If you can't stand the heat...

Bomble takes an afternoon sunbath, with his head under the bureau.

The garden is thick with heat and neglect. A pigeon has knocked itself out against the cabin, upending itself in the gap between the paving slabs and the cabin. I remove its corpse, around which bluebottles already buzz, and give it an unChristian send off beyond the garden fence. Poor pigeon.

The Rat is back, on the patio. I hear they are everywhere this year. One inch from my door, this one. Immediately after seeing it, I order a secure baitbox, which cannot permit access to other species, apparently. I put Bomble out to scare off the rat, should it decide to return. Bomble looks puzzled. Why has he been moved off the printer and plonked outside? Eventually he moves away and returns five minutes later, having had no contact with rodents whatsoever.

I carry on reading The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. The weather is too warm and pleasant to waste in Being Busy. The Important Things I need for my business have not arrived in the post, apart from a letter opener and some cartridges. Is it my fault that the internet has killed the High Street?

Later, I remember I have signed up to a one-off course in Cheltenham, and catch a train from Stroud station. My blood donation session of earlier is postponed for four months, owing to my recent endoscopy. No post-donation biscuits in the Church Hall today!