Yesterday was a complete suprise. Not that Monday happened you understand, I learned long ago that Mondays are inevitable and crop up on a regular basis. Face it, most Mondays are a terrible experience. Weather turns for the worse automatically as thousands leave their front doors for the start of the working week. No, the suprise yesterday was how nice a Monday this was.

The sunshine had a lot to do with it. Unlike a blistering hot summer day, there was a cool, refreshing air to it. As mondays go, this was a lazy, hazy day. Everyone seemed cheerful, calm, happy with their lot except perhaps the mother struggling with her rebellious infant. I have never seen so many birds floating on the water at Queens Park as I strolled through there on my way to the job centre. There were even two foreigners asking me to take their picture together. What? In Swindon?

I would have loved to spend my time out there on the Downs, but like everyone else it was back to the daily grind and on with the job searching. That said, I really didn't mind. My claims advisor for the day even summoned me to my signing slot by my much debated title. How can you improve on that? Never before has signing on been such a pleasant and sociable experience. Wow. What a day.

Death of an Albanian Superstar

The americans have recently lost Tony Curtis. Yesterday we lost Norman Wisdom. He was an actor/comedian who genuinely had a knack for making people laugh. A sort of jolly innocence that saw his films become the only western movies to be allowed to screen in Albania, where he was regarded as a superstar. His style of comedy belonged to an earlier age as Charlie Chaplin confirmed by nominating Wisdom as his favourite clown, and he faded somewhat from public view. Whatever your religious beliefs, it's hard not to smile and wonder if yesterdays warm mood was his passing gift.