Where once I was certain that there wasn't an accent for Reading, I've decided that there is. To me, at least, quite a few too many people round here speak a lot like Ricky Gervais for it to be a coincidence. This is not a bad thing. It's quite funny, in fact. It's also slightly unsettling. I wonder whether this is the Reading accent, or maybe people round here like Reading's famous son Ricky so much that they've decided to take on his speech patterns. Possibly.

I get my broadband tomorrow. Woohoo! Finally! This, of course, assumes that NTL are going to get their arses over and do it, though they did text me to remind me that they were going to. This is good. Probably. Well, it's also a bit weird since they've now expanded their 5 hour window into a 6 hour window. I have to arrange for someone to be on call to let them in for 6 hours tomorrow. However, I shall also be giving instructions to the builders working on the house and I'll be leaving instructions on the notice board for the NTL man. Hopefully, it will all be magically done when I return.

If you don't want to pay for any office application and you want to be able to share your documents between computers of any sort, provided you have online access everywhere, then I seriously recommend ThinkFree. Their version of a word processor is a hell of a lot like Microsoft Word and was compatible enough with it to read one of my scripts. With the facility to store your documents in an online folder - for free - this could be the new way to do word processing. They also do spreadsheets.

My whole body aches from last night and this morning's exertions. This morning's were probably the worst because I was rushing. I was also sweating so much that I had to ditch my jumper and change into a shirt. Yuck. Someone will be showering tonight (not at home - it's too much hassle).

I've still got work left to do today (I arrived a little late owing to the late arrival of the damp proofing people and the delay that caused to me with my lightning carpet stripping). Then I'm back to Reading to do more wallpaper stripping. It will be a bit easier with skirting boards and carpets off... at least the cleaning up will be.

I'm looking forward to the weekend where I shall be doing some sort of DIY on Saturday (after a long sleep) and then going to London for the day on Sunday, where I shall be doing some sort of meeting in the daytime and then be off to preparations for my technical geekery at a sketch show on Monday. Quite what I'll be called on to do is anyone's guess. From the script it looks straightforward, but a couple of the members of the cast have requested my personal appearance at their rehearsal so I can meet their requirements. I'm nothing if not eager to please.