two of the Otherland series by Tad Williams - River of Blue Fire. That was absolutely superb, moved the plot of the saga along nicely, introduced a whole load more in the way of subplots, motivations, group dynamics and the like. Really building nicely and I'm so glad I have parts 3 and 4 ready for when I want to read them rather than having to wait for them to be published. That got to be so frustrating a few years back I decided to just buy each book in sets from Authors I liked but wait for the whole lot to be owned before starting to read them. Am now reading What's In A Name? by Cyril M. Harris which is basically a descriptor of where all the names of the stations on the London Underground come from, what they mean etc. So more another book about London than one about trains as such, and again very interesting but also very short so I don't see it still being in active service at the end of the week.

I think that's all I'm going to say today. But still plan to add films watched over the last month at some point.

OK, long time no waffle. I apologise if anyone has been waiting for some! Partly too busy, partly Blogger not publishing what I was writing (hopefully fixed now via a change of template) and partly cos I've been off work and thus additionally busy. Why is it that being at home when you would expect to have all the free time you want actually means no time to think at all?

Anyway, where was I?

Friday 4th April was the day after I'd been ill on the way to work. Woke up still feeling fairly bad but not as bad as Joan. I stayed at home late in order to take her to the Doctor as she really was not well. Some sort of sinus/chest infection jobby that had also produced a nasty looking rash on her legs. Not fun. I won't go into all the gory details and stuff on here but suffice it to say another three visits and four different types of tablet later (including some that stopped her from going out in sunlight and couldn't be taken with milk) she is finally back at work today. Suffering is not quite the word for what she has been through so it is quite nice to finally see her up and about again. I was a bit worried for a while.

I can't recall much of what was done on what day after that as I was just busy working when at work and looking after Joan when at home. But basically that pattern continued until the 15th which also happened to be Richard's 30th Birthday. Joan was fit enough by that point for them all to come round for an hour or so in order for him to have presents. The 16th was Helen's birthday and also my last day at work for a while.

She popped along to see Joan in the afternoon while I got taken out to lunch along with the rest of the group as a "thank you" for all the work we had put in getting the revised rural bus services in and publicised. The plan was to go for a pizza but it seems Pizza Hut refuse to take bookings during the school holidays and when we got there the place was full up to busting. So we went to the pub instead. Had smothered chicken which was fairly nice but not up to Garfunkels standard, and not what I will have should I ever eat there again.

Anyway, getting home that night was pure bliss as I am also back at work today for the first time since then.

OK, so Thursday the 17th was not a particularly fun day for me as I had the first of my Wisdom Teeth out. Only the one as the lower one on the right never developed in the first place. As I'd never had any teeth pulled out before I wasn't sure what to expect. And apart from all the hanging around due to Mr Norfolk running late, waiting for the drugs to kick in etc it wasn't actually too bad. OK, so him pulling felt like pushing and I am still not keen for tomorrow to come but I survived. No major bleeding or anything, just a bit of discomfort for the next few days and a couple of meals worth of soft, squidgy food. Hopefully it will be the same tomorrow despite it being 2 this time. Must remember to buy some pain killers just in case though.

After that though it was time for relaxing, eating Easter eggs and so forth. Or so I thought. Wrong!

Despite the solemn vow last year after all the painting and stuff that we were not going to do any decorating during 2003, I still seem to have spent large chunks of the last week up to my elbows in paint. OK, so I knew I would have to do four doors as they were newly hung (probably mentioned above) and in need of a top coat, but I didn't anticipate doing the kitchen as well. And not just the door! Still, it looks much better blue than it did in green. We even replaced the roller blinds with vertical venetian ones with no real fuss or bother. I do have to confess to being happy with ther result even if I didn't want to do it. Definitely nothing else getting painted in our house this year. The garden of course is another matter, as we bought a load of paint for the fence yesterday. Does it ever stop?

