It's a red bike. What a red surprise!

The 40th birthday conspiracy against redcountess has come off marvellously. We are now camping out on eBay.

Thursday we had a quiet evening in with presents (23 names on a card good for a new Macintosh, the half-decent John Peel bio from me and one book on ballet and one on opera from arkady) and a cake whose first listed ingredient was sugar.

I have been off ill since Wednesday and will be late in on Monday as I am going for a blood test concerning the dizzy spells. (My blood pressure is apparently fine.)

Last night I helped arkady with her house — I did the dishes while she sorted the piles of clothing in her room. There is now visible floor.

This afternoon, a still unwell Liz and I are sitting in bed, laptopping side by side and eating crab paste with crackers. The crab paste is thoroughly mediocre, but somehow we're still gobbling it down. frou_frou and drzero are in town and we will be meeting up with them next week. As soon as we find a restaurant (or even a pub) with decent vegetarian offerings in Bloomsbury! Suggestions most welcomed!