Dashing away with a smoothing iron.

Despite the impression I may give, my life is not one of unalloyed leisure or pleasure, sometimes I actually have to get on and do something.

Today is such a day, that pile of garden furniture, looking to all intents like a "tinkers flitting" or that not so long ago common Glasgow entertainment, a warrant sale, is waiting for me to sand down and to apply teak oil, in an attempt to prevent the summer sun drying it to the points of fracture and splitting.

It is a tedious and boring job, luckily I have 15 episodes of The Archers and a dozen or so of Desert Island discs on my MP3 to while away the hours. Has anyone strangled Helen yet? Has Tom driven his Dad to another heart attack? And who will rid the village of Susan? She must be the most irritating character ever created on radio.

When I have finished this lot I have tables and benches and another dining set to complete, oh the joys of outdoor living.

The rain clouds threatened this afternoon, dribbled a teaser and blew away, so we are still desperate for rain.