Dick Turpin

An unwanted hat-trick. Three days in a row in the car but needs must, the car has to go for its MOT today. L asks me to take some kit for her in the car, for when I meet her later but I don’t want to leave it at the garage. So once I've taken the car in, I then walk the rest of the way to work with a girlie bag over my shoulder.

MOT, service, new tyres, new brake pads, new pollen filter (whatever that is and believe me it doesn’t work, even when replaced, if it’s supposed to stop me sneezing that is), new kitchen sink etc etc = expensive. All routine stuff says Dick Turpin as he asks me into input my pin number.

A dog which went missing in Cornwall in February has been found 550 miles away in Haddington. Blimey. She looks very good for 17, regular 550 mile jogs obviously does the trick and she skipped back into their car without a twinge of arthritis. Must be on at least two joint sticks a day, I must start taking them myself.

At least being in the car enables me to get to the pool a bit earlier, where they’ve obviously switched off the pool heating to save money. As the weather is nice they’re evidently hoping no one will notice. Well I noticed, it was bloody freezing and I like the cold. The girl who jumps in after me, without first dipping a toe in, emerges from the water gasping for breath and promptly turns blue. So it’s not just me. I look up to the temperature display, 30 degrees it says, which is what it always says. Hmmm, always thought that sign was a sham.

Then I’m off to meet L at a book launch. Cultured or what? I must add, at this point, that I got seven out of seven on the BBC’s ‘7 questions on GCSE English literature’, whereas L only got four. Ha. There may have been a few inspired guesses in there, I always was very good at sussing out multiple-choice questions, but nonetheless it says I’m a bookworm. L really ought to read more.

The book launch is a session with Patrick Gale, who’s ‘Notes from an Exhibition’ I recently read (aurally) and liked, together with Mark Mills, a new author I wasn’t aware of. They are good and effectively interview each other as well as read from their respective books. It's something I’ve not been to before and quite interesting. L has bought both their new books, signed of course, so if she rates either of them, I can borrow them, or wait for the CD to come out.

This all makes me a bit late for dog training; yes it’s a busy sort of evening. So both the boys get a reduced run out and MD is a bit of a pain chasing other dogs. Best not tell L, she’ll threaten to get the knife out again.

I get home to see the ‘box of drugs’ that Daughter emailed me to say had been delivered for me. She’s such a charmer. At least she’s not opened it and started on them. It’s actually our new mini hi-fi and very dinky it is too.