Friday

Lovely!

It's threatening rain - but I think we'll escape it. Very hot again yesterday - I kept indoors.

I had to go for a briefing with a client last night - who is also a friend, we had dinner and were joined at the table by James Brown - one of my all time heroes of publishing. I was really cool - but ended up telling him that JACK was the best thing that happened to men's publishing in the last 50 years. He was quite cool about it - nice enough - but the conversation was a bit "so - I said to Michael Caine... ". It was nice eating outside on the terrace - I had grey mullet - I pretended I'd had it before... but I hadn't.

The heat is bringing out all the bad tattoos - I saw the most amazing example yesterday. Young man in his 20's - built like a scaffolder - swaggering about the village - noose and rope tattoo'd around his nick. Clarse!

Really looking forward to the Opening ceremony later - the only thing that could ruin it for me would be any participation by David Beckham. Enjoyed Mit Romney making a twat of himself. Oddly enough - Ed Milliband was in Hastings yesterday - they kept it quiet.

This little bit of good weather has put everyone in a great mood - the whole town seems relaxed and good natured, but oddly quiet.

One downside. There is a woman I don't like that I had some dealings with a few years ago - I think she's a bit of a bully and quite selfish. When the good weather started she was out on the West Hill one evening with her children - I saw her talking to another woman. I've seen her every night since then - obviously having spent the day there - and the crowd has expanded to about a dozen of them - they started with blankets and a picnic - and now seem to have fully furnished the hill with chairs and tables, sunshades and alfresco dining. She's out there with a bottle of wine in one had and a face full of reduced finger food in the other. I hope she cleans up after herself. One of my mates has a house with a front garden in a really nice part of central Hastings, as do his neighbours. She's an old lush and spends all her time out there in the sun, drinking lambrini and jabbering away with her mates - all drunk, singing My Way at 3am. I dunno how he's managed to keep his cool.. neither does he.

I somehow split my lip on the inside last week and it won't heal properly. very annoying.