Whilst out shopping this morning I bumped into two friends. I only had time to exchange a few lines of conversation with each of them, but this small contact with a familiar part of the rest of humanity has really got my day off to a good start.

MORE AND MISSED

The Devil's weather;
No horizon on which
To tether a thought,
Tendering loose change
The sun hangs out
Eight till late.

A LITTLE KNOWLEDGE

It's a good job
That it's so
Difficult to
Draw a five
Sided star.

I've had no major disasters with my computer so far, in fact it's working very efficiently at the moment: fewer problems booting up with MSN Messenger installed and I'm even learning how to more effectively utilise the program - I still occasionally get my left and right clicks confused though.

I'm spending a lot of time listening to internet and international radio stations; mainly news and talk programmes and Latin American dance music...all perfectly clear reception, unlike all the years I spent listening to short-wave.

GHOST STORY

It was useless attempting to escape; all exits were blocked, timesealed or limescaled for the duration. She was desperate, panicking her head from side to side, pulling down the blinds over her light-sensitive eyes, pushing her fingers in all directions.

Space is always a compromise; too much and you're lost, too little and you'll never get out - but Mealtime's predicament was unique: her half-full glass had now become half-empty and the clock was ticking.

She sat in the corner of a Champagne bubble which was steadily sinking to the surface tension. Her headache was lighter than air, her IQ half way to Tipperary but she still couldn't work out how to open the fridge door.