We did manage a whole day of relaxy stuff sort of by virtue of coming in to Ipswich on Thursday last. Did a spot of shopping (woo, new pedal bin for kitchen, new trousers for me) and had a reasonable lunch at The Rep. Joan's was wonderful, mine a bit bland. We had planned to eat in Pals, but just as we had made our minds up the fire alarms for the whole Buttermarket centre went off so we were forced to relocate. Also went round to Ma & Pa's for dinner that night as Grandma was up for a few days. Good time had by all.

Despite not having taken a tablet for a couple of weeks now, I am still having the odd dodgy dizzy moment with increasingly fewer electric shock zappy feelings. Still feel a bit sick of a morning and indeed there have been a couple more throwing up incidents, although fortunately not while in the car. Very odd, but no way I'm going back ont he damn things now.

So now I am back at work and find once again that while I've been off the book production has gone all to pot and back again. Sonic nit-picking basically meaning something needs changing on nearly every page, but of course he isn't in today or tomorrow to clarify what he means by some of them so nothing is going to get done until Wednesday at the very least. I sometimes wonder why I even bother.

Oh, and we have managed to find the time to watch a shedload of films since I last posted but I haven't got the energy to mention them all now. Perhaps next time...

Seems it is. Full update to come.

Is this working again now? I've had to change the template and stuff.

Testing. 1 - 2 - 3.

Well, although still not 100% I am feeling about a zillion times better than I was this morning. Which is nice. Went for a walk in the sun at lunchtime (it then proceeded to rain as I was on my way back) which blew a few cobwebs away and it is continuing to stream in through the windows on and off helping to keep me warm and toasty.

And had a few more files back and got the west area booklet back from printing already so they are in the post and being distributed already. Huzzah for finally getting something done.

0900

Good News - Not only did Joan & Helen win a tidy little sum at the bingo last night, but Joan actuall one some of it herself rather than Helen all the time.

Bad News - I feel like total death today. Dizzy, shivering and even had to stop the car on the way in to work so I could get out and throw up on the roadside. Not a pleasant experience. I don't really know why I continued my journey instead of doing the sensible thing and turning round and going home to bed. If I don't perk up soon I'm probably going to do just that anyway. I am sure it is all connected with the tablet withdrawal and am frankly sick to the back teeth of it (no pun intended). If only we weren't so damn busy here with all the service changes for Monday I would have gone home without a thought, but I'm just too damn conscientious.

Bad News - Still no timetables arrived from Pindar. I have just sent them a note suggesting that they might be advised to get their act together if they want to keep the printing contract when it comes to renewal time. I know they are doing their best but they are holding us up now. OK, so people here have been twiddling about with things up to the last minute but I did warn them in February that we would be having all these changes now so they have had plenty of time to get people ready to work on our stuff.

Bad News - Being grotty earlier meant I made no lunch. But if I do feel like eating anything later I will have to go out and buy it, and it is raining. Quite heavily. In defiance of the forecast.

Dream News - It was a busy night in my head again. First off some sort of extended travelogue through woods near Welwyn Garden City. Not that I recognised them of course, but you know how it is in dreams. You just know where you are even if the location bears no relation to anywhere you have ever been or seen. Then there was a long and involved plot involving hospitals and Llamasoft. Not sure why the two got connected but there you go. The main plot had a huge gathering of forum members at Yak's house, parts of which were accessed via ladders and trapdoors rather than simple staircases. But then I was also having to go off to hospital to (a) visit Ernie and (b) keep appointments of my own that were going to mean surgery and all sorts of other goings on. At that point I woke up feeling fine, dandy and ready to go to work. Then realised it was only 4am and decided a bit more sleep was called for.

That produced yet another "Back to Argos" dream. Newmarket again, and totally realistic this time, with no strange extra stockrooms or expanded loading bays or other improvements that have featured in previous dreams on the subject. With the current Jacqui/Claire management team in place. But it was very much an "on loan" from Suffolk CC situation where I was giving them a few weeks help to sort out a bad mess rather than going back permanently and they were paying dearly for it. Of course waking up from that one with the alarm found me feeling as crappy as I still am - see above!

1000

Good News - I knew if I waited long enough before posting this there would be some. A couple of files arrived at last and we have at least been able to get one of the two update books up to Design & Print. Who have since complained about spots on the copies. Can't bloody win here. So now for some more...

