Saturday PM

I'm just knocking together something with a vague Spanish inspiration behind it - then it's 4 cans of beer and 'The Woman In Black'.

Clear blue sky all day, but very autumnal - hot and cold at the same time.

Had a great day - early doors I wandered into town, there was a 'gaggle' of old women outside the church yard on Castle Hill - they had spotted a parakeet in the branches of a tree and were captivated "you should see Regent's Park - the skies are thick with them".

I 'did' the charity shops, but decided against buying anything unless it was perfect. Loads of really good quality menswear, mostly too large for me. The HARC shop on Cambridge Road is new, so does not smell of sweat yet. The woman who works there knows me as 'someone who checks the labels" and whispered in my ear that 'all the good stuff is coming out at 2pm ' - she wasn't kidding - someone larger than me must have donated a MASSIVE amount of flashy menswear, mostly T.M.Lewin and Nicole Farhi - none of it was 'me' so I demurred. The Heart Fondation shop had a full rail of X5L Barbour and Ben Sherman shirts - who knew they made them so big!!!

People in charity shops have their own smell, one man reeked of piss, another of Old Spice, and another of alcohol, all before 11am

I picked up a pair of very expensive Ralph Lauren sunglasses for 70% off at Debenhams - they really suit me - end of season is always the best time for stuff like that - managed to get almost £100 off.

Spent a bit of time in HMV early - but had to leave, banging acid house at 10am is not commensurate with good shopping - I returned later and they had moved on to The Vaccines, much better. I also realised that there is a critical flaw in DVD selling, spine facing - they are impossible to browse, it's all visual white noise - managed a headache just perusing A-G.

Picked up some cedar balls - you can't buy mothballs anymore - and I wanted to pack some stuff away. I also bought some large plastic boxes to store clothes and stuff, perfect for the loft. I have stuff that's too good to sell or send to the charity shop - so it's going to the loft for a while.

I went into PoundStretcher - horrible experience, airless and over priced - full of shite and strange people. When I was in ESK looking at the dog food, a woman came in wearing exactly the same clothes she would have worn in 1979 ( obviously a Quatro fan ) - she had the same hair too, and a full face of tattoo's - including several tears that suggest she is a mass murderer, apparently.

back home, I did a lot of cleaning - mostly my bedroom, which is a special hiding place for dog hair. I was at the COOP earlier to buy bread, and an elderly woman I know was on - so I chatted to her for a while - she used to have a deerhound, called Heather, who died last year - and despite having two pedigree bedlingtons ( lovely dogs ) has never got over the loss. Heather was a beautfull dog, and wonderfully affectionate - she was 14 when she died. This particular woman is slighly eccentric, but very warm and friendly. The girl on the till looked at me a bit funny, in a 'she's a mad 'un' kinda way. I was very close to telling her to fuck off, and pointing out that this is a woman who spent her entire life working as an IC nurse in the NHS and now lives in 'less than' genteel poverty on a crappy pension.

I have to work tomorrow - but I don't mind, today was pretty good, assisted partly by not really having to deal with anyone.