After my ‘sudden rush of blood to the head’ yesterday, with what I now look on as one of my finest in a long time, I had to follow it up with one that’s absolute cack even by my dubious standards of cackness.

In my defence, I have found and posted a shot, despite travelling 250 miles by train (and I’ve done enough ‘out of the train window’ shots for even the most ardent of observers), in gloomy wet weather, arriving in Epsom to be ‘locked’ in an office from around 1pm until 7pm, whereupon I walked in the pouring rain to my hotel, which was (as always with cheap nasty hotels) not in the least photogenic.

Actually the shot sums up my day quite well. I ate in a crummy ‘chainstore’ pizza place, alone, after the day I’ve described.

I know I have said before that I find eating alone a deeply depressing experience – that’s part of the reason why I lost loads of weight after my separation from my ex. I survived on poached eggs on toast for my evening meal until I started seeing David, then it all gradually went to pot.

So, there’s me, in the restaurant, dripping wet, looking and feeling like ‘billy-no-mates’. I had planned not to do this – I’d been and bought supper in town at lunchtime so I could eat alone in the privacy of my room and with the telly for company. I found myself eating my supper for lunch because I’d planned a jacket spud for lunch from the ‘diner’ but when I got there the Spanish owners were on their August holiday, just like everyone in Spain!

However, given the bucketing rain and general gloominess, it was realistically the only chance I would get for a shot so I took half a dozen shots at my table and out of the window. So, you know what the rest were like if this one passed the cut!

Actually, I didn’t have to spend the night in an hotel, I had plenty of offers of friends to stay with but I actually wanted a bit of forced ‘stop’ time. I have been drowning in work of every kind of late, when I’ve not been working on my 5-day, 3-day week at my ‘day job’, I have been working like a dog on things at home. Tonight, with nothing but four walls around me, a telly, no internet access and a bed, I could DO absolutely nothing. So that’s what I did. In my room at 8pm and all I did was read a book (a whole book in one day, The Dream House by Rachel Hore, which, by the way, I completely LOVED). I spoke on the phone to my Mum and to DM and that was me done for the day.

Today last year, I took one of my BEST shots - it was a real 'photographing something that wasn't there' Linda special!