Sunday

8am. One of my neighbours is using am angle grinder - the dogs ( and all the seagulls ) are really stressed. In conversation with a woman with two greyhounds - I discovered that I am the only person who gets attacked by seagulls on Clive Vale. I had assumed it was the dogs that stressed them out - but as one of hers looks exactly like one of mine - it seems... it's me. Later that day - a man came up to us and said "didn't I see those dogs being walked by a woman yesterday" in a suspicious and confrontational tone ( if I was a dog napper - I'd have probably not hung about " - "no" - I said " Different lady, Different dog" - bit of Freud there for him - left his as confused as I was.

Went into town yesterday and found it very boring. Bought two dog bed liners in union jack print and a catering pack of ground black pepper. At £6 - it contains about £30 quid worth of pepper. I was pleased. I wore the Paul Smith shirt that I had bought on Friday for £2. It's a much better shape than any other shirt I own - cannot understand how a cheap shirt is such a bad shape - why not just copy a good one.

The papers have forgotten that they scoffed and sneered at the Olympics and are now all over the place - whipped up in a 'Britain is Great' frenzy - we haven't even won anything yet.

Made an attempt to look at my tax returns yesterday - this involved putting a large number of receipts and unopened envelopes into a shoe box. Then closing it.

Cleaned the upstairs - massive amount of dog hair everywhere, considering getting some rooms hermatically sealed. Then I cleaned the rest of the house.

I was so tired yesterday I was good for nothing - found it really hard to concentrate and could only perform basic tasks like cleaning and filling the washing machine. I managed to spend an hour folding shirts. Have had some disturbing news about how the windows at the back of my house were fitted which means that the changes I had planned to the studio and bathroom might not be able to happen - in fact, looks increasingly likely that I may have to swop them back again. Not happy about that.

Cleaning inside a wardrobe ( and checking for moths ) I found a raincoat that I bought 20 years ago - really good coat, still looks brand new ( it was VERY expensive ) and still suits me. Was just mulling over the wisdom of buying good clothes when I realised that if I did the same thing now - I'll be buying clothes to wear after I'm retired. That depressed me. Mind you - if I live to 85, I've nearly 40 years to fill. How the fuck am I going to fund that? I expect my future will end up like 'The Road' - myself and loads of other old people wandering the motorways in rags, eating weevils and huddled around braziers.

According to the BBC, 'Three people and a woman' were rescued from the sea yesterday. 'AND' a woman - do they not count as people now?