Woke up with a sore throat and a nasty thick head. Not good for a Sunday. Dragged myself out of bed, with some effort, and dropped some vitamin C tablets into a mug of hot water. Showered while they fizzed away to nothing and gulped it down as I ran out the door.

So, with the start of a cold I wasn’t on top form for the show. The hour always flies by other weeks, but the first and last segments today, both with comedians looking at the news or stuff going on in London this week, left me feeling a little detached, and were very hard work.

The ITN canteen was out of the Echinacea tea that’s supposed to boost your immune system, too, so I was already feeling jittery from bucketloads of coffee on an almost empty stomach. Still, it could have been worse. Last time I was in that building with a cold I was threatened with having my nostrils syringed so I’d sound fine on air. What that involves, I have no desire to find out.

A brief chat with Marcus and Sam, then grabbed some food on the way out and headed for Oxford Street by foot to meet Jon, Trevor and Paul. Bumped into them, purely by chance, outside John Lewis, where they were standing on a corner to call me. My phone was merrily singing away to itself in my backpack, but with so many people on the streets there was no chance of hearing a thing.

We decamped to Selfridges for tea and cake, and to get out of the cold. I wasn’t in much of a mood for shopping, so was happy to sip slowly until we eventually headed out again into the bitter cold air of Oxford Street for a last trawl of the shops before they shut up for the night.

HMV did its rather naff ‘this store will close in five … (four … three … two … one) minutes’ countdown in the run-up to six, at which point I left the three of them to hunt down a bowl of pasta, and headed for the tube, the train, and a hot bath to take care of my cold.

But I didn’t get to the bath quite as soon as I’d hoped.

My timing was perfect, in more ways than one - I got to the station with enough time to grab a coffee to drink on the train and then bumped into a friend I’ve not seen in seven or eight years when he got on further down the line and sat in the seat across the aisle. He didn’t have a clue who I was, so was quite shocked when I leant across to recite his name and address. By then we were already pulling into Chelmsford, so we got off together and I drove him three stops down the line so we could talk some more.

Seems he’s spent the last three years living in Australia. Office overlooking Sydney Opera House. Rooftop apartment from which he was able to watch the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games.

Am I jealous?

Hmmm…

1. Bath, Bristol, Pensford, Newport, Cardiff, Avebury, Marlborough
   I worked out in the car down to Bath that it's almost ten years since I was last there. It was for Faith's birthday. She...
   
   
2. Cold and windy corners
   Up so very very early. I don't know how or why. Made it onto a train just after half seven that should have turned up...
   
   
3. Gah!
   Of all the nights I could have done with a good journey home, this was the one. I have to be up at 4am tomorrow...