Catch up

Bank holiday Saturday - down to London for economic therapy; but apart from coffee, didn't end up buying much at all. Walked the Regent's Canal from Regent's Park back to King's X, stopping at Camden Lock for lunch, in the one sprinkle of rain we had. Cygnets on the canal, but no ducklings.

Monday, I mow and rake and mow the lawn again, half filling the green bin.

I've taken the week off as it's half term, and for the end of the week we go over to Salisbury for a short break. The cats get their first visit to a new cattery (Angelite in Hardwick) as our long-term standard place has closed after several changes of owner. Smoke is greeted as being the ghost returned of one of the owners' cats who died earlier in the year.

I spend a lot of time just roaming the Avon valley, with occasional pauses to sit and write (back to low-tech pencil and paper, as my Handspring's colour display just doesn't hack it in bright sunlight, even with the wick turned up) more of the current fan-fic endeavours. And stopping at convenient local hostelries for refreshment. There are plenty more cygnets - and ducklings this time - on the river here. One time, I'm sittign scribbling, and a few enterprisign ducklings come and sniff around for crumbs - but I have to disappoint them.

In the afternoon, the Cathedral close is a nice place to linger under the shsed of the trees, and listen to the concert rehearsals.

In the evenings, we see Sidi Goma - the devotional music of an African-descended Indian Sufi community, music that starts off soft and slow and then builts into a frantic beat; and by total contrast, the performance Shooting Shakespeare by Forkbeard Fantasy - a manic play/film/extravaganza, loosely based on the early days of cinema and its rivalry with the theatre.

I would recommend either of them.