What day is it?

No it's not a trick question but sometimes the answer isn't so easy.

I did hear - anecdotally not from personal experience - that this question along with date, month and year, are some of the questions used to assess whether someone is suffering from dementia.

It is the typical sort of question that someone who works in an office would think is relevant. That's when your life is full of diaries, appointments and on-screen calendars with pop-up reminders that you invariably ignore.

In fact, you start to realise that it doesn't matter what day it is. If you go to work round here you invariably go six days out of seven. As long as you can count to six and you take the next day off that's all that matters. Or you might work seven days a week.

Anyway today is Tuesday. I know this because the Butane man comes around about 9am tooting his horn. So if you want a bottle of gas you leave yours outside and he changes it for you. Nobody is going to nick off with it because it is far too heavy.

Yesterday was Monday because the veg man came in the afternoon. Tomorrow is the only weekday when no-one comes so it is Wednesday. On Thursday the veg man comes again, and on Friday a different veg man comes (Friday veg man). Friday-man comes early, about 9am, and he toots his horn very loudly and then yells out "Twenty duros, everything for 20 duros."

Duros, note, not Euros. He is living in the past and has never changed his call. Just as well because if he called out the real prices no-one would ever go out to buy his veg. He is dearer than Monday/Thursday man.

So the logic goes - "Who comes today?" - and then you work out what day it is. Easy really. Apart from when the veg man doesn't come because of bad weather, or holidays, or some domestic incident, or you don't go out for anything.

You could look at the calendar, we have a couple of nice free ones from some animal feed suppliers. The Nagsa one is particularly stunning with great photos of Spain. But if you don't know what day yesterday was or tomorrow is, the calendar won't be much use.

The computer is though. I think one of the most useful and best-used of all the features on my singing, dancing, recording, calculating brain of the house is the day on the top right of the screen. So I can always cheat these days and nip in and look at the computer.


Aching muscles

Well, that says it all really. After all my contortions lying on my back and raising the desk in the air with my legs so that I could screw the adjustable legs down at the bottom (the desk's - not mine), I am now in agony.

A 50km cycle ride against the wind would have been easier with less after-effects.

Still the desk is at a better height, although it takes me some time to sit down at the moment. I never did have very good quads.


An hour forward

The clocks might be but I am certainly at least an hour behind. Regardless of what time I go to bed or get up, I am walking round like a zombie. And all this just for an hour's daylight in the evening. I would rather have it in the morning anyway. Zzzzzzzzzz