Bad News - Although for Joan this time. Seems that although Gill is going next week and Marion from Ipswich is coming in (should really be good news that bit but...) they are also getting Peter back and Lee has to go to Bishops Stortford instead. This is definitely bad as Lee had got the stockroom looking the best I have seen it since I worked there while Peter is generally a pain in the posterior.

1100

Good News (I think) - I'm still sat here and haven't had to go home ill. I feel pretty ill but am still grimly clinging on in the hope that I can at least get these damn timetables sorted before I give up.

D'oh! Forgot to mention earlier. Had another slightly surreal experience on the way to work this morning. Saw my old car hurtling round the A12/A14 roundabout at Nacton. It's lost a wheel trim but otherwise looked OK (and was going faster than I would ever have gone round there!). I guess it was bound to happen eventually, when I'd been through enough cars or whatever but still slightly odd to see someone else behind the wheel.

And the quest for John Mandeville's book has been as easy as predicted. Not seen it in the shops yet but did find it on the interweb and have downloaded and printed it for later consumption.

Still waiting for files of course. Have had a few in but the whole process is just dragging today. Even the age-old method of going out for a walk in town failed to produce any new arrivals. In fact, all that did was to leave me feeling a bit gloomy at seeing lots of nice things in the shops but having no spare money due to the forthcoming (and much moaned about) teeth stuff. Oh well, only six months and all that will be over and done with.

Hmm, must have been major congestion on the interweb yesterday - the files I was waiting for (well, some of them) turned up at ten to three. Having been emailed at ten to eleven and twelve-ish. It's not even as if they were particularly large files either. Very annoying and by the time I'd finished sorting them out it was too late for me to get back to Felixstowe to pick Joan up. Grrrr.

There then followed a slightly strange and surreal evening - we made our Wills. Something we've been thinking about doing since we first got a mortgage and hastened by the experiences last year with June next door and then Ernie shuffling off this mortal coil. Having to actually think about what we'd want to do if we were in need of serious medical intervention or lost our marbles was quite sobering. Not to mention deciding what to do with the old corpse when the time comes. Plus there was then stuff like making sure neither of us would have to sell the house to pay for care and a few other twiddles. All of which pushed the bill up to nearly £500. Which was a bit more than we bargained for but was all stuff that needed to be done. Joan listed out a few individual bits & bobs she wanted to go to specific relatives but frankly I haven't got anything I'm attached to in that sort of way. Oh well, I can at least snuff it in peace now!

Today we have more waiting to be done followed by frantic proof checking and (I hope and pray) assembly of update booklets to get printed so we can start giving them out tomorrow. Even I'm begining to get a little cheesed off with the speed of things now.

Playing the waiting game with Pindar again. Stuff they've had for a couple of weeks is still not here, stuff I sent yesterday is back already. Does my head in, and gets everyone else moaning at me. Hey ho.

Picked up Joan's tablets fine last night then watched the '60s film of Batman with my tea. Made me laugh all over again which was nice. Better than feeling down and anxious waiting for the Mrs to come home. Must watch it with the commentary soon.

Then just as it finished came the call from Joan to say she was at Bury, which was my cue to head for Ipswich. Coach arrived safely about 10 minutes after I did and we were home by about nine thirty. She had a pretty good time overall and even managed to obtain a freebie t-shirt and coffee cup thing (one of those posh stainless steel efforts).

And now I'm stuck in the office with the rain falling. Great.

Urgh. Feel all grotty again this morning. Having felt pretty grotty for much of yesterday too. I think it must be related to dropping the dose on the old anti-depressants again but don't quote me on that. Seems logical though.

Anyway, Joan arrived safe and sound (despite the suspension going on the coach) and by all accounts had a good evening chatting before turning in. Spoke to her again this morning and she didn't sleep all that well, but then I never do when I'm away either. In fact I even woke up and had to get a drink at 4 this morning - can't remember the last time that happened (but I think it is due to being dehydrated after the effects of yesterday and last night). Tawny wasn't best pleased either.

