Having set myself up with a good cigar on Monday evening the week has been beset with worry on account of my failure to bring a box of chocolate into work to help everybody else celebrate the birthday.

It matters not that September has been a prodigious month so far and that every day there has been a fair selection to be had from the other birthdays that have been celebrated. I have felt a prick of guilt as the greedy hand has been dipped into the box of Celebrations, the Roses and the chocolate chip cookies.

This evening I have started on making amends and a good twenty minutes has been spent putting together an assemblage of sugar, butter,eggs, flour and raisins. These have all been stirred into a half pint of Guinness and are due to be spending the next hour or so cooking slowly and filling the house with a good smell.

Baking with beer. There can be no complaint.

Let us hope I remember to take it all out of the oven and bring it with me tomorrow morning with a sharp knife.