well happy easter folks, or summer finding as the norse celebrate: this is the day to celebrate the light of the sun becoming more powerful than darkness. so i wake up and the garden has turned white. no sign of the cat so i expect one of the other flats has taken pity on him and let him stop inside or perhaps he has snuck off to one of his many other 'homes'. a new feline has appeared in the garden recently: a black and white tabby, female. She is acting just like cato did two years ago: coming ever closer, emboldened. so maybe by the end of the summer i will be feeding two strays. its a slippery slope to becoming a local weirdo like the woman who plays a electric organ outside M&S (very badly) to raise money for her army of mangy cats.

i am a little at a loss today. easter sunday is never a good day for me, nothing is open - i don't have children to deny eggs to, its dangerously close to my birthday (a time of the year i traditionally dislike..it depresses me), its cold (i don't like snow..except the way it looks). i have some marking to do but have little appetite for it. at half one i will go and watch football for four or more hours in the pub. i doubt i shall enjoy that either: triumphal mancs (as they will certainly beat l'poo) then an hour and a half of nail chewing as we try and beat the chavs. tomorrow i am going to visit some friends in the late afternoon and then in the week i will get back to writing at last. most of the college chores are over once i finish this latest batch of essay marking.

i sort of want to go away for a few days but i cant decide where. i am invited to go north - to scotland - but its a very long way to go for a long weekend, strangely further than going to france. i thought about a city break - to prague or amsterdam - but until my expenses come through from lisbon my bank account is a little stretched. so perhaps i should just stay put. easter sunday.. who needs it ? no wonder people stuff themselves with anti-depressant chocs