It’s the end of the school term, so Sal had organised her class to put on Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for the parents last night. Of course, nobody ever said it just had to be the kids’ parents, so she invited Mum, Andrew, Dan, his mum and me to come along and block out the view of half the shorter kids by sitting in the front row.

There was a slight panic when Joseph didn’t actually turn up, but the understudy did a fantasic job, and the whole thing, from beginning to end, was excellent. They may all have been only ten years old, but there was some real talent on that stage, some great voices and some truly amusing visual comedy. When it was over, the applaused seemed to go on for ages, and the kids all looked very relieved.

Free of any pretention and big-headedness, it was one of the most engaging things I have ever seen on the stage, professional or amateur.

We were out again in under an hour, so popped back to Sal’s to drop off my bags and camera. I’d finally splurged on a Coolpix 5700 at lunchtime and didn’t much fancy carrying around such an expensive bit of kit all evening. Oscar was waiting for us on top of the oven in her front garden. He was damp from the rain, and grateful of a long warm hug.

We shut him inside for his dinner and went down the road to the pub to meet up with Sal’s friends for a drink before dinner. We witnessed a fairly spectacular crash outside where we were going to eat as a guy jumped into his car and swung around in a fat arc across Eltham High Street without looking to see what was coming first.

He smacked his bonnet into the side of a shiny black Volkswagen and everyone on the street stopped to stare… until it looked for a moment like things might get nasty when like cowards we ran inside to eat.

We got home too late for me to have a good go at playing with the camera, so I set the alarm for nine and was out of the flat by ten this morning. The sun was hot and it was very pleasant walking beside the canal wearing just a t-shirt. The long grass and bushes were alive with wildlife, and I got some great macro shots of snails, moths and strange orange bugs, of which there were thousands, all apparently mating.

The real reason for going in was to pick up my car, which had been locked into the car park last night because I was too late home to get it out, but I called Paul to see if he fancied popping into town for a coffee, and spent the time while I waited for him to arrive looking for a new pair of jeans.

It seems that either Chelmsford people are either all my size, which is why there is nothing in the shops to fit me, or there is no demand for 30in waist jeans, so nobody wants to stock them. Either way, I ended up coming home empty handed after a trek through a dozen shops, all selling ‘relaxed’ fit jeans with 36in waists.

I downloaded my pictures and was pleasantly surprised with the results. The colours seem to have come out very well and although my focus was slightly out on a few shots I am very happy with what I managed to take.

I had intended to go into Link FM again this afternoon, but got tied up in jobs that needed doing before going away. For ages Iceland felt like it was weeks away, but all of a sudden it’s justa few days off. I guess that’s what comes of booking late.

I compromised, but staying home and working, while listening to it broadcast live from the Harold Hill Fun Day. I’m glad they got the feed sorted out, as it was causing considerable amounts of head-scratching. The hill between the park and the studios is very steep, with no line of sight. I’ll have to ask Dave how he managed it.

This evening, meanwhile, dinner with Trevor and Jon.

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