Match Abandoned

Turn down L, I have to take the car in for a service. As I'm leaving Doggo is just coming back from his walk. He's distraught at me deserting him; you’d have thought he’d have got used to me going to work by now. L reckons he refused his treats and sat sulking in the living room after I'd gone but I don't think that's anything unusual, he's a fickle dog.

Drop the car off at the garage and walk the rest of the way to work. I'm a little late getting to work but that's mainly because I was sitting in the car laughing at Derby City Council trying to defend ‘ghost town’ Derby since the new shopping centre opened. Not that it's really any laughing matter, retailers outside the centre are experiencing falls in trade of around 80%. Many won't see in 2008.

Seems that the council even let the shopping centre owners Westfield buy the huge building previously occupied by Debenhams, presumably to get them to move to the new centre. Of course now Westfield have just boarded it up, there's no incentive for them to re-let the place as it would just take business from their ‘baby’.

The council have even increased the rents of the shops left outside the centre, pure money grabbing but pointless because if all the shops shut, which now seems likely, they’ll get less money. You would have thought they would have cut their rents, at least short term, until the shops can build back up some trade. Madness. Totally clueless, a typical council.

Not going to the pub today, my colleague has forgot we’d agreed to start going weekly again and he’s not brought his car in. News from the garage, is that ours needs a new ‘pollen filter’. I didn’t even know I had one.

Squash and my opponent is complaining that he's stuck with his diet, reduced his alcohol and even done a bit of running but all that's happened is that his now weight now varies by about several lbs each day. He says that can't be normal. I understand that’s perfectly normal if you’re a woman.

Our match is abandoned part way through because he smashed his racquet against the wall when I won game five to bring the score back to 3-2. I was just getting warmed up as well. We retire the pub where the beer range is very dull this week, I settle on a Batemans XB.

Get home where L has already got the wine open, I join her for a glass or three. She's also cooked a fantastic spicy rice dish.

When we retire to bed, L is struggling to stay awake so I turn down her kind offer and spend half an hour reading instead. Then I change my mind which comes as a bit of a surprise to L.