I'm sure I had my dinner watching something on TV

We're watching Stephen Fry's programme about language on i-player, whilst chowing down on a lovely plate of pasta. I cooked it, everyone said it was delicious, and I felt pathetically proud!

Fiona and I have just been for another long walk. Nathan stayed at home to rehearse his monktastic cabaret with Jem and Ian in our bedroom!

We talked as we walked about Westminster Council's decision to start charging for parking on its streets in the evenings. At the moment it's possible to drive into central London and park on any single yellow line from 6.30pm for free, which has always been good news for Theatreland - particularly musicians, who are able to drive in for late night gigs, which finish after the tubes have stopped running.  I'm not sure the council have been able to come up with a plausible explanation for their decision, so we can only assume it's simply another stealth tax and wonder what they'll try to charge us for next...

Hundreds of thousands of people have signed petitions to the council - all of which have fallen, unsurprisingly, on deaf ears. Complain these days and someone simply shrugs their shoulders and blames the recession. Successive governments strove to lower child poverty, improve our health system and educate the masses, yet now I hear MPs almost taking delight in saying that, within the next five years, all the good work could well have been undone. Sometimes I wonder how MPs would behave if the stakes were considerably higher - not for us, but for them! Mind you, I often find myself wondering, when watching the X Factor, particularly when someone says "she literally sang for for her life" what would happen if the loser each week was routinely taken away and ritually slaughtered! Then they literally WOULD be singing for their lives! 

350 years ago, and Pepys spent the day in bed with a "cataplasm" to his "codd." The jury is out when it comes to what this actually means, but it's bound to refer to the bruise he had on his testicles. A cod piece, of course, was named after the part of the anatomy it protected. 

Whilst Pepys was in bed, a number of his extended family came for lunch, and by all accounts had a very jolly time without him! 

I'm reminded of the birthday party of my friend Moira, who was so ill, she couldn't get out of bed. At one stage we all filed into her darkened room bearing gifts. I still remember her sad, confused, slightly-green face, peering out from underneath the covers whilst, for some reason, we all sang Away In A Manger!