Drive past a barber called Front Line Cuts every day. Always half expect to see George Osborne doing a skin fade.

Erudite Hanwell fan alerts me the name is taken from the Brixton riots. This particular barber is in Acton and I think predominantly Afro Caribbean.

cousins friend went to view a house yesterday and the estate agent fell down the stairs 😭😭

Futbology but for church services. Presbyterians (a). Tough place to go on a Sunday night.

One good thing this government has done, by killing confidence in the housing market is to stop Laura incessantly viewing properties. Got to take the silver linings.

43 today and feeling it. 6 nappy changes for Maddie in the night and several where’s my catty. Along with general rolling and screaming on and off for hours. Both girls have been like this. Walking around with 0.5 litre of Monster like an Eastern European labourer.

When I was at school in the pre internet era, and we had less media my best mate and I loved ‘The Police - behind the music’ on VH1. We’d repeat bits. Sad little blokes. One bit was where Sting says of Every Breath You Take “and *I* wrote it!” This is our 9/11.

First birthday without my dad. I remember last year on this day my mum telling me my dad wouldn’t be going home for a bit as hoped, another infection. Remember the disappointment and the sense of dread. It did turn out to be the beginning of the last couple of months of life.

Mum came round this afternoon. Called me when she got home and she did get quite upset now it was just us talking. Firsts are worse for her.

I’m a cultured guy. This present is right up my street.

Maddie got into the soft play carrying a bit of food. Her 3 year old Japanese friend Honokha immediately pointed to the no food sign and called to her mum. You can see how they run such an ordered society. Rules, cleanliness. I see the mum sweeping up under their cafe table.

The nursery Maddie is about to start 3 mornings a week is in Acton, quite a big cohort of Japanese kids. Hopefully some of it will rub off and she’ll be less feral.

Of the birthday wishes on Facebook about 3/4 were non customised click of a button automatic jobs. I still appreciate them. I do that too. Mostly I don’t do it at all. So, digital glass houses and all.

It’s like when George Michael was hyping the crowd during Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert

First day back. Half day only.

Shook the hand of a mum I’ve known for three years today, after summer. If you’re on hugging terms fine. But a handshake? Oddball behaviour.

Impotently grokking how long an ice cream van is allowed to stop for in Ealing. I’m never doing anything about it.

Scientists have proven this is the sort of thing men my age physically have to click on. Hard wired.