I got up. I went to the shopping centre. I bought jeans. I hate shopping for clothes when I need clothes – that’s the way it is – it’s hell. Shopping centres on Sunday can be hell squared. So I was up early – didn’t even have breakfast.

When I came home, I had breakfast and argued the toss with myself about going climbing. I didn’t sleep very well which means I was tired. And I overdid it when I did climbing. Sure I made progress – and I was really happy about that – but the idea was not to push myself over the limit today and go swimming later; that has not happened, will not happen.

Since then I have surfed the internet, listened to music, started reading a book and procrastinated about a) going shopping (nixed) b) going back to a doily project that I wrecked last night on the grounds that if I did, I could perhaps get it finished tonight.

On the plus side I’m listening to a terrific album which I bought yesterday having heard bits of it on internet radio. I know there is a load of music out there that I’d love if I only knew about it. Poem by Delirium is one of those discoveries – I don’t know when it was released but it wasn’t five minutes ago anyway.

I read people moaning about the Irish economy and I’m starting to get weary of it. Ireland is not the worst off in the world. I’ve come to that conclusion. I’ve also come to the conclusion that people like extremes so that if we’re not the worst off, some observers want to drive us in that direction. And others don’t want to deal with reality. And I’m not overly sure what reality is any more anyway and eventually my brain starts to melt and I stop reading economics based sites for Ireland. And then I feel guilty about it because apparently I’m supposed to have an interest in all this and then feck it, life is too short and I will be dead at some point. Poverty stricken also but unfortunately the banks didn’t ask my advice when they lent ship loads of money to Bernard McNamara, Liam Carroll, Paddy Kelly and associated companies in the same industry. Basically I like enjoying life and reading the Sunday papers serves to depress me. End of.

The book I started reading I picked up in a second hand book sale in Howth about a year ago. It’s called The Ra Expeditions and it’s by Thor Heherdahl who also wrote a book called Kon-tiki which I may order from a second hand bookseller on amazon.co.uk along with a definitive book on crochet lace (how different can you get?) I like books about the history of exploration; and what’s interesting about this is that it was published before I was born. Someone was rich; the book is hardback and richly illustrated with colour photographs. It cost me €5 and it will be worth every cent if chapters 1-4 are anything to go by. What’s also interesting about the book is that the geopolitical framework of parts of the world have changed. I discovered this almost in passing – my knowledge of central-African geography lacks and in looking for Fort Lamy on a map I discovered that it had changed name in the intervening time. One of the things I planned to do in reading the book is plot on a google map the places that Heyerdahl went to in putting the Ra expeditions together.

But in addition to reading I’m looking at doing more work on a pineapple square – this is a piece of crochet in very fine thread (well i could do it in heavier yarn I suppose but I’d question why I’d want to…) which will probably inspire me to start a table cloth or something. I’m about 1/3 of the way through it and made a stupid mistake yesterday. It’s in the Harmony 300 Crochet stitches book which I suspect has been withdrawn because I couldn’t find it online too easily yesterday. Harmony have issued a whole lot of new knitting and crochet reference books. Unfortunately I don’t find the new ones as interesting as the two already own; the 300 and the 220. The problem is my head wants to do the crochet and my hands do not.

I wish tomorrow was still Sunday.