Waking up next to a London park on a Sunday morning..

First of all when it's only just light, there's birdsong. Quite a lot of birds - the small ones tweeting, bigger birds calling to each other. All of them I imagine, looking for food already.

The dog-walkers are the first humans I hear in the park, calling the dog's name. Sometimes there's a splash as the dog takes a dip in the children's pool. From time to time there's a barking competition as dogs establish, give up and regain territory.

The runners are a little bit later: I hear the shoes hitting the pavement, some faster, some slower. I imagine the peace of the empty park, the pleasure of the early morning air.

Then it's really morning and all kinds of noise jostle in the air; a pair of high heels clacks by and I wonder if they are going to church?; children are running around, the boats are in the pool and it really really is time to get up.

Sunny Saturday Morning

Listening to Gil Scott-Heron - I've just bought so many CDs!, can't wait to hear them all.

Coffee by the sea. I find myself thinking that if only I could work in Brighton I'd be completely happy but guess this isn't precisely the case. I would love to work here though...

Vaguely excited, vaguely anxious.. is this my time of life, the stage of my life I'm at or just the remnants of the week's work-anxiety spilling over into the weekend?

Edward Bond's "Bingo" in Chichester yesterday: good first half but meandered rather in the second half and I found my mind drifting far far away.

Why do I feel so busy all the time and how do people manage who have children?

Well I guess the simple answer is that life is really busy: it takes at least a couple of hours to drive to work and that's not allowing much for the M25 or for the fifteen minutes it takes me to get in the car, choose the right CD, get the satnav to stick to the windscreen, agree a destination with the little man inside and finally pull out into the road.

Then there's the real travel. Of course it's amazing to see places you wouldn't normally see, but on the other hand, getting up at 4am and being ready and able to present by doesn't get any easier as the years go on.

But really, the fact is that when I'm finally home, finally I've got some spare time, there's just so much I really want to do. There are so many novels to read, books to write, photographs to take, movies to watch - and all of that's before I've even gone for a run, played tennis or given the slightest consideration to the ironing.

Hey ho... at least I'm not bored!