My Little Pony

I’m feeling a bit low today. London is muggy and overcast and I have an almost bewildering amount of silly little bits of admin to deal with. Add to this the fact that our tumble drier has broken and you have a very unhappy little ex-camper. My annual hay fever is also in full swing. Joy! Heaven knows why my body waits until the first two weeks of August to provide me with a nose which simply refuses to stop running, but I could well do without it!


I'm still reeling somewhat from an unpleasant encounter in Snappy Snaps, Muswell Hill. I'd taken a set of black and white photos in there to be developed. The woman handed them over, I opened them up, and discovered every single one of them was a shade of lurid pink! “These pictures are all bright pink” I said “Yes” she replied “that’s the colour you took them in.” “No” I said “I took a set of black and white photos, not a set a pink and pinker ones. Did it not occur to you that I wouldn’t want pink photos? Do I look like My Little Pony?” She looked blankly. It was only when I threatened to keep the photos and bring them back to show her boss that the surly cow took them back and re-printed them. "Less of the attitude" I shouted over to her as she huffed and puffed in the corner...

I then went through the lengthy process of selecting and ordering some digital prints. I could sense the other Snappy Snaps staff members looking at one another and within minutes they were hovering behind me, telling me they were about to shut up shop. “Oh well” I said “I better just print off the ones I’ve already chosen” “You can’t do that” one of them said, belligerantly; “we’ve closed.” Obviously she didn’t get away with such ridiculous behaviour and I made her switch the machines back on and serve me like a proper shop keeper, but I can safely say I’ve never met anyone with more of an attitude and less of an interest in her job.

The 3rd August 1660 was a Friday and Pepys started the day at the barber’s. A morning of work at the office was followed by lunch at Dr Timothy Clerk’s, who was one of the founding members of the Royal Society. Despite the presence of Elizabeth, Pepys found himself most taken with Clerk’s wife, Frances, whom he described as “a comely, proper woman, though not handsome, but a woman of the best language I ever heard”. Pepys spent the afternoon at the Privy Seal office in Westminster “signing things and taking money”. But he obviously found there was more work than anticipated, because his plans to meet up with the others at the Red Bull Playhouse were thwarted. By the time he’d finished, the play was over. Poor Pepys.