So, after some schedule shuffling, working ahead and careful thinking I spent the day out of the office, down in Farnham with Alex and the camera so I could take some pictures for a feature.

It was a fantastic day to be driving down there through the countryside. The traffic was light, for the most part, and the sun shone the whole time. All the way, I passed signs pointing to the places where I grew up. Leatherhead, Epsom, Box Hill. They brought back a lot of memories, as did the tape I was listening to: a recording of some stuff I did on Thorpe Radio almost seven years ago.

Se7en (Morgan Freeman) was number one in the video rental chart, apparently - or so the tape said. Showgirls (Demi Moore) was number nine and Sabrina (Harrison Ford) was somewhere in between.

I was surprised how slick I was back then, talking right up to the first lyric on every song, slipping jingles into the instrumental breaks, getting all my levels just right. Years of doing talk shows in the intervening years, when someone else drives the desk and you’re left to just sit and chat and keep an eye on your screens have probably spoilt all that.

I got some good pictures, and it was great to meet Alex, and after we were done we went out for a walk on the Hill. Perhaps a little too far, as it happens, as the downhill slope was fairly shallow and didn’t even come close to hinting at the ferocity of the climb back up to the top.

We kicked around some feature ideas and talked digital cameras, but eventually it was time to head home, again through surprisingly light traffic. I’d been expecting it to bunch up around the Dartford Crossing, but I sailed through and even had time to pop in on mum and pick up the printer-cum-scanner thing I’d won last week and had delivered there.

It’s enormous. Fortunately it lets me clear away the clutter of two separate devices, which kind of makes up for it, although they’re now sitting on my bed so need to be found new homes before I can sleep.

Somehow, though, after the driving, the walking and the sun, I think sleeping is not going to be difficult tonight.

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