That was a long day. Of course, after a lot of late nights in a row, and with the flat so hot, there was little chance of me getting to sleep early last night. I was surprised that I actually woke up just before the half-five alarm, then, and was out of bed within ten minutes.

I find the early trains very inspiring. It reminds me how much of the day I miss by getting up late and starting work at 10. If I went in earlier I could do my own thing before the day started, and perhaps even make some good headway on the book. The way I’m feeling this evening, though, there’s little chance of another early morning tomorrow.

I was at ITN shortly after seven, so bought a tea in the canteen and sat down with the paper to wait for the trail. It went well, and was longer than usual. Perhaps that’s another fringe benefit of doing it in person rather than by ISDN.

Normally I could have left as soon as it was over, but the point of going in so early was that I’d promised to record some bits and bobs, so I slowly sipped my tea and browsed the net while I waited. It was quite a nice way to start the day, and once the recording was over I walked over to Soho and started the real work of the day.

It felt very strange. I was hungry before lunch, so ate early and then wasn’t ready when lunchtime came around. I was answering the phone with a ‘good afternoon’ by half ten in the morning and it felt like the middle of the night by the time we started this evening’s show at seven.

In spite of all that, the show went by very quickly, and was great fun. I’m looking forward to listening back to it on the archive tomorrow afternoon, which will be my last day covering the extra section. I’ll be glad to hand it back on Monday morning. It’s in good shape, so I’m happy with the job I’ve done.

I’ve been chatting online with Richard this evening. He’s kept me up when really I should be in bed recovering from this morning’s rediculously early start. We got talking about TV cookery shows, though, which is always a good way of holding my attention as if I was told I could only ever watch one kind of show for the rest of my life that’s what it would be.

Anyhow, it seems he’s an American Jamie Oliver fan, and he deserves credit for pointing me to an online dictionary for American fans who don’t understand a word he’s saying (Jamie’s saying, not Richard).

It’s interesting looking through it to see which of the words we take for granted are unfamiliar to an American audience. Boxing day, kitchen paper and easy peasy were particularly surprising, while others, when you think about them, really mean nothing even though pretty much every Brit could use them without a moment’s hesitation:

Over the moon

Cracking (as in “get going”)

Muck around

What a strange and illogical beast the English language is.

1. Changes
   It's been a strange few days. There have been a lot of changes at work, and this morning I got a very nice card from...
   
   
2. Work work work
   Ugh! What a hideous day. First one back after a holiday and a bank holiday Monday. It was inevitable really, wasn't it. So, problem solving...
   
   
3. Flying solo
   Taking my life in my hands, I tried voice over IP on the breakfast show this morning. I think it went OK. Everyone pronounced -...