Conversation in an art gallery this afternoon, when I picked up the plastic bag containing a book I’d had to deposit at the desk …
Me: Are you allowed to wear a rucksack when viewing the pictures?
Young lady: No. Certainly not.
Me: Well, there’s a chap walking round with one on his back.
Young lady: Well, he shouldn’t be. He should have deposited it here. But, as he is, we’ll let it go

The local paper reports that the police have had startling results with their new policy of doubling up the foot patrols in the city – the already-low level of crime has reduced. Doubtless police forces from all over the world will be flocking here to analyse this astonishing breakthrough. When, that is, they’ve stopped devising schemes such as the wearing of green ribbons so as make themselves Muslim-friendly.

At the ironmongers today the friendly assistant told me they were out of cages in which to trap the mice currently enjoying the wide-open spaces of my kitchen. He said they’d have one in the coming week. When I checked the price and confirmed that I’d be back in due course, he added ‘Well, when I say next week, I can’t guarantee this. The fiesta has just begun and you know how things are.” Indeed I do and so would have no confidence at any time of the year that a return trip within a week would be fruitful. But what touching faith on his part to imagine that I would trust his forecast.