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A bonus was the fact that it is a handsomely produced book. Good paper, typeface and page layout. From the Belknap Press and a credit to their book designers.

I needed fortification before embarking on the second pass, so off to 'Mixed Blessings' for another couple of doses of their potato puddin (see September 1st). Slightly confused by its changed shape but the young lady behind the jump quite reasonably explained that it all depended on which tray they cooked the stuff in. Sufficiently artisanale that they do not always used the same one.

Arrived at the bus stop outside the Antelope and found, for the first time, the information available helpful. The computer screen said that the next bus to Earlsfield was some 20 minutes away but that there was a 57 in no time at all. The helpful map said that the 57 went to Wimbledon so off we went. My first time on a strange bus for a long time.

Along the way reminded about the huge Sainsbury at Colliers Wood and that the river Wandle runs alongside part of Merton High Street., a place which looked worth a visit.

In no time at all dropped off at Wimbledon which seemed to be crawling with bright young things, this being around 2030 on a Friday evening. A few minutes later on a train to Dorking. First item of interest was a chap, maybe 35-40, with a very flashy looking road bike and wearing two rucksacks. Not for the first time, amused by these people who are so proud of their bikes they won't have a pannier frame on the bike's back and would rather put up with the discomfort & danger of a rucksack on their own back. Most odd. Second item was a young lady with a mobile phone which doubled as a piece of costume jewellery. Very sparkly. I suppose if you are seriously rich the sparkles might actually be diamonds rather than glass. No doubt Damien Hirst would knock one up for you if he was not too busy sticking diamonds onto skulls. Incidentally someone whose fascination with innards I find rather off putting. Third item was five bright young things who liked to exhibit themselves and who might well have been inmates of the University of the Creative Arts. One clue was that one of them was leafing through a glossy fashion magazine called Phoenix (http://www.phoenixmag.co.uk/). Another was that another of them was flashing a large camera about - the sort of thing which is the size of a small book rather than a large packet of cigarettes. I restrained myself from enquiring what she needed such a thing for but I did wonder what on earth do all these people do when their time is up. There can't be a lot of jobs for fashion designers. All of which kept me entertained to Epsom where I was pleased to find that TB had restocked its newky. And also learned about a pool version of killer, the darts version of which I used to play years ago. Pool version good fun and a good leveller. One still gets a game even if one is rubbish at pool.