hmmnnn ... I feel quite good today, not my usual grumpy self. Hope i'm not coming down with something.

It's a beautiful day, hot and sunny but with a strong breeze. I've just come in from the garden. It's a shared garden and as I was hanging out some towels on the washing line a sprightly silver-haired man came out of my neighbour's flat and walked towards me clutching an old Nikon SLR camera. We exchanged polite greetings as he passed. I watched as he lowered himself onto the grass until he was lying flat out, and began photographing the sea of white daisies that have sprung up since the grass was last cut a couple of weeks ago. This is not normal behaviour in our garden, so I'm interested. I think I know exactly what he's doing, how he's working with the depth of field to soften the sea of white, green and yellow in the background while bringing a small group of flowers into sharp focus in the foreground. After a while he gets up again and we get talking. He's called Van, a retired environmentalist from Cape Town on his way with his wife to the classical music festival in Orkney, where Peter Maxwell-Davies will be celebrating his 70th birthday. He tells me he has 35,000 slides at home. His wife comes out and joins us, and she has the same attractiveness that you can only find in people who remain perpetually young at heart, who keep the flame alive. He points the Nikon at me and takes a shot. 'Just for the records', he says laughing.

Hey! It's Elaine's birthday today. Here, have a gigantic hug all the way from Scotland!

Oh, and if you want a laugh follow the link on the right to Giant Nylon Hair Net's three 'women of spam' yesterday.