The chickens at Trago Mills are so fearless it’s simply amazing. They strut around the car park with almost no apparent care for the fact that it’s a busy, bustling place fraught with danger (cars, humans – what more can I say – a BAD combination and I mean BAD in a BAD way, not in a good way as some might think).

This one was polishing off the remains of some tourist’s meal and occupying two or three parking spaces while he was about it – marching around in a circle, gobbling up bits of chip, nuts and various other things that the not-so-good people of Birmingham or Brighton or Leeds had just abandoned on the tarmac. I do hate that – if you go on holiday somewhere because it’s nice then please do try to keep it that way.

We were at Trago buying plumbing gear for THAT job – you know, the one we’re just about to start that will probably all go horribly wrong because we’re plumbing dimwits. However, we have ‘the big guns’ here because my Dad, who is no plumbing dimwit is going to keep his eye on us while we hack holes in pipes, cap off the hot water (not needed – it’s a cold-feed only) and put a washing machine connector on the cold, then put in a new waste because the one for the sink that we’re taking out isn’t suitable for washing machine waste.

Don’t let on to DM but I’ve had a stroke of luck….we can’t go out tomorrow because he’s being interviewed by the New York Times on the telephone in the middle of the day so we can’t risk being out…….so guess what – I’ve conveniently suggested that it’d be a great time to ‘get the job done’!!!!!

last year, I took a shot, which David copied (only much better) and he's sold his shot a gazillion times and made loads of dosh from it!!!