Glorious drive to work this morning, made especially so as I had taken the decision to actually go to work early rather than to my wearisome breakfast meeting. I can't say I wasn't sorry to miss my fry-up, but the sight of a Marsh Harrier gracefully swooping over a large field immediately to my left, and knowing I was the only one watching her, followed by gaggles of Greylags, Canadian and goodness-knows-what-else geese, culminating in the first pair of swallows that I've seen this year darting beneath the pillars on the Bridge as I ascended it put me in a rather good mood.

Having just finished the Da Vinci Code, Moses Legacy and Rubicon in the space of 4 days has also heightened my spirituality. Tomorrow I shall make serious inroads into the Secrets according to Dan Burstein. My thirst for knowledge is teetering on the edge of an addiction problem. It worries me not as I am foregoing vast quantities of wine in an effort to actually remember what I am reading ( in fact, I'm quite heady on the experience).

To top it all, my survey came back with full marks, my seller has sourced an identical door so I'll be spared the prospect of my teenage son and his mates behind opaque glass and I've got out of actually walking the Lyke Wake Walk by being the only eligibledriver of the reasonably-priced mini-bus. Top Day!