Saturday!

Quiet day so far. Anne, who is staying, has disappeared off somewhere and by now should have embarked on her first 6 hour shift at the Daily Express, so I don't expect to see her till 10pm. Poor old dog hasn't had a walk yet. Plan to take her and the girls down to the common for some fresh air at tea time. Also plan to pop down to the mall to get that purple sheep jumper from Primark for one of the girls, whichever one wants it most. Possibly Algo, as Log dibsed the last of the mac and cheese with hot dog sausages cut up into it, for lunch. Much to Algo's chagrin. However, she had toasted cinnamon and raisin bagels with smoked salmon and cream cheese instead, which she seemed to enjoy. I had leftover mushroom risotto, leftover liver and bacon and leftover rocket salad. The dog had some of the gravy. Planning chilli con carne for dinner. Peeved because I can't find the recipe for coffee ice cream that I used the last time. Curses! All the rest either use instant coffee granules (blegh), require ground coffee (because I have a coffee grinder), want you to make the custard from scratch (seriously), or use store-bought custard (in principle disapproval, since I know there is a recipe out there somewhere that doesn't require it).

Weather not so nice today. But as far as I'm concerned every day is sunshine and rainbows BECAUSE I'M ON SABBATICAL!

Reading Aravind Adiga's White Tiger, which won the Booker Prize in 2008 and is very good. The sort of book that makes me think I could never be a writer, because this guy is so much cleverer, more imaginative, more empathetic, skilled and knowledgeable than I am. And he's not even super-famous! But he's about a million times better than bloody Martin Amis and all that self-satisfied crew.

Saw a super BBT poster in Smith's yesterday. Was going to buy it for Spam's room, but thought I would wait till he comes home at Xmas. Only 2.5 months to go!