So, The Black Hole was actually a lot better than I remembered. I know I must have seen it on TV at least once before but otherwise we are back to the original 1979 cinema release (when my teacher was also in the cinema - I jokingly said I should go sit with him and his girlfriend and it has been recycled as me intending to ever since. Bloody families. Mind you, I can also recall the supporting feature was something about rodeos). Some of the effects were really rather good - especially the weightlessness bits. Still not sure about the ending though - it appears that Reinhart ends up in hell merged with Maximillian but quite where the survivng heroes end up I'm not too sure.

Some pretty vivid dreams again last night too. The first one started off in a fairly sane manner - Started off at a big theatre accompanied by people I used to go to chool with talking computer games before mutating in to a new scene where I was working somewhere that was a sort of cross between here and a post office and was showing the brother Richard around before he got stuck in to whatever his job was supposed to be. That then shifted again to me helping BBC newsreader Fiona Bruce to escape from this strange office as it was under attack (this bit I can understand as I did watch her reading the news which was mainly about the war in Iraq just before I went to sleep). We had to do a whole bunch of climbing walls and scrambling down slopes before ending up on the edge of London. Never knew my office was so big! Anyway, from there we had to get down to the west country somewhere which involved "borrowing" abandoned cars and driving through largely deserted streets (the Embankment was a bit eerie) picking up further refugees on the way. Quite exhausting.

After the interruption for a drink there was another action-packed widescreen adventure. That one started with me cycling around some strange version of Welwyn Garden City with Mum before going through a shop (!) and ending up in a dispute between various members of the Eastenders and Casualty casts over a baby with much violence and running around car parks going on.

I think I need to get my brain more exhausted before sleep.

Today I have already called in at the doctors to sort out Joan's prescriptions that she forgot to update before she went away. Which meant I was late arriving but luckily managed to grab the last space in the car park. I can pick it up tonight so that means an early finish will also be required. Shame. Will be popping out over lunch too as (a) I have a credit card bill to pay and (b) I was too lazy to make any bread to enable me to make sandwiches.

Why can't people make their bloody minds up? About ten minutes after I posted yesterday Joan phoned to say it was all on again after all. So I am just back from dropping her off at the bus. And naturally missing her like crazy already - especially after finding a note from her in the fridge when I went to get a drink! Oh well, I know at least 4 of the people she is travelling with so I am sure they will have a good time.

Went around to Ma & Pa for lunch earlier - well, it is Mother's Day after all. Very nice and she liked her present.

Finished the Adventures of Dougal while I was sat outside Argos waiting for Joan to come out last night. Very good stuff, especially as most of it was actually written as book rather than tv scripts so worked wonderfully. Three more to read which I think are all tv transcripts but should still be just as enjoyable. Have now started The Riddle And The Knight by Giles Milton. Story of his search to prove or disprove the validity of a book written in the 1350s by Sir John Mandeville claiming to have travelled far and wide and proving the globular nature of the planet. Fascinating stuff so far and has prompted me to go searching for the original after only 20 pages (it is allegedly available as a penguin classic so should be fairly easy to track down).

Right, time to check the Llamasoft forum for a bit, watch The Black Hole on telly, have some dinner and then chill out for the evening playing games or something to stop me missing Joan too much.

Bloody cost-cutting managers only interested in making more money rather than the welfare of their staff. Or in other words, not only has Joan's visit to the conference thingy planned for Monday been cancelled but they have to cut back on all overtime etc. To the point that should a manager go over their allocation by 1 single solitary hour they get a warning - do it three times and they get the boot. Absolutely marvellous. OK, so I'm pleased she won't be away for the night but it just seems like another kick in the teeth. What can I say? The system sucks somedays.

So, what happened yesterday? Basically I was kinda too busy to scribble stuff for here! Had another 1 to 1 with Sonic in the morning which was fine. We also went through the information strategy proposals for roadside and on-bus information and found them sorely lacking in places. Then it was timetables all the way for the rest of the day.

