A Tough Day

Spent several hours hacking down a tree in the garden. It was only a 12ft conifer. But it was enough for me. Blood (blisters), sweat, though not quite tears. It wasn’t helped by my daughter Kate muttering, "Murderer" in her best Gollum voice. (She’s pretty good at it now. But then, what do you expect from someone who has watched the DVD 60 zillion times!) She and her friend also decided to conduct worm funerals. Murderer, indeed!

The afternoon finished well with a visit with Kate to Pride Park to see Derby County beat Milwall 2-0 in the final home game of the season, guaranteeing First Division football next year. It had all the ingredients for a classic game: the something at stake, passion, good play, noise, two cracking goals, pitch invasion at the end. Chaos! And the few Milwall fans chipped in with a wee fight with the stewards. Judging by the number of Police with hand-held cameras there will be a few more people not going to Euro 2004.

Now for a sleepless night with a pain-racked body!