This week is going to be a horrible week. The Hands On section should be ready for proofing, which is 43 pages to start with. Then there’s a monitor group test to edit, some all-day product meetings and Gordon is away because it’s his birthday so I’ll be doing the show on my own on Thursday, which always means more work booking guests, so I read features in bed this morning and marked them up with a red biro. They were pretty clean, so it didn’t take too long to get through 25 pages.

I convinced Paul it would be a good idea if we went to Ikea (me for bookcases and he for desks) and that we pop into Link again on the way there as I’d checked the schedule yesterday and knew Dave and Jill would be there time time as we’d missed them last week.

It felt so much like old times being back there with them again - like going back five years. Jill was presenting. Dave was scheduling the breakfast show. Keith was sitting on the side waiting for his show and cringing when they played his ad, which is a shame because it sounded really good.

In some ways it felt like no time at all since I’d been helping produce that show. All the same tracks, and Jill at the controls. Freiheit, Army of Lovers, Green Room. Back then, of course, half of it was played off vinyl and the ads were stored on cart. Now it’s all CDs and computerised jingles, but it sounds as friendly and cheery as ever.

They thrust me into a guest seat to talk about what I’ve been doing since I left the station and insist that I give out my email address for any would-be journalists. I resisted quite successfully.

The only thing missing was the dozens of sleeping bags on the floor, and the lingering smell of Pot Noodle.

I was quite dewey eyed by the time we left, and we listened until we got to Ikea. As we were parking, Jill played the 12″ of Crucified (Army of Lovers) and dedicated it to me. Aah.

Ikea was a bit of a loss. They don’t sell the half-height version of the shelves I want any more, and what Paul wanted was out of stock. I did find a good alternative for my furniture dilemma, but like Paul’s desk it was missing a crucial part. They’re expecting 48 of them to arrive in stock tomorrow.

Annoyance.

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