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(The picture isn't of me - it's Gavin, taken by me!!!) I'm an awful worrier, apparently. I was up bright and early today, for a busy morning was on the cards. No sooner had I switched the radio on than the doorbell rang. Who could it be at 7.30am, I wondered! Well, I'll tell you. It was the postman with a recorded delivery for me. My 50mm f/1.8 arrived! However, that was a pleasure that would have to wait, I had other more pressing things to do. First of all, I managed to get the old tumble dryer out of the porch that has been its home for the past 14 years. I did so by simply opening the porch door, manoeuvring the machine to the top of the stair, and pushing. Boy did it make a noise as it tumbled down the stone steps to land - miraculously in one piece and right side up - on the patio. Next task was perhaps the most important, as it would set me in the right frame of mind for the coming tribulation: breakfast and a double bill of Everybody Loves Raymond. With the rest of the family gone, I had time to shave, cut my hair, shower, post the Harry Potter book and catch the bus into town for my meeting with Ted Heath. I will say this... he (and his colleagues down at the DWP) were a very pleasant bunch who gave me some excellent news. I am now awaiting a fat government cheque for the time I have been ill - backdated to the beginning of February. I suspected things were going to go well when the assessment officer's first words to me were: 'Hello, Mr. Jones. You are entitled to Incapacity Benefit.' Isn't it great living in a country with a welfare state that works (sometimes)! Not only that, but the piece de resistance is that one week before I am finally well enough to work again (i.e., the week before my last sick line expires), I have to contact the Job Centre and arrange to attend a 'getting back to work after being ill' seminar that lasts two hours. The incentive? Two hundred pounds worth of them! With all this good news ringing in my ears, I was thinking about giving my new lens an outing - but then remembered the tumble dryer delivery. On arrival home, no sign of said appliance, or of a note saying they had been. What there was, though, was a package containing a strange pink thing that is presently touring Scotland as part of its round the world journey. Gavin nipped up for a coffee and a blether, and to model the infamous wig for my new lens to capture. He's letting me hold on to the Tokina 28mm f/2.8 in the meantime - but I must say that the 50mm f/1.8 is quite probably about to become my new favourite (although there will always be space in my heart for the 28mm). Still waiting for the tumble dryer, by the way. I suspect that they won't be delivering it today. Otherwise the day was a good one: I'm entitled to get money from the government, I got a new lens, and the wig's here (although it didn't manage to bring any of that San Francisco sunshine with it).