Home alone for two evenings with the kids and still in one piece. The cats have disappeared and the laptop is still working and the kitchen table is covered in the mess made by the eldest two’s art. Random art seems to involve random mess to be cleared up later.

Home alone is a good opportunity to stock up on new music to help stave off any chance of boredom. Yesterday I picked up Roy Harper’s new album. He is 75 and still going strong.

He is one of those names that lurked around the edges of the 1970’s, singing with Pink Floyd on Wish you were here and giving his name to Led Zeppelin’s  Hats of to Roy Harper but I have never really been able to get much of a grip on him.

Years ago I bought a second hand copy of HQ, partly because I liked the cover but more because I wanted to be able to listen to him singing When an old cricketer leaves the crease. That was probably all I listened to. Last year it was re-released on CD and I spotted a copy in Probe and listened to the rest of it and found myself enjoying it.

I listened to the new album on the train down to Nottingham this morning. Having done my small amount of work it helped set me off to a good deep sleep. That is a good thing.

Back in Liverpool this afternoon there wasn’t time to go back to work but I had to into Sport’s Direct to pick up a pair of Speedo’s which for some reason are required for son. It is not really the season for picking up swimwear. The good thing was they were all in the sale. The bad thing was they men’s and women’s were all tucked down near the floor and I found myself pulling out pink bikini bottoms trying to work out which sex they were for. Sport’s Direct is not my natural habitat.

Walking back to the car I managed to pass The Ship in the Bottle and picked up a couple of bottles of golden hoppy ale to go with supper.

Supper was meatballs in tomato sauce and spaghetti. It went down very well.