Saturday

Both my Mac and iPhone decided to update their software yesterday - my computer now calls itself 'Richard' and appears to be self aware, happily chatting away with a number of other devices, usually going quiet when I enter the room.

Worked really hard yesterday - and back in the office again next week. Quite enjoyed it - made good progress and just got on with things.

Have reflected, somewhat, on the very difficult project we've been working on. Their head office is in a small side street off The Strand in Central London, very tense and 'hot house' - it's a difficult sector to work in and they are all very motivated and political. London is pretty full-on at the best of times - I'm so lucky to be able to sit here, on the South Coast - where I can stand in one spot and see France and Beachy Head at the same time - with everything I need a short bike ride away.

One of my friends went to a local pub last night, it was quite quiet - there was a bloke playing records, so they started dancing - all 5 of them. The bloke was Don Letts, they had to post photographs on Facebook before I believed them.

As my meds have finished, I had 2 pints after work with my client and her mum, quite enjoyed myself.

I'm undecided about today, it's very early - I may go into town - or I may stay at home and clean the house - it's going to be sunny all day... The nicest thing I've done recently was sit in a cafe on my own and have a cooked breakfast - it's a possibility. I may just have another big clear out - I have a lot of 'good' clothes from the 90's that I think I may sell, and I want to start decorating again soon. I'm still not settled into the studio - and I have accounting to catch up on - all in good time. I might go to Eastbourne - they have a much older demographic, and as a result - the selection in the HMV is much more interesting.

I was told last night that the Top Man/Shop in Hastings is to close - I'm not surprised, it's a rubbish store - and most people go to Eastbourne for cheap fashion clothes, where there is a giant Primark, and they are about to open a huge new River Island ( or is it a Top Shop - can't tell the difference ) - the worry is that Debenhams may close too - also a rubbish store. General retail in Hastings is crap - the shopping center is staggeringly badly designed and very ugly, and because most people have cars - they gravitate to the out of town stores first, making it hard for retail to survive in the center of town. One major store closure could create a domino effect that really breaks the back of this town - a bit of a disaster, on the other hand - if Primark came here - then people would probably spend money on the rest of their shopping - and prop everything else up.  From what I understand, there is no suitable property for Primark ( again - the result of our staggeringly shite shopping center design ) - so it looks a bit grim. The M&S is slowly growing it's food offer and taking over the clothing space - crushing it against one wall.

They built this shopping center on the site of a meadow cricket ground, strange to think that we once had this in the middle of hastings - they might as well put it back. All that remains is this crappy statue.....