Watching the unfolding growth of spring day by day, as my back garden has been transformed from a bombsite into a botanical garden. Real easy to do, just find a girlfriend who is a landscape architect.

Being surrounded with angst-ridden and stressed Frenchmen and being oneself at peace. It's that footie again, the trains are all delayed, and I don't care much!

...one month later... [Pablo] Is it brown and crunchy yet? And do you still have the same girlfriend?

[Pen] I am happy to report that thanks to frequent borrowings of the neighbour's hosepipe (with his blessing I hasten to add), verdant greenness is still evident. And even after 10 days in Italy together 24/7, the girlfriend is also present and correct. Great summer!

Knowing that today’s 36C temperature is the last of the very hot weather for now and tomorrow will be in the 20s.

Hah! It's gone back over 30 again! Proper Aussie summer....

Finally getting rid of a bit of food stuck in your teeth Goodbye blackberry seed. Thanks to you that was a very long hour.

Opening a new Avalon Hill game and punching and sorting counters. Since AH games have been oop since the early 1980s this involves finding "like new" "unpunched" collectors' items and ruining their collectibility in a punch-and-sort-and-bag fest. I love the smell of the cardboard as it comes off the matrix.

Crosby, Stills and Nash. Some people say it doesn't stand the test of time. They are wrong.