Picked up a pack of four dahlia tubers at Fortnum’s just now for £1.29. They’ve been a bit ill-used in their recent past, but seemed firm enough, so they are now in pots of compost in the conservatory. A lot of bits had broken off, so they are now in a seed tray in case they feel like springing into life. And if none of them do anything, they won’t have broken the bank. Oh, and the mushroom pack we started last weekend is starting into life and safely installed under the stairs.

And in case you needed further proof of the banality of one’s existence, today’s triumph was getting the laundry out on the line for the first time this year, said rotary line having undergone running repairs last weekend. Sad or wot? But I’m inordinately pleased at not having had to run the tumble dryer.

A colleague and I did a couple of sessions yesterday for Martyn’s ‘legal secs’. We ran a sentencing exercise, and it was a little disconcerting to learn how many of these bright young things are hangers, floggers, bang-'em-up-and-throw-away-the-key merchants. But with a sheet of hard facts and sentencing guidelines in front of them, many turned into social workers manquées. Go figure.