Harlequin

A lovely, sunny day mooching about the garden. I spotted two varieties of harlequin ladybird - this one and a black one with red spots - on the guinea-pig run. I haven't seen any British ladybirds this year, just this invasive species in its various forms.

We bumped into a friend in West Norwood centre and watched in dismay as the local cash machine swallowed his bank card then crashed - a big Windows system error appeared on the screen and his card was definitely not going to re-surface. We all went back to our flat so he could spend half an hour on several phone lines to cancel his card and report the problem. The meeting did have a silver lining, though, as he convinced us to go for a curry with his girlfriend and then we all piled into South London Theatre to watch Pulp Fiction with a small group of others around the theatre bar. The film is much better and funnier than I remember. So many lines are familiar, and the music is fantastic. A great night!