Woke up feeling strangely dreamy. All kind of floaty and light. Then I tried to stand up and found myself in agony. What I have done to my legs, I don’t know, but a night of clambering around on chairs and the sides of the bath have left the backs of my thighs feeling about as chiselled as Mount Rushmore. All that scraping seems to have done little for my biceps, unfortunately, and it’s left me with a nose full of solidified artex dust.

So, not a good day for having to walk very far. Every time I sat down I siezed up again - when putting on my shoes, driving, riding the train. Not a good day for a broken Central Line, then, still out of service since Saturday’s crash. Hobbled along towards Bank to find a bus, which I rode as far as Trafalgar Square, then stumbled the west of the way to the office and flopped, relieved, into my chair.

Spent as much of the day as I could sitting down, and avoiding the short walk to the drinks’ machine whenever necessary. Booked myself onto a trip to Berlin with Sony in early March. Another good chance to practice my German, and take some more pictures to add to the collection. My existing Berlin set is distinctly pedestrian.

I definately need to spend more time listening to those language tapes.

Rode home with Spencer, then ate a speedy dinner before doing a recording with Clive. Kept on wanting to call him Bob, for some reason. Very confusing. I guess it’s because Bob hands you over and then takes you back at the end. The hold track is deafeningly loud when you’re hanging on the phone, lost in the switchboard somewhere between production and the studio.

It wasn’t a long one. Ten minutes or so, I’d guess - I didn’t time it - and then it was back to the scraping. I got it all done, in spite of the fact it was the most stubborn section - furthest away from the bath, so least damaged by the damp, and pretty much in pristine condition.

Only really equated artex with plaster late on, at which point I tried washing it down. That seemed to loosen things up considerably. Must remember that tip for the future.

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