A dog bark and the sound of a bucket

"I really ought to learn how to play this" said my boy as I took this shot. In the meantime it's good to pose with. We did quite a few pictures with The Dizzle for a homework project - his mum got some excellent ones of him playing with his football.

Spent the whole day at home finishing off the board papers with an on / off uncertainty about whether I had to go into the office for a short 6pm meeting which mercifully I managed to get moved to tomorrow morning. Discovered a big mistake in one of the board papers at quarter to eight when I was doing the final proof reading and have to run around tomorrow sorting that out. Printers web site not working for uploading the finals so had to send them over in five email batches. This must all sound very boring and it is. When life seems trivial I often think of a famous Ted Hughes poem and the line

a cool small evening shrunk to a dog bark and the sound of a bucket

because it reminds me of how small our worlds are and how we get wrapped up in them. They can be small and inherently beautiful, so it's not a judgement. Today has been small and inherently stressful. Equally so for TSM who is just exhausted and really needs to rest and let go, but she is a very ethical and dedicated person and keeps going back for more.

Favourite moment of the day was seeing the daily mirror front page with a tombstone and "RIP NHS 1948 - 2012 - Killed by the coalition" on it. Made me laugh in a gallowsy humour sort of way.

Did cook a nice supper. Got some fresh cod loins, laid a strip of smoked salmon on each one, covered with cheesy breadcrumbs, drizzled over some garlic oil and baked in the oven...served with new potatoes, griddled courgettes and purple sprouting broccoli; nice, simple and tasty.

Absolutely shattered now. Exercising just about finished me off. Too tired even to open a bottle of wine, plus I have a personal rule never to drink alcohol when tired and / or unhappy. Good days are worth drinking to, but you never make things better with booze, you just make them more so...