It was my 40th birthday on Wednesday. I went out for a meal in the evening to Yak Yeti Yak. Julia brought this helium balloon, and made me close my eyes and sprinkled glitter in the shape of '40' all over the table! I got a brilliant card, and excellent …

On the 12th December, we went along to the Bath Science café, to watch Prof. Chris Rhodes give a talk on What Happens When We Run Out Of Oil? We actually managed to get a seat, these events are always packed out. Perhaps it should be moved to bigger premises …

The greatest sight in the world, a cream tea waiting to be eaten! This is at Charlotte's, with Lou in the background.

If I had regular readers, they'd know that I think that Alastair Reynolds is a genius. I read his series all out of order. Reading Redemption Ark, I gradually realized that I'd read the succeeding book in the series, Absolution Gap. I'm not very good at navigating around the country …

At the work pre-Christmas drinks evening, Emily painted the nails of my right hand black! Very glossy.

I picked up a random book from the library. Bloodmind by Liz Williams. The book appealed to me, and I'm trying to work out why. Whether or not it would appeal to others in the same way, I don't know. I think the atmosphere that Williams creates, a kind of …

Lovely house :)Yes, please post inside pictures. No, I'm not looking to rent a room, just curious!

Nicely done! (I had to do that once, too. Mine wasn't nearly as neat)

It's always interesting to see what one keeps when they purge a room, house, or garage for whatever reason. Before I do any of that, i ask my kids to see if they want anything - you never know what odd thing contains a vivid memory for someone else.

I used some powerful spray stuff to clean the cooker, and it started to strip the writing from the surface, so I stopped and took a photo.

I've written what I think it should say on the photo below. I'll refer back to this if I get confused when cooking …