Another energetic sailing session this morning, complicated by a delay at the marina office. It turned out that the city council leisure card I'd been gaily claiming discounts on has been expired since July last year. No-one had actually ever swiped it through. The old cards used to have the expiry date on them but the new ones just have a bar code. Hee hee!

The marina staff know me so well they hadn't bothered checking -- even this morning they just gave me the discount and told me to come back later and update the card. "I know where you live, I'll come and bang on your door if you don't pay up," one said. It's gone up to £37.50 a year -- the first one I got back in 91 or whenever was about £12 I think. Still a good deal though. Especially if you let it lapse for a year.

So yes, the sailing was good -- Colin wanted to practise gybing, so we bombed up and down the river in gusty winds. I crewed, which is a fair amount of work when tacking but hardly any when gybing.

Bertie on the other hand has had a rubbish day. Very short, unexciting walks, plus an interminable wait at the marina office this afternoon while I got a new discount card. I fully expect to find something has been destroyed when I get home. He usually rips up a magazine or newspaper when he's feeling hard done by.

Some interesting websites:

True Crimes -- The Ultimate Crime Resource. Subheadings include organised crime and missing persons as well as homicide. It's addictive.

Dead or Alive? -- Updated daily! It's very useful and endlessly interesting. Who knew that Chiang Kai-shek's widow was still alive? I didn't. She's 105. Astounding.

All Music -- Facts, factoids, music clips, reviews ... it's all there and more.

Anyday -- This one's plain weird. But at least now I know that today (June 7) is Tom Jones's birthday. And the anniversary of the United Colonies changing its name to United States (1775).

I'm off to the farm tomorrow! Hurrah! I haven't packed or anything yet, so I won't be making an early start. I also need to stop off and get some nice thank-you-for-having-us gifts. Maybe I'll get them a puppy...