June 1st

Today so I was woken (as is now the routine) at 6:20 by two alarms working in unison to irritate us. Once Beth had wobbled off to work I dragged myself out of bed to start my day. Our mortgage should've switched today so, after tea and a light brekkie of muesli & juice, I checked out my on-line banking (how did we ever survive before this marvelous invention) only to find that the cocking Chelsea had taken the payment and not the Halifax. I experienced the sinking feeling that occurs when faced with the prospect of dealing with the incompetence of financial institutions. As it happened it was pretty easy to sort out, though an unnecessary diversion from my mornings’ activities.

Banking sorted I turned my attention to the real matter at hand, my dog’s birthday. He’s 17 you know! 17. That’s bloody old for a dog but he is a terrier and they’re renowned for being stubborn, feisty little buggers who hang on in there for a while. Not like these soppy, personality free dogs that just seem to give up at 12. He’s been taken ill a few times (he had a cancerous lump removed from his jaw recently) and we’re not expecting him to make his next birthday which makes me indescribably sad.
He’s been an absolute joy from the moment we bought him home from XXXXX in 19XX. He’s my mate. I love him and I’ll miss him so when he goes, but he does have to go and frankly at what works out as close to 119 in ‘dog age’ I don’t think we could really expect him to last much longer. He still jumps about like a puppy sometimes but nowadays he needs a kip afterward.

The balcony’ is coming on well and it shouldn’t be long before It’s finished and fully useable. Sitting out on my balcony watching the World go by, gazing at the changeable sea and listening to the crack-heads across the road argue is one of the high points of my Summers.

Today is also my mate Dan’s birthday so I boarded a train to London to go meet him in Hoxton Square for a few beers. The journey into London was mercifully free of incident though I’d forgotten how expensive it is. At £18 for a return it does make a trip to London a bit of a bore. It was a great night though and it was wonderful to see my mates again after our four months away, though Beth & I did get rather excitable when relating our tales.

Tea drunk: 7 mugs
Films watched: Land of the Dead
Birthdays: Pat & Dan