Went shopping after I picked Joan up and came home with a stinking headache. That was still with me when I woke up this morning so I went back to bed after breakfast and seeing Joan off to work. I never like sending her in a taxi rather than taking her personally but I didn't really have much choice today - not only was the head throbbing but we also managed to drop off again after the alarm went and had about 30 mins to get her out! Hey ho.

Oh yes, forgot to mention the other day - finished the Darwin Awards. Very entertaining. Have now seriously regressed to childhood days and am reading the first of Eric Thompson's Magic Roundabout books - The Adventures of Dougal. Cracking stuff and further proof of why the tv series was so successful with adults and sprogs alike.

Right, time for a spot of lunch I think.

Talk about big cheesy grin time. Spent much of the morning riding around Park & Ride routes on a nice Nottingham City Transport articulated bus Ipswich Buses had borrowed for the day. Now that is what I call fun in a bus and I want them for Martlesham. Probably be defeated on cost, but it has to be tried. Damn thing went like a dream, fitted through all the gaps we thought might prove awkward and would turn on a sixpence. And IBL are desinging their new depot with them in mind as people won't go upstairs on double deckers and they have a couple of low bridges to contend with anyway on certain routes. Got to be a serious consideration really. I think the only issue will be to do with the fact that although they will hold 150 odd people only 50 get to sit down. And the people of Ipswich don't like standing up.

And no Sonic on the office today either so I'm able to get on with what needs doing.

Last night we relaxed and rather than the planning for who gets what in the will we are making next week we instead watched The Italian Job. Wonderful as always and much improved from DVD. I was surprised that Joan had never seen it before though. And almost a year since I last watched it - she is away for this year's Argos conference on Sunday night...

Now I have finished my part on the timetables that are changing on the 7th April I thought I could relax a teensy bit and just check them when they come back from Pindar. But no, Ipswich Buses are now changing the majority of their network in May. Back to the grindstone for me then.

Continued tiredness resulted in an early night last night but we still both feel fairly washed out this morning. Joan especially - probably a good thing she is off tomorrow. So nothing exciting to mention there.

Finally got the last missing timetable confirmed this morning so they are all off at Pindar being processed now. And also had a good number of them back too, so we do actually have one or two that are finished and ready to go to the public. Which is nice. And it is generally nice and peaceful in here this morning - lots of people are out at meetings or just generally having time off. And I'm just feeling happy and cheerful in the main as well. Must be something wrong somewhere!

Oh well, best get on with some work.

Yawn. Is it time for bed yet? Feel ever so slightly tired today and not entirely sure why. Had a good sleep and all last night (with no peculiar dreams to leave me confused on waking) and Tawny didn't come bouncing along until after the alarm either. Where does she get the energy from at such an unearthly time of the day? Must be something in the air.

Had a meeting in Halesworth this morning. Seem to have agreed to help produce (i.e. do most of the work for) a leaflet plugging the attractions accessible by bus between Halesworth and Southwold. These seem to be mainly pubs and churches so I might have my work cut out for me there. Still, it was nice to not be in the office again. I even managed to grab a cancelled pool car (well, the Corsa van) so didn't need to use mine. I wouldn't have minded the mileage claim and some decent music (in fact, any music as the radio was knackered) but I prefer to leave it safe and sound in the car park if I can. Particularly when there is such a slim chance of getting parked again on return. I still get to claim for the lunch I had on the way back but that isn't quite the same.

No more timetables to play with or thrills otherwise though in here. Well, not unless you count the availability of some folding chairs we can use for meetings or general lounging about on the patio area outside the new bit of office the policy team are in. Quite how we will keep that facility after the move across town is to be discussed!

And finally we have enough sunlight after 5.30 that I have started carting a book around with me again. So now when sat outside Argos waiting for Joan to finish up I can do something slightly interesting. And hopefully I will be able to get through the huge epics a bit quicker. Just reaching the end of a book before I forget how it started will be nice. I am sure there used to be more hours in the day when I was younger. Can't be any other explanation for how I used to read all the time and race through books in a couple of days and still get other things done. Either that or books are getting longer. Which is true in some ways but perhaps I am just choosing fatter books. Trouble is I find quality as well as quantity in them so can't even say length just means waffle and go back to slimline tomes.

Blimey. Only eleven hours after starting the process I now have a working Norton Anti Virus 2003. OK, so I took a few hours out in the middle to go to Colchester but even so that was a bit extreme. Must remember to just buy a damn disk or get broadband next time it says I need a whole new version!

Well, that wasn't too bad as hygenist visits go. At least she thought my mouth was in pretty good shape and I don't need to go a few more times before it is safe to do the surgical bits. So that has saved a quid or two. And I've got lots of strange interdental brushes of assorted sizes to be playing with from now on. Groovy teeth a step closer.

Met Joan in town on my way back and we had another monday lunch in Puccinos (and I had another New Yorker!) and then came home to a nice surprise - a cheque from Ma & Pa which will cover about half the cost of the work. Nice. Any other contributions gratefully received.

As I write this the PC is approaching halfway in downloading the latest version of Norton Anti-Virus. Seems the version I have is no longer supported and I need a new one. Which would be OK if it wasn't a 35Meg download. Which is likely to take at least another hour yet. Why didn't I just go to PC world and by the latest edition? Will I ever learn? Still, this way should be cheaper (thank the Lord we don't pay per minute for internet calls) and anything is better than the worry I went through before when we did catch something nasty.

Have now started reading the first Darwin Awards book as compiled and annotated by Wendy Northcutt. Always good for a laugh at the stupidity of others. And it was cheap in the Waterstones sale.

We managed to watch two films last night, both of which made stunning use of computer graphics in their own way. First up was Stuart Little 2. I admit I was sceptical when we watched the first one, but find I can recommend them both highly. The characterisation is superb and the animation even better so you really can believe in the little fellow. And of course the sort of bubble the Little's inhabit just makes it all the more joyous an experience. Not that I want them to keep milking the bandwaggon (is that possible?) but I wouldn't say no to more if they can keep the quality up.

The other was Tron. The graphics there blew me away 20 odd years ago when I first saw them and in many ways still do. OK, so technology has moved on, but they just feel right for the period the film inhabits. And even the plot didn't seem as stupid as memory had painted it to be...

Of course neither of those explains why I then went on to dream about tracing the graves of long lost relatives, visiting a bunch of Libraries and taking photos of trains. But then should I expect them to?

Not much else to say other than I'm glad I'm not at work again. These four day weeks could get to be quite a bargain.

Feeling pretty down today. Several reasons I can think of. The 2 am visit to Argos after an alarm call is probably the most likely cause though, as despite some good sleep before and after I still feel tired. Did have some interesting dreams. One was obviously a re-tread of Jean Auel's Ice Age prehistory but went a bit awry when a jeep turnd up for us to use. The other involved me working on a new tv show with Louis Theroux of weird weekends and obsucre interviews fame. We were inthe process of visiting a bunch of numbered post boxes and using them to post things to people with corresponding house numbers. I'm not sure why we were doing this, but we were travelling in a Ferrari so that was nice. I was also trying to sort out and produce some sort of PArk & Ride publication at the same time.

Then of course Joan is working again today so I'm missing her. And despite the sun shining like anything it is still cold out and not conducive to much.

Went down to the Market after dropping Joan off, and despite almost an hour of wandering around came back empty handed. Just acres of junk and tat on display for the most part. Even the plants looked half dead for a change (other than the ones in tubs of course, which was not what I was looking for). I guess I could have perhaps picked up a couple of enjoyable books if I wasn't so damn fussy when it comes to buying second hand ones but like a Leopard I'm not into changing my spots. So that experience left me jaded too.

I did get as far as unlocking the shed to cut the grass but then decided against it. Despite the nice bright sun half the lawn is still in shadow and soaking. I would really like it to dry out a bit more before I go for the shorter trim. Not that I know anything about looking after a lawn really, just going on some sort of gut reaction.

And I'm not really looking forward to tomorrow's dentist trip to Colchester either. Especially as Joan has another appointment of her own and thus can't come with me.

So I think I will go for a snooze now and try to get cheered up later when Joan is home again.