African nightmare one-time Mormon

Definitely not firing on all cylinders once again. Another day, another lunch date, this time at a charming little tea shop called The Victoria in Bergerac. Gorgeous slabs of quiche-style tarts and salad, and a fine apple crumble was most welcome.

The weather is cold and damp, and I am gearing myself up for a walk along the Dordogne to blow away the cobwebs. Anything is worth a try – my head feels like it’s stuffed with cotton wool and alien-gunk, and I’m generally at a bit of a low ebb for the first time in recent memory. I’ve just been drawing up my plans for February and I find that I am practically fully-booked. No time for getting maudlin.

My CD tip of the week: Misery Is A Butterfly by Blonde Redhead – I’ve had it in my pile of albums for ages but it hasn’t made an impact until today. Now I’m addicted.

By the way, congratulations to K&I who were very quick to recognise Squeeze’s Cool For Cats lyrics posted a few days ago. A bottle of Pecharmant will be winging its way to The Lot before very long! How about this then, which amongst other things (like trying to name all the countries in Africa on a blank map in a O'level geography exam I had forgotten to revise for) kept me awake by going around and around in my brain in a dreadful feverish and restless parade of absurdity last night (nearly got stuck in that sentence):

His hand dives in his pocket
For his handkerchief
Pearls of sweat on his collar
His pulse-beat seems so brief

Yeah - easy. Well, as Chris says, it's only easy if you know the answer, or if you have access to Google.