Neats feet

I had no idea that the process of choosing which face would appear where, and say what within my 100 Faces score would take quite this long. I’ve been at it all day and am only half way through my task. The difficulty is that there are markers I have to reach at various stages along the journey. A certain person of a certain age must appear in a certain bar of music which has been specifically written for him or her, so the rest of the faces must appear, in age order, around these set-in-stone markers. It’s a very complicated jigsaw puzzle and it’s making my eyes bleed.

I wish there was something more interesting to write about today. I’ve had about 6 cups of tea. I’ve been to the gym. I had leftover casserole for lunch. I’ve had day time telly on almost constantly in the background, simply to keep me company. I was horrified, as ever, by the quality of acting in Doctors, and by the chap on Pointless who thought that Seb Coe was an Olympic hurdler who won a gold medal in 1992. I’ve washed up a few pots. I’ve dropped an entire mug of Ribena on the kitchen floor and all down my shirt, which now feels horribly sticky. I've a load of washing, but it doesn’t smell that clean, so I might have to put it back through...

I went to the doctors yesterday to have my ears syringed. I’d gone a bit mutton over the weekend, probably as a result of the post-Requiem virus that my body has been bravely fighting off. The nurse refused to syringe both ears. There wasn’t time, apparently. It’s “inoculation season” and she’s had her work cut out dealing with ‘flu jabs and MMR injections. Having one’s ears syringed – even if it’s just a single ear – is a deeply satisfying experience. There’s a clicking, a gush of warm water and a little paper cup which ends up being filled with deep brown chunks of joyous nastiness, which resemble semi-sucked Fruit Pastilles. The water clears from the ear, a suddenly there’s a rush of trebly sound, and for the next hour or so, you’re suddenly aware of distant clicks and taps and high pitched whistles.

Pepys and Mr Coventry were the only two men working in the Navy office on this date 350 years ago. Both Sir Williams, and all the clerks were ill with various terrible conditions including gout. Pepys had Neats Feet and mustard for lunch. Dreadful.