I’m supposed to be having a pleasant weekend at Lorne with some friends — instead I’m as grumpy as a bear with a sore head and unfit for human company, let alone that of my friends. All because of a week of stupidities of last-minute panics at work as everything that should have been done over the summer break suddenly rises up and faces us.

Did the usual Lorne weekend things, a leisurely breakfast, reading the paper spread all over the floor, down the hill for a walk along the shop-fronts, then out to the pier to watch the fishermen. Along the way I picked up some new CDs, a Sun studios Johnny Cash double and the new Paul Kelly double album. Good value for four disks, and finally I’ve got my hands on some Johnny Cash, after thinking for months that I really should…

Out on the pier we watched the seagulls squabbling over fish guts and bits of rubbish. In amongst the usual flock of silver gulls was a pair of very large dark birds. No idea what kind of bird they were, and too far away to get a good photo with my camera, all I can tell from the photo I did get was that they’re dark grey, have light-coloured bills, and they’re much bigger than the silver gulls! Maybe someday an ornithologist will read this and be able to let me know